How They Became Athletes

During the summer of 2011, I collaboratively taught a special-topic communication course designed specifically for incoming student-athletes at Georgia Tech. The class seeks to equip student-athletes with the communication skills they need to succeed on campus, in the classroom, and in the community.

Playing off one of the strengths of student-athletes, we built the course around the Let’s Move! campaign, Michelle Obama’s initiative to fight childhood obesity. One of our contributions to this campaign is a collection of personal narratives, written by our students about how they became athletes. Their books were written and illustrated for an audience of children ranging ages 4-12 and are designed to inspire children to become more active. Here is a selection of their books for viewing online or downloading.

On Monday, August 1, our students showcased their personal sports biographies in a public symposium held in the Georgia Tech library. In addition to sharing their children’s books, they presented posters that examined audience, visual rhetoric, and motivation in connection to their books. We had over 50 attendees during the single hour that the exhibition took place. Members of the Athletic Association at Georgia Tech showed immense support of and enthusiasm for the work of their athletes. Click on the thumbnails below to view photos of the event.