Duke University Graduate Parker Goyer Dreams Big, Delivers

All great journeys start with a dream – Osborn Earl “Ozzie” Smith.

It is likely that at every high school or college graduation ceremony, at some point in time, at least one of the speakers will insist that the secret to a life of fulfillment is to remain true to one’s dreams.

Yet, at the same time, it is also likely that a look towards the audience would reveal at least one adult with a cynical eye dismissing such blatant optimism in a most scornful manner.

Fortunately, however, there are still some students who not only listen to the speaker’s message of hope, they take it upon themselves to test the theory.

The Desire to Make a Difference

When asked about her involvement in Division I athletics at a high-profile school, Parker Goyer could point to many key lessons from the world of sports: persistence, work ethic, setting goals, and overcoming setbacks. She also could point to the year-round commitment necessary to compete at such a high level and the subsequent time constraints that participation had on her ability to utilize these important skills while being of service to others.

But the year-round commitment to school and to athletics left Goyer little opportunity to travel abroad or to partake in community service. For the 2007 graduate of Duke University, the latter was a big issue.

Inspired by the likes of Wendy Kopp, the founder and CEO of Teach for America and Greg Mortenson, a one-time mountain climber who has dedicated his life to building schools in remote parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan, Goyer chafed at the lack of opportunities student-athletes had to be of service to others.

Recognizing that there had to be other collegians with similar sentiments, Goyer came up with a bold plan, one that would allow student-athletes to utilize their skills and talents to help serve young people in countries less-developed than her own.

Coach for College
Now in her first year at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Goyer conceived of the “Coach for College” program while visiting Vietnam and Belize the summer following her graduation. While visiting those countries, Goyer saw first hand an underdeveloped educational system and countless young people who simply did not have a cadre of role models to help lead them.

The former Duke tennis player saw an opportunity, a true win-win in the proverbial sense. If she could create a program that would allow American student athletes to put their athletic lessons to work in real life settings, the youngsters in some of the world’s poorer countries would not only have access to some key role models, those youngsters would have the chance to learn some valuable skills as well.

“A major guiding principle of the Coach for College program is that student-athletes have great traits they develop through sports,” explains Goyer. “But they don’t always apply these traits which they perfect on the playing field in other settings.”

“I wanted American student-athletes to realize that, by virtue of being highly-skilled sports players in some of the best higher education institutions in the world, they have tremendous power to make a difference.”

Program Launched in Summer of 2008

With a goal of utilizing sports to teach key life lessons, Goyer envisioned a group of college athletes giving up some of their summer time to help the youngsters in underdeveloped countries learn “critical thinking skills” and promote “excitement about academics.” While the need for funds was significant and the task of raising half-a-million dollars a daunting one, the 23-year-old never doubted the worthiness of her concept.

“A lot of people were skeptical at first and thought that I was too young, that this was too big of an idea, and didn’t know if I could pull it off,” reveals Goyer. “I think I was able to succeed by setting concrete goals, identifying key supporters early on, and using their advice and support to make steady progress towards my goals, one step at a time.”

Adding to her belief in the program concept itself, the idea of teaching life lessons through the world of sports, Goyer found herself drawing on the lessons she had taken from being a competitive athlete.

“Setting up the Coach for College program reinforced the value of sports in transmitting key life skills. I found myself drawing upon some of the same skills – persistence, work ethic, setting goals, overcoming setbacks, etc. — that I had used to make progress as a tennis player.”

Putting her organizational, goal-setting and perseverance skills to the test, Goyer secured more than $480,000 to fund the first two years of her concept. The monies came from two Atlantic Coast Conference rival colleges, Duke and the University of North Carolina, as well as the National Collegiate Athletics Association, the U.S. State Department, and a number of other individual and corporate donors.

With funding secured, this past summer student-athletes from both Duke and UNC made their way to rural Vietnam for the first ever “Coach for College” sessions. In addition, bilingual students from Can Tho University also led the training that involved the games of badminton, basketball, soccer, tennis, and volleyball.

A key component of the program included the building of a five-in-one sports court, with lines for the sports that would be taught in the program. Constructed on the grounds of the middle school, local workers built it using money from the funds Goyer had raised. The permanent construction meant that the Vietnamese children could continue, during their school year, to play the sports they had been introduced to by the Coach for College program that summer.

Working alongside their Vietnamese counterparts, the American student-athletes conducted two three-week units featuring a number of sports clinics and classroom lessons to 200 children ages 11-15. The group also managed to blend in Vietnamese high school students who benefited from the program but in turn served as next step role models for the younger children.

The basic lessons taught within the sports clinics were reinforced by academic offerings that featured the application of sports to Health/Biology, Physics, English, Leadership, and Education/Psychology. The program, free to interested children, provided a wealth of prizes/gifts based upon outcomes in team-based sports and academic competitions as well as each student’s completion of the various academic modules.

The Translatable Goals of Athletics

Wise beyond her years, Goyer created a program that offered lessons for both groups, the American students who accompanied her and the youngsters in Vietnam that participated in the clinics. Both groups saw first hand that teamwork, sacrifice, hard work, and determination often form the basis for success in many other settings.

“The overarching idea is that skills like perseverance, determination, setting and achieving goals, and overcoming setbacks, all of which can be learned through sports, are the keys to success in education as well,” notes Goyer. But as for the lessons for her fellow athletes, the Coach for College founder was unequivocal as to what came first for her.

“Personally, my primary goal is to help the middle school youth, and I intended the benefits to the coaches, both the American student-athletes and Vietnamese college students, to come as a natural by-product of their participation in the program.”

Still, Goyer attempted to work on the highest plane imaginable. More than simply providing Vietnamese youngsters with a cadre of role models, Goyer sought to inspire these 11-15-year-olds to consider higher education. To further that notion, the Coach for College concluded every daily camp session with a 30 minute class on the topic.

Following One’s Dream
Perhaps most importantly, the goal-setting Duke graduate has established other possible plateaus for her concept. Her vision is to see the program “partner with professional athletes” as well as “sports-related companies such as Nike.”

In addition, Goyer is set to invite other “universities which are athletic rivals to sponsor Coach for College programs at new sites.” The plan includes “utilizing the existing conference structure present in intercollegiate athletics” with the idea that each conference could perhaps sponsor a program in one particular region of the globe.

Once upon a time, Division I student-athletes may have had little to no chance to travel abroad or engage in meaningful service to others. But thanks to one young woman with a vision and a thorough understanding of the lessons that athletics can offer, student-athletes with a service mind set now have a concrete model to follow.

Editor’s Note: On Saturday, November 22nd, Parker Goyer was one of 32 Americans selected for a Rhodes Scholarship. Valued at $50,000 per year of study, the scholarship will enable the Coach for College (CfC) founder to study comparative international education at Oxford. Her hope is to learn more about the different education systems, academic curricula, and personnel of different countries to determine which ones will provide the best fit for the CfC program moving forward.

Obama to Call for Service to Country

It is easy to see why so many young people were willing to work for and to cast ballots on behalf of the man about to become our 44th president.

There is soon to be a very different direction for the country as president-elect Barack Obama has already begun the process of conveying a new message to the American public. Mr. WrightBogged down in two wars and with an economy in peril, the man who began his career by serving the poor in Chicago has already begun establishing a call to service from the people of the richest country on earth.

And many of his options will focus on a direct call to the youth of America.

Victory Speech Lays a Foundation

Obama formally set forth the call to service in his victory speech:

“Above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it’s been done in America for 221 years – block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.”

“What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek – it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.”

“It cannot happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice. So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other.”

No Shopping or Disney World Messages Likely

The Obama message contrasted sharply with that of the current administration. PingNews.comOne of the more striking moments in the Bush presidency occurred just two weeks after 9/11 when the Republican urged Americans to go “down to Disney World in Florida.”

And if that were not bizarre enough, in his address to the country in 2006, as our economy was struggling, our president noted “a strong beginning to the holiday shopping season across the country.”

He followed that up with his recipe for offsetting further potential economic doldrums.

“And I encourage you all to go shopping more.”

A Constant Message

Contrary to the words of our current president, the man set to take office in January actually had already begun setting a different tone back in September. At that time, Obama laid out some of his ideas regarding how young people will be able to offer their services.

“This moment is too important for America’s greatest resource–our people–to sit on the sidelines. So as President, I will ask for the active citizenship of Americans of all ages and walks of life. 

First, we need to create opportunities to serve. I’ll ask more young people to serve in uniform and expand the size of our military. And I’ll increase AmeriCorps–our network of local, state and national service programs–from 75,000 slots to 250,000.”

College Funds for Service

Obama insists he will seek to have such service performed in those areas of greatest need: a greater number of talented Americans willing to teach; others to work on the development of renewable and efficient energy; and another group still to grow the nation’s Foreign Service and Peace Corps.

jmtimagesIn return, the president-elect has put forth some very noteworthy ideas to provide a meaningful return for that service. For all college students, the prospect of financial support for school looms large.

“We need to integrate service into education. We should help schools develop service programs outside the classroom. And I’ve proposed an annual college-tuition tax credit of $4,000 in exchange for 100 hours of public service.

“You invest in America, and America invests in you–that’s how we’ll make college affordable for every American.”

It’s a new message for sure, one that is all about a spirit of community.

It is also one that will invoke comparisons to John F. Kennedy’s inauguration call, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

Flickr photos courtesy of Mr. Wright, PingNews.com, and jmtimages.

High Times at San Diego State

Drug AbuseThe layout of our freeform college radio station is such that we’re stuck broadcasting out of the basement of a dorm. Essentially, our station was recently relocated after the school decided to construct a new student center (rendering the college, until construction finishes, with no central student gathering spot). Anyway, it’s obvious that the studio was once storage space or, at the very least, a custodial washroom. There’s a vent above our soundboard and every now and then, especially late nights and on weekends, station disc us disc jockeys can get a mild contact high from the marijuana that seeps into the small sound booth.

I was never into drugs in college and I don’t think it’s because I was a straight edge goodie-goodie. Maybe that’s funny because I just admitted to being part of the largest group of stereotypical stoners we’ve got in a college radio station. I don’t know if that sets me apart from the majority of students that seem to, at the very least, experiment. In fact, most of my friends have. I don’t think they do it regularly though. There’s just some sort of appeal that comes along with the idea of being able to get high thinking that nobody’s going to care.

The act of the matter is that aside from drug it being illegal and users always running the risk of meeting the brick wall of school discipline, it’s expensive (and I’ve made similar arguments about those kids that blow $7 per beer at the overpriced local college bars). Right now, there’s a story breaking out of San Diego State University where at least 96 students were picked up on drugs and weapons charges following one student’s overdose.

I’m not going to lie. Drugs are just as big a part of college today as they’ve ever been – and their use is on the rise. Essentially, you’ve got 18 year olds running around away from home for the first time with zero responsibility thinking they can get away with anything (and obviously those D.A.R.E. programs did no good in grade school). Then, suddenly, a one student turns up dead and a raid results in the arrests and likely educational destruction of dozens and dozens of kids that thought this could never happen to them.

Perhaps the story is used to set an example, act as a deterrent, show that cops are doing something to combat drugs, etc. Nonetheless, regardless of where you fall politically on the legal status of drugs, it’s true that the San Diego incident speaks volumes about needing to quickly adjust toward a sense of maturity alongside the responsibility that should accompany the seemingly sudden transition toward college and, more importantly, an overall sign of getting older. This is what for too often many new students in particular think they can get away with. What they don’t realize is how quickly one silly mistake can end up tarnishing an entire college experience and perhaps stay with them long after college is over.

Three-Fourths of Students Cheat Their Way into College

Two girls cheating on an examThe SFGate reports about a study conducted by Duke University that showed that 75% of college applicants cheated in some form on their way to college. Whether that meant copying homework or utilizing Wikipedia for their academic efforts, the concerns about ethics and college admissions is growing.

The sad reality is that the students are winning while the teachers are losing. The article claims that when teachers find out that a student has cheated, the administration does not necessarily back them up. The word of the student is usually valued more heavily than the word of the teacher, and professional integrity becomes a problem within the community when the students’ lies are put first. In one case, a Stanford student continually asked her professors for a “regrade” after she changed the answers on a test. When her professor caught her red handed by photocopying the original exam, the university admonished the professor for violating an honor code — an honor code that the student herself did not even keep.

So what can be done? Some schools are working directly with the parents. Cheating becomes an issue that involves the parents from the first infraction. After that, the risk becomes greater: a F on the course.

Why do students cheat? The goal to become successful is by far one of the presiding reasons behind this apparent lack of ethics. As such, Stanford has a program called SOS (Stressed Out Students) that intervenes whenever stress is the culprit and reason behind cheating.

For now, the system is somewhat working. Stiff penalties make it more difficult for students to cheat. But that’s just scraping the surface. Many of my courses were laden with students who cheated on every single homework or test — and let’s be honest here, I haven’t been innocent, either.

In the end, remember that if you’re aiming for the highest score and eventually make it to the college of your choice while cheating your way through college, you may not succeed in the school of your dreams. Instead, you’ll find yourself to be miles behind your classmates. You’ll also find it important if not crucial to continue the trend of cheating. It’s just not worth it. You could spend that time learning for the course instead of stressing that your classmate has the answers. College is a knowledge-seeking venture, and bluffing your way through it isn’t the way to go.

More importantly, cheating is just a dishonest thing to do. And the only one you fool is yourself.