Student-athletes Share Tips for Success

January 29, 2010

LAWRENCE, Kan.–

The Booth Family Hall of Athletics buzzed with excitement this morning
as nearly 100 students, teachers and parents from Central Heights School
in Richmond, KS made their annual visit to the KU campus on Friday
morning. A group of fourth through eight-grade students visit KU as a
reward for their excellent test scores throughout the school year.

Student-athletes enrolled in the Life Skills education class met the
students and shared practical advice to be successful. The nuggets of
wisdom ranged from “be on time all the time to everything,” to “finish
your homework now and play later,” to the overall message that “it’s the
choices you make today that opens the doors to tomorrow.” After sharing
their advice, student-athletes served as team captains for a scavenger
hunt to find answers to questions related to Kansas Athletics rich
tradition.

Student-athletes enrolled in the course, which is taught by Assistant
Athletics Director Mike Harrity, and participated in the event include:
Fhong Boonraksasat (Women’s Golf), Olivia Catloth (Rowing), Rhea Codio
(Women’s Basketball), Chris Gilbert (Men’s Golf), Alex Gutesha (Men’s
Golf), Ana Kuehler (Swimming and Diving), Tom Mabry (Football), and Sara
Stites (Rowing).

Chase Brown, a seventh-grader, said, “The scavenger hunt was awesome, we
got to meet the athletes and got to see everything, even the national
championship trophies.”

Rhea Codio enjoys the opportunity to share a positive message with young
students.

“We were excited to meet them, they had great energy and seemed to
really be having fun,” Codio said. “We really hope that after listening
to what we had to say that they can see that making it to college is
attainable for those who want to one day be where we are now as college
students.”

The teachers and parents who made the trip to KU agreed.

“I believe this visit allows our students to see that they can achieve
their dreams if they continue to reach high and work hard,” said Jason
Brown, a science teacher at Central Heights. “So many kids were in awe,
just saying “Wow.” I think this trip really opened their eyes to the
possibilities.”