VOLeaders Academy Class of 2024-25 Announced

VOLeaders Academy Class of 2024-25 Announced
Tennessee Athletics has launched the 10th annual VOLeaders Academy with its largest cohort ever: 48 student-athletes representing each of Tennessee's 20 varsity sports. The program will once again be split into two cohorts that participate simultaneously.

"A big part of leading the way in college athletics is preparing the young men and women who don our uniforms to be leaders on their teams and in their communities. The VOLeaders Academy has been doing that at an elite level for over a decade now, and I believe the best is yet to come," Deputy Athletics Director & Associate Provost Marshall Steward said. "We have coaches and an administration completely invested in developing world-changing leaders through sport, and like all great investments, we get out more than we put in."

The year-long leadership curriculum begins each Fall semester and concludes with a two-week international cultural exchange trip in the summer.

Previous cohorts traveled to Brazil, Vietnam, Ecuador, Rwanda (twice), Belize, the Philippines, and most recently, South Africa and Botswana in the summer of 2024. This year's cohorts will return to Brazil, where the Academy's international component began.

"VOLeaders Academy provides our student-athletes with an incredible opportunity to develop as servant leaders for their communities, both here at Tennessee and beyond in their future endeavors," softball head coach Karen Weekly said. "There is truly no other program like it in the country. The individuals selected as VOLeaders have demonstrated the desire and courage to lead. The lessons they will learn in the VOLeaders Academy will further enhance their leadership skill set and the positive impact they have on everyone around them."

The complete 2024-25 VOLeaders cohort is listed here.

"When I was a student-athlete here at Tennessee, I felt like we were so lucky to be surrounded by such excellence," women's tennis head coach Alison Ojeda said. "As an adult and now a coach here on Rocky Top, I realize it's not luck; it is all planned out! Our VOLeader program is another amazing example of leadership at the top, preparing our student-athletes for their future. The bond they create with their peers from other sports helps to expedite their maturity. VOLeaders creates a safe place to learn and share in vulnerable situations. When you open up like this, you grow. And when you grow, you create new perspectives. These perspectives then multiply when they take their trip overseas and put themselves in another culture where other languages are spoken. Our student-athletes help to change the lives of others and end up experiencing life changes themselves. I am so thankful for VOLeaders!"

ABOUT THE VOLEADERS ACADEMY
The VOLeaders Academy was nationally recognized in 2023 by the National Association of Academic and Student-Athlete Development Professionals (N4A) as a model practice in student-athlete leadership. The University of Tennessee announced the inception of its VOLeaders Academy in July 2015. The first-of-its-kind program is a dynamic partnership between the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences, and Tennessee Athletics.
By using their platform in sports, student-athletes admitted into the VOLeaders Academy learn how to positively impact their team, campus, and local and global communities. The program aims to inspire student-athletes to use their passion for sport and influence to enact positive change that transcends their athletic success.

Since 1968, the Torchbearer—UT's official symbol—has borne silent witness to the university's Volunteer Creed: "One that beareth a torch shadoweth oneself to give light to others." The VOLeaders Academy takes that creed in action by engaging its participants in the understanding and development of servant leadership.

Participants are enrolled in two three-credit-hour courses in the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences. An Emerging Leaders in Sport course provides students with an understanding of their individual leadership styles, the practice of leadership in collegiate athletics and equips them with the foundational skills necessary to lead their teams, campus and communities. In contrast, a Personal & Socially Responsible Leadership course teaches leadership principles, professionalism, critical thinking, and cross-cultural communication skills through sport-based service. Through a partnership with the Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies, students interested in completing the Leadership Studies minor can use all three components of the program.

The final component of the VOLeaders Academy is a two-week international exchange that provides applied leadership and service opportunities focused on community development and social change through sport. The exchange partners with national sport commissions and NGOs that are using sport to enact change in communities. International destinations vary each year.

The expansion of the VOLeaders Academy in 2020 was made possible through the generous and servant hearts of 1980 Tennessee alums Donnie and Terry Smith from Rogers, Arkansas. The Smiths' passion and vision was to infuse a foundation of servant leadership in a greater percentage of Tennessee's student-athlete population. Their sincere and heartfelt leadership to make a difference in UT student-athletes will create life-changing opportunities for all who come through the VOLeaders Academy.

"Amidst the remarkable transformation of college athletics, sport remains the greatest teacher, preparer, and connector of people on the planet," Steward said. "It is our responsibility to leverage the uniqueness of the Tennessee student-athlete experience to develop elite athletes into elite human beings and world-changing leaders. The VOLeaders Academy takes it a giant step further and allows that culture to bleed into our local, state, and global communities in the most bold and innovative ways in college athletics."

For more information on The VOLeaders Academy, visit the website HERE.

University of Tennessee Athletics

Related Videos