For the fifth straight year, Wittenberg was represented at the 10th annual National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Foundation Leadership Conference, May 28-June 1, at the Coronado Springs Resort and Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

This year, swimming and diving standout Ryan Hamilton ’09 was selected to attend the conference, which draws more than 350 NCAA student-athletes each year from across the country.

“I have been to several leadership camps and conferences so I had a certain mold I expected this conference to fit,” Hamilton said. “I figured the ideas and concepts introduced would be similar to past camps. Previous camps emphasized that ‘everyone can get along’ if we recognize we all are different. But this conference delved deeper by teaching us to analyze traits and tendencies of various personalities.”

Billed as one of the largest non-competitive gatherings of NCAA student-athletes, the conference included student-athletes like Hamilton from NCAA Division I, II and III schools who have been identified as current or future leaders on their campuses and in their communities, and offered them fresh ways of thinking about leadership. Participants discussed such topics as sportsmanship, public perceptions of student-athletes, conflict resolution, student-athlete mental health and social responsibilities.

— Ryan Maurer