Teammates, Leaders, Citizens: The Unifying Power of Athletics

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This content is brought to you by Travelers. Text, CITIZEN TRAVELERS (service mark) AT THE TRAVELERS INSTITUTE, A SERIES ON CIVIC ENGAGEMENT. Teammates, Leaders, Citizens: The Unifying Power of Athletics. Citizen Travelers. The Team. Travelers Institute (registered trademark). Travelers. Jessica Kearney appears in a video call tile. 

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JESSICA KEARNEY: Good afternoon and thank you so much for joining us. My name is Jessica Kearney. And I'm Vice President here at the Travelers Institute. And I am so happy to welcome you to our very special Citizen Travelers at the Travelers Institute program this afternoon. 

Citizen Travelers is our aggressively nonpartisan initiative to empower Travelers employees to really take part in the civic life of their communities. It's really part of our broader commitment to be a good corporate citizen and a corporation of good citizens. So underpinning all the work that you and I do every day is a representative democracy with resilient public institutions and an economic system that's governed by the rule of law. So these are really important factors for any business and ones that we cannot take for granted.

Democracy depends on informed and engaged citizens, and it's with that important fact in mind that we are really pleased to host this series today, a series of programs examining civic engagement. We hope you'll continue to join us throughout the year to hear how we as business leaders can preserve and strengthen our democratic systems.

Before we begin today's program, I'd like to share a quick disclaimer.

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Text, About Today's Webinar. This webinar is supported by Citizen Travelers, the civic engagement initiative of The Travelers Indemnity Co., for informational and educational purposes only.

The non-partisan views expressed by the speakers and/or The Team and its employees are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Travelers or any of its employees. Travelers disclaims responsibility for any publication or statement by any of the speakers and/or The Team. Please note that this session is being recorded and may be used as Travelers deems appropriate. 

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I'd also like to invite you to submit your questions now and throughout the program. So drop them in the Q&A feature at the bottom of your screen. And with that, I'm thrilled to be joined today by three amazing guests. 

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Text, Speakers. Jessica Kearney, VP, Public Policy, Travelers Institute, Travelers. Joe Kennedy, Co-Founder and Executive Director, The Team. Miah Reyes, Engaged Athlete Fellow, Salem State Women's Tennis. Scott McKenzie, Engaged Athlete Fellow, Lipscomb Track and Field. In his photo, Joe squats in a suit at a sporting event. The other three speakers smile in headshot photos. 

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First up, we're going to have Coach Joe Kennedy, who is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Team, a nonpartisan organization that creates award-winning programming focused on integrating civic engagement and athletics. A lifetime basketball player and coach, Joe was a special assistant for the Office of Public Engagement at the White House where he served as a liaison to key national partners and built a coalition of sports organizations to promote the First Lady's “Let's Move!” campaign against childhood obesity. 

For the past seven years, Kennedy was an assistant coach at the College of the Holy Cross’s men's basketball team, and he helped the Crusaders win the Patriot League Championship and advance to the 2016 NCAA tournament.

Then we're going to hear from two student-athletes who are really putting all of this effort into work. Miah Reyes is a member of the women's tennis team at Salem State University where she is majoring in political science. Originally from Raytown, Missouri, Miah is deeply involved in campus life, particularly as vice president of her pre-law society at school. As part of her participation in the Engaged Athlete Fellowship, Miah is organizing a civic celebration event aimed at promoting voter turnout at SSU, and we're going to hear a lot about that project coming up.

Then we're going to hear from Scott McKenzie on the Division I track and cross-country team for Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. He's an international student-athlete from Melbourne, Australia, pursuing his Ph.D. in leadership and policy. So a really great match here for this topic.

As part of his participation in the Engaged Athlete Fellowship, he's organizing a visit to the Juvenile Justice Center for all Division I college athletes in Nashville. So again, looking forward to hearing about those projects and much more.

Now I'd love to welcome Joe to our virtual floor to help kick us off by telling us a little bit more about The Team and what you're looking to accomplish through this organization. Take it away, Joe.

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Joe appears in a video call tile. Text, The Team. Teammates. Leaders. Citizens. 

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JOE KENNEDY: Well, thank you so much, Jessica, and really grateful for the opportunity to be here today and get a chance to have this important conversation with everybody, and really grateful to have an ongoing partnership with Travelers who've been just such important leaders in this nonpartisan civic engagement space. And it also is wonderful today that we've got two rock star student-athletes joining us in Miah and Scotty and excited for you all to hear directly from them. 

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Text, WHO WE ARE. The Team is a nonprofit organization that creates award-winning programming focused on integrating nonpartisan civic engagement and voter participation into college athletics. We offer pathways for every athlete, coach and administrator to become more engaged citizens. 

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So I thought it'd be helpful if we start with who we are and what our focus is with The Team. So we are a nonprofit organization that's focused on integrating nonpartisan civic engagement and voter participation into college athletics. And we always talk about that we want to offer pathways for every athlete, coach and administrator to become a more engaged citizen. 

We really were started from an organic movement in the summer and fall of 2020. And as that movement has grown, we thought there was an unbelievable opportunity here to establish a nonprofit organization, which we launched in 2022. And since our first summer of being active on college campuses, we've worked with over 72,000 athletes, coaches and administrators from across the country.

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Text, OUR VISION. We strive for a future where all student athletes are active participants in our democracy and all athletic departments, teams, and coaches establish civic engagement as a priority. OUR MISSION. We develop teammates, inspire leaders, and empower citizens. Working directly with athletes, coaches, and administrators, we provide nonpartisan resources to increase voter participation, make civic engagement joyful and easy, build stronger teams, and reinforce commitment to community. 

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As we think about our vision and our mission and what we're trying to build here with The Team, we strive for a future where all student-athletes are active participants in our democracy, and all athletic departments, teams and coaches establish civic engagement as a priority. I was a college coach for 12 years. I played college basketball at Northwestern. 

As I reflect back on my time on the sidelines, I thought there was more that we could have done, particularly as coaches, to establish civic engagement as a life skill and really work on these civic muscles that our athletes have while we have them on campus. Because we know that if they're going to volunteer in their community, if they're going to vote, if they're going to be an active citizen, and they develop those habits in college, it's going to stay with them for the rest of their lives.

And thinking about our mission and we'll talk more about this throughout the back and forth today, is really teammates, leaders and citizens, and trying to make that throughline and that connection when we're working with our athletes and coaches. Well, how can we develop great teammates? How can we inspire leaders? And then ultimately, how can we empower citizens to create the future they want and utilizing college athletics as that platform?

As we're actively planning and preparing our work for 2024 and the upcoming next nine months, I really wanted to talk about and showcase four programs that we have that we're working really hard on every single day to prepare and grow and scale.

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Text, OUR PROGRAMS. Four boxes say, HIGH IMPACT CIVIC EVENTS, COACHES VOTER ENGAGEMENT PLEDGE, CIVIC CAPTAIN INITIATIVE, and ENGAGED ATHLETE FELLOWSHIP. 

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And then in particular, we'll dive into detail into the Engaged Athlete Fellowship. 

So, we really have four basic programs. So first is what we call high-impact civic events. We really try to capitalize on National Voter Registration Day, Vote Early Week, and then what we call All Vote No Play Day, which is really Election Day, some of these key civic moments in the fall every year as a way to engage our athletes and coaches and different college campuses across the country.

Secondly, we work really closely with a wonderful partner ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge to set up a program for coaches to pledge to support their student-athletes to get registered to vote, give them nonpartisan resources to participate in the election and ultimately, really trying to build a bridge on a college campus between the athletic department and other civic leaders on campus.

Third is our Civic Captain Initiative, an opportunity to really recruit and work with and support and teach student-athletes that want to go to the next level of engagement on their campus around voting and want to really be an active civic engagement organizer on their campus. We set up this program to really develop training tools and support for student-athletes that want to-- that apply for the program, raise their hand and really want to take it to the next level.

And then lastly in our program, we're really thrilled about our Engaged Athlete Fellowship. Those other three programs really a little more focused in the fall whereas the Engaged Athlete Fellowship is a year-long program. We've got 25 amazing student-athletes in the program right now. And I think it's a way to really support them to become civic leaders.

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ENGAGED ATHLETE FELLOWSHIP. The Engaged Athlete Fellowship empowers a diverse class of motivated student athletes in a year-long leadership program to strengthen nonpartisan civic participation on their teams, their campuses, and their broader communities. The Fellows will: Join multiple virtual meetings per semester with the entire cohort, including a leadership development series, networking opportunities, and mentoring. Execute a project connecting civic engagement, community service, and athletics while working with The Team staff for direct support. Attend a year-end multi-day trip to Washington, D.C. to celebrate the program. Students will participate in a forum in D.C., hear from business, sports, civics, and government leaders while engaging the three branches of government. This program is in partnership with the Bridge Alliance Education Fund. 

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We've got a few bullets here that I would like to point out on in the program that I think is important. One is that the student-athletes in this program participate in virtual meetings, in Zoom calls. We've got seven over the course of the year when the entire cohort comes together, networking opportunities, and we also work through leadership curriculum. 

Second, all 25 student-athletes in this program, Scotty and Miah will talk more about this later, are executing a civic engagement project on their campus. We help them to develop the plan, to develop a budget and then to execute it.

And then third, we're going to bring this whole group to Washington, D.C., in this upcoming June to have a multi-year-- multi-day trip at the end of the program, get in front of business leaders and sports leaders and civic leaders and have these important conversations, and also building out the first-ever Engaged Athlete Forum, which will take place in Washington, D.C., this summer.

So it's been a really successful program. We're in our first year of it. It'll finish it up in June. We'll launch year two of it in August of 2024. And like I said, I'm just thrilled today that we've got two amazing student-athletes that are joining us for the call that are in our leadership program right now.

JESSICA KEARNEY: Joe, that's terrific. What a unique platform and program and what a great way to develop those leadership skills and obviously promote civic engagement. So next up, Miah, I'd love to invite you onto the Zoom floor to talk a little bit about one of the projects that Joe just so nicely teed up. We'd love to hear your story.

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[Miah appears in a video call tile. Text, FELLOW PROJECTS. MIAH REYES, Women's Tennis, Salem State University Undergraduate Class of 2024. Miah smiles in a photo, holding up a tennis racket behind her head and wearing a Salem University T-shirt. Text, Miah hosted an election day event, providing voter information and guided walks to the polls with Salem State's president, John Keenan. Next, she is organizing a celebration event aimed at promoting voter turnout at SSU, featuring food and speakers, incentivizing athletes to engage in discussion. SCOTT MCKENZIE, Men's Track and Field, Lipscomb Graduate, University Class of 2024. In a photo, Scott smiles with crossed arms in a Lipscomb track shirt. Text, Scott is organizing an event where student-athletes from all Division 1 colleges in the Nashville area will spend the day at the Juvenile Justice Centre in Nashville. The message of the event is to encourage athletes to use their platform to do good in their community, and become better citizens. 

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MIAH REYES: Hi, everyone. My name is Miah Reyes. And like I said as part of the Salem State women's tennis team, so a little bit about my project that we decided to do was the first part was the All Vote No Play Day in which I encouraged everyone to come to the polling location that we have on our campus to [CLEARS THROAT] vote. We did walks to the polls. 

I even had our Salem State President John Keenan host a watch the poll for staff and faculty. With that, we had a huge table set up with food, games, raffles, a photo booth, stuff like that just to really, really increase voter turnout and voter engagement and stuff like that.

The next part of my programming with the fellowship is a dinner that I'm hosting with student-athletes. At this dinner, we will be announcing an initiative that we have been planning throughout the entire year that would require all contract Salem State athletes to attend two civic engagement events an entire year. So one per semester.

I'm hoping that the athletic department will be hosting one of them. And then with the work that I do on my campus as well as the Center for Civic Engagement on my campus, there are plenty and plenty of events that they are allowed to go to that would count as their civic engagement event.

With this, we have a couple of political entities that are invited on campus. We have our lieutenant governor who is a Salem State alum and a women's basketball team player, Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll. We also have Salem State alum Representative Manny Cruz. All of them are invited and most of them of which have said that they will be coming. So I'm very excited about that.

I'm really hoping that with these previous student-athlete leaders who are now in jobs of public service, public office, that it really, really increase the civic engagement with the student-athletes and really open that discussion and networking opportunities for them. Thank you.

JESSICA KEARNEY: Wonderful Miah. Thank you so much for sharing that. Look forward to digging into your story a little bit more as we go on. And now I'd love to welcome Scott to tell us a little bit about your project with The Team at Lipscomb University.

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Scott appears in a video call tile. 

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SCOTT MCKENZIE: Thanks, Jessica. So my name is Scott McKenzie. I attend Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, Division I university around track and field and cross country. And my role is to pull all the Division I schools in Nashville-- there’s four Division 1 schools in Belmont, Vanderbilt, and Tennessee State, as well as Lipscomb-- together to impact our national community. 

We've had this idea of bringing this group together over the last year to pour into different areas and the first one being civic engagement. We are sending 10 SAAC reps, Student-Athlete Advisory Committee reps from Lipscomb and the other three schools to the Juvenile Justice Center to put really influential characters--

You're going to hear me talk a lot about the sphere of influence student-athletes have, putting those individuals in front of juvenile delinquents that are coming out of their rehabilitation prison process in Tennessee. These are 15- to 18-year-olds. So putting student-athletes in front of them and having a conversation with them, having discourse with them and talking about their lives, our lives.

So again, a lot about influence. I visited all the SAAC groups over the past four weeks and stood in front of them and tried to make them understand the sphere of influence they have on their campuses. Student-athletes walk through campus and regular students will turn and look and say that's so-and-so on the basketball team, that's so-and-so on the tennis team. So allowing them to understand their sphere of influence to then go to the Juvenile Justice Center and pour into that community to see the impact of that influence there.

JESSICA KEARNEY: Wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing that. So I'd love to invite all of our speakers to come back together so we can dig into this a little bit more. I would love to hear from the group. And, Joe, maybe we can start with you. I want to hear about that initial spark of inspiration.

So it's clear that all three of you are very dedicated to this issue, that you're walking the walk and doing this in practice, and we're hoping that we can help members of the audience really learn and take some practical takeaways from the projects that you're implementing this year in 2024.

So, Joe, maybe let's start with you. What initially inspired you to get involved in the community? And clearly, you've got a professional background in this as well, but where did that kernel start for you?

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All four participants sit in a 2-by-2 grid on the video call. Jessica has straight blonde hair and wears a black blazer. Miah has wavy dark hair and wears a magenta shirt. Scott has light hair and wears a Lipscomb polo. Joe has dark hair and wears a gray pullover. 

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JOE KENNEDY: Well, in the summer of 2020 as a coach and in the fall of 2020, we were having conversations in our locker rooms across the country with athletes about a lot more than our sport.

And so I remember talking to other coaches. And I'm coaching basketball at Holy Cross at the time and I'm talking to folks across the country in different sports and kind of coming to the same conclusion, which is our athletes wanted to do more to express themselves. 

They wanted to figure out how to participate in our democratic process. They were looking to us to help provide some resources and some leadership, and we realized it was a place we just hadn't done enough as a profession. So I think there was really in that moment initially, it's I've got to do better as a coach to support the student-athletes in my locker room.

And then when you start hearing that same conversation across multiple times, you start to realize, OK, we think there's an opportunity to help coaches and administrators to step into this role. And then the more we did it, I think then what we realized is there's some unbelievable student-athletes out here across the country that really care. They're trying to make a difference in their community, and we thought about how can we create an organization, The Team, to step in, support them, give them resources, try to open up some doors for them, and in a nonpartisan way, build out this-- the leaders of tomorrow.

I've got three little kids at home. I want them to step into a strong and healthy democracy and community as they get older. So I'm certainly motivated on a daily basis to try to make that happen in any way I can for my three little kiddos.

JESSICA KEARNEY: And you said this started in 2020, and you’re in official year one heading into year two. What's your scale at this point? What's your reach? How many schools you represented at the moment?

JOE KENNEDY: Yeah. So since 2020, we've worked with over 72,000 athletes, coaches and administrators in different programs and different events. We've worked with over 1,000 campuses across the country, different levels, too. So it's Division I, Division II, Division III. We worked with community colleges.

And so we've really tried to scale as much as we can. And we've been a group of passionate volunteers until we created the organization. And I think it's part of the thing that's exciting from our end is that there's a lot of room for growth to try to support this universe of athletes and coaches across the country.

JESSICA KEARNEY: That's terrific. And then I want to pull Scott, you and Miah in. Scott, let's start with you. Where did that inspiration start for you? What sort of jogged you to raise your hands and be a leader in this?

SCOTT MCKENZIE: Yeah. So I was always a part of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee at Lipscomb. It's actually through All Vote No Play with The Team. So we started as-- we had a crossover event talking about being good citizens and good teammates.

I see it on my campus, I see it on plenty of campuses at the Division I level that people are really good teammates and have such high impact on their team. And then seeing how it was done at a bigger scale or a larger scale through the All Vote No Play voter registration, voter pushing, that exposed me to learning more about voting in America.

I had no idea about anything to do with voting and I was exposed to that through All Vote No Play. And then it pushed me to be more than just the cross-country athlete that I am. Lipscomb pours into me, Nashville pours into Lipscomb. And knowing the influence that student-athletes have pouring back into our community through a variety of avenues pushed me into what I'm doing today and my passion for it.

JESSICA KEARNEY: And Miah.

MIAH REYES: This is honestly one of my favorite questions because it gives me the opportunity to share a little bit about my passion. In my opinion, getting initially involved starts in high school-- joining the leadership track at your school, being a student-athlete. You don't have to be a student-athlete captain, but I definitely think it helps.

And with this, you set that mindset up in high school. And then once you go to university, once you take that step into being a student-athlete in college, that mindset continues as you grow as a student-athlete in university. And so when I first came into college, I joined as many clubs as possible as a student-athlete, but I still kind of held back until my sophomore year of college.

And with that, I joined the Frederick E. Berry Institute of Politics on my campus. And it was like my passion for politics and civic and voter engagement just kind of exploded into this whole new realm. With that, I started leading the Vikings Vote initiative on my campus, which we have about anywhere from 15 to 25 students that go around and get just about everyone on campus who’s eligible to vote and to create a pledge to go vote on Election Day.

Along with that, we host programs throughout the school year just about political things. We also bring in political entities on our campus. And with that, it really has just expanded my passion and my inspiration to be really involved in this type of community.

I have been very involved in my community up at Salem State, including in the surrounding areas. With that, we have been part of getting the new mayor elected for Salem. We hosted a mayoral debate with them, had them on campus. I was so excited to be able to meet all of the candidates with that, and really create a relationship that we both will benefit for in the future.

And then through my responsibilities at the IOP, I was introduced to this fellowship with The Team. And honestly, it has just made me more obsessed with working with civic engagement, and I really, really like it. And I'm so thankful for this opportunity to be a part of that as it fuels me and allows me to fuel younger minds into doing stuff similar.

JESSICA KEARNEY: Yeah. That's terrific, both of your stories. So energizing. It's a great platform to talk about. And on its face, sports and civic engagement, maybe not something that you put together first thing, not the first thing that you think of. But, Scott, listening to you say about when student-athletes walk across campus, you turn and you look, you recognize those people and just recognizing that the platform you have, that leadership platform to make a difference.

So we've skirted around the edges here a little bit, but I want to hit that more squarely on the nose about just really explaining how any involvement really in sports, you were even talking back in high school when somebody plays or if they have a family member who plays, how that can teach them some of those core foundational skills to be involved in your community to be a leader. And, Joe, this is the thread that runs through The Team. But can you hit that maybe a little bit more directly?

JOE KENNEDY: Yeah, Jessica. For us as we were building out the organization and thinking about this work that we've been so fortunate to try to support student-athletes-- you can see how passionate Scotty and Miah are, and they're just making a huge positive impact in their community. We think about teammates, leaders and citizens. So we want to help develop great teammates, inspire leaders and empower citizens.

Athletes, whether you play high school sports, you play college sports, you've got kids who play sports, being a great teammate is so essential. Do you show up? The first thing to be a great teammate is you show up for your team. You show up for practice every day. I'm showing up to help others.

If you're going to be a great teammate, you got to be positive. You got to be optimistic. No one wants to go to practice every day and then here comes in somebody who's just going to be bringing negative energy to that practice, to that workout. So you got to be positive. You got to have great energy and optimism about what you're doing in your sport.

And then ultimately on a team, everyone's working towards a common goal. And you've got a diverse set of people in a locker room. They could be from all over the country, they could be international, different faiths, wildly different upbringings, you name it. Any possible metric that you would want to look at in a sports team, you're bringing together all this diversity.

And you're saying we're going to have a common goal to get better as a group and try to win as many games as we can in our sport or get better at my individual sport but I'm still part of a team as we're working toward the team championship. So the idea of showing up, being positive, we're going to work together towards a common goal. That's our teammates piece.

Now the leadership piece, people can lead in different ways. They can be very vocal with their leadership. Some lead more quietly with their actions. But on any great team, you've got positive leadership that's helping to take that group, that's working together towards a common goal, that shows up for each other, and move in the same direction. A good team isn't just led by a coach, it's also led by the athletes in that locker room that are pushing in that same direction.

So we take some of these traits that athletes have inherently and say those same things connect to being an engaged citizen and to strengthening our democracy and making your community better. You have the agency as an athlete to make a difference, to use your platform for good.

And you've got these traits from your experiences on the court or on the field, that are going to give you the ability to have a real positive impact and make a difference. So we're constantly trying to make that connection with them using sports language and also really pulling on those traits that come naturally to these student-athletes.

JESSICA KEARNEY: That's great. Miah and Scott-- maybe I'll start with you, Miah. So Joe just laid out a bunch of different traits and characteristics that make the athletes and civically engaged citizens just a really good fit together. Were there any that he just mentioned that really spoke to you in your journey and things that you've picked up and learned along the way?

MIAH REYES: Yeah. So you'll hear me mention this a lot today-- coalition building. Being part of a team is very similar to coalition building. Especially coming in as a freshman, you have to be able to be open, be vulnerable with each other to really build that relationship and be able to work towards a common goal. Keeping yourself accountable with this.

Tennis is a very single-dominated sport. We do have doubles thrown in there, but a lot of people who come in, especially as freshmen, have only ever played singles in their life, and having to switch that mindset of once you're now part of a whole team. You don't do good that one day, you have to hold yourself accountable with that.

And I think being-- part of being a leader is coming into practice the next day after you didn't do too good during the match and just be like, hey, I'm sorry, I didn't do too good. My serves were off, my forehands were off. You know what? Today I'd really like us to focus on that. I'd really like us to work from that and build ourselves up like that.

Holding yourself accountable in that way is really, really essential to learning how to be contributing members of your community and your society and being part of a team and watching other people be part of a team as student-athletes. It really promotes that. It will really, really benefit you in the future.

JESSICA KEARNEY: That's terrific. And, Scott, what about you? Any pieces of that really resonate with your personal journey, and certainly, it sounds like you've got some great experience pulling in students from all other schools across Nashville and that organizing piece of it. What's really been that key eye-opening element for you that you've been able to develop through this?

SCOTT MCKENZIE: Yeah. My sport is similar to Miah. It's individual or it's perceived as being an individual sport, cross country and track. You run yourself. Unless you're doing a relay, you don't hand off to anyone. So understanding how the team functions. On a sports team, basketball team, you work really well together. Everyone has to be on the same page.

In cross country, you recognize your differences. I do the 5K. One of my best friends is the 400 meter 800 guy. Understand the different events and how they come into play and how they work together towards the common goal. I mean, they say it's not a team sport, but if you've ever seen a cross-country championship or a track championship, the team is going crazy on the side for all those individuals.

So I think understanding the differences of your teammates and then replicating being a part of a big team in the community. You'll have those skills as athletes going into the community, but it's replicable for anyone, not just athletes. It's understanding the flow and harmony of a team.

JESSICA KEARNEY: That's terrific. And that feeds into my next question, which is when we think about civic engagement, we think about keeping an open mind, having that curiosity, learning. And, Miah, you talked about working with the lieutenant governor and seeing the process unfold, seeing the election process unfold.

Joe, maybe we'll bring you in on this one. How does being part of that team and experiencing that strong teamwork that we just heard Scott and Miah talk about so personally in their personal experience, how does that help you create that open-mindedness and keep that open-mindedness? I know you talked about positivity, but when it comes to civic engagement, being open to ideas, different points of view and perspectives.

JOE KENNEDY: I think certainly from again-- I think from the sports perspective, I would just come back to the idea that you're going to have people who come together to be on a team for a season that just has such different experiences and different perspectives. And if you're going to have a successful team and get better and hopefully getting better ultimately wins you games in your sport is that group’s got to work together.

And you've got to be able to have some empathy for the person who's in that locker room with you and where they're coming from and what their perspective is and be able to be open-minded to have a conversation with them, and to get to know each other and get connected beyond your sport so that when you get out there for practice in the games, you're going to perform at a higher level because that connection is there. Well, you can only have that connection if you're willing to be open-minded and have a conversation, get to know each other better.

It doesn't mean you have to be best friends. It doesn't mean you have to spend all your time together. But when you show up every day for practice and you put that jersey on, there's got to be a connection there and a willingness to put yourself in someone else's shoes, especially as you go through a season because seasons are so up and down that any good successful team is going to stay tightly knit when the things are going wrong and you've lost a few games in a row. And a team that isn't as successful is going to pull apart.

And so much of that success is built around the fact that you have a really healthy connection because you've been open-minded. You've had these conversations. There's a sense of empathy of understanding where the other person is coming from. That's as important as trying to figure out how to stop some other team's play or who's got the best jump shot on your roster.

JESSICA KEARNEY: Yeah. And I think Miah got to some of that and some of her earlier comments about maybe you didn't have the best serve that day and you got to figure out how to come back and still be a positive contributor to the team and on behalf of your university. So that's great.

So let's talk logistics for a minute. So I think we talked about some of the foundational framework and some of your experiences, but let's get into this. And I think this is true for student-athletes, it's certainly true for professionals. We call it work-life balance, right?

But how do you juggle all of this because I imagine that being a full-time student and also being a student-athlete and then layering on some of these leadership pieces, how do you balance your time, how do you make time for it all and be successful with it? And maybe Scott you want to start.

SCOTT MCKENZIE: Yeah. That's a really good question. I'm working in compliance. I am a student-athlete. I'm studying for my Ph.D. It's so much for a student-athlete. And then layering it all on top with the civic work we do as a department and individually and through The Team. I think incorporating your passion into everything you do is the easiest way to do it.

I'm the same person on the track as I am in the classroom as I am at the workplace as I am talking to you all right now. Incorporating my passion into every single thing, every facet of my life makes it so much easier. And I think that builds a ton of credibility to have teammates actually listen to you, OK, Scott's putting this event together this weekend, let's all go because he's putting time and effort into this, and we know this is something he's passionate about.

So I think building that rapport and credibility really helps take the load off my shoulders. And it doesn't feel like work, it's just everything that I do.

JESSICA KEARNEY: Yeah, it's that passion propelling you forward.

JOE KENNEDY: I would just add this. I think anyone out there that's looking to hire someone, I always think student-athletes come to the table where they have these transferable skills, there's transferable skills. Everything we just described we feel strongly at The Team is transferable to a healthy democracy because of the experiences they go through.

But I think it also transfers to being an unbelievable employee because they have to balance these things. Sometimes it's easier, then other times it's really hard, but they come to the table. I think so many athletes come to the table with these traits that are just transferable. They're used to being held accountable.

They have to show up for practice every day. They got to be at their lift. They got to go to training table. They got to do-- and they're-- and they're doing that on a daily basis. They work hard. They work under pressure. They take coaching. They know how to take criticism. They understand the idea about getting better, setting goals and trying to reach those goals.

So I think all those things that happen in an individual or team sport as a college athlete, you're developing all these. While, by the way, going to school and hopefully getting good grades and earning your degree and maybe even working a part-time job on top of that. They're building a sense of grit that I think will carry over into whatever they do next. So I'm a huge advocate. If anyone out there is hiring, give the edge to a former student-athlete.

JESSICA KEARNEY: I love that. And I think that really permeates, too, and you can think about this from different angles. I talked a little bit about our Citizen Travelers initiative here at Travelers encouraging our employees to get involved in civic engagement and civic leadership.

And I think one of the great things, whether it be student-athlete or just your job in the public or private sector is really developing all of those skills that you can use across your life, whether it's in your personal life, in your civic engagement, certainly at work, negotiation, soft skills, listening, all of these things that help you be a convener and understand the issues in your community and really listen to what they are and help find a way forward and help create some action momentum. So I think that's really fantastic.

And Scott, maybe we can start with you on this one. But how do people get engaged? What are your recommendations? We know we've talked a little bit about the philosophy and the skills and our personal experiences.

We've got folks on the line who, in theory, might be in a position to help influence young people in their lives, family members who might be student-athletes-- we probably have some student-athletes on the line, working professionals too who might want to take some bits and learnings from this and think about it in their own workplaces.

What recommendations do you have for working professionals and athletes to get involved, whether that be with The Team, your organization across the country or different chapters that you touch, or if maybe they're not as close to it in a geographic location, how they might be able to just start some momentum on their own?

SCOTT MCKENZIE: Yeah. Great question. I know I've talked about influence a ton, and we've all talked about influence but I'm going to tie it back to influence once again. For me, it's easy to see the sphere or funnel of influence we have. I mean, going to the Juvenile Justice Center, we're going to have a funnel of influence to the juvenile delinquents in that rehabilitation process, or as a SAAC president, I have the student-athlete body.

But in athletics and outside of our teams, every person on this call has a sphere of influence whether you know it or not. It doesn't take-- it can be physical, the leadership position you hold as a vice president, or it could be as a parent in your home, or it could be as the really good neighbor. We all have this sphere of influence and how we act day to day and how we carry our conversations, how we have healthy discourse with people about hard topics to do with voting, to do with congressional engagement.

I think understanding that you have a sphere of influence no matter who you are, where you're at is what changed me and my understanding of all things civic engagement. So knowing those people and knowing your role I think is extremely healthy and important.

JESSICA KEARNEY: What about you Miah? Do you have any recommendations for folks wanting to get involved?

MIAH REYES: Well, I think Scotty puts it in a fantastic way. Getting involved, I kind of take it more in a political or like job way networking. I think networking is a huge part of being successful in your life and your career and especially in student-athletes, not just networking with the coaches but networking with the other players on the other teams.

I think some of the best people I've ever met have been people that I'm competing against. [LAUGHS] When you are switching over on the courts, those five minutes you get as a break you're meant to be relaxing, thinking about your game, I'm talking. I'm getting to know the person that I'm playing. I think it creates connections. And I immediately try to get their information after, whether it's their phone number, their socials, whatever it is so I can stay connected to them.

And I think with my fellowship program that I'm doing, when it comes time to host that large event at the end of the semester, I will be able to reach out to them and ask for help, ask for advice, ask for attendees. And with that-- and along with that, internships as well.

Some of the coaches that I've spoken to after the matches they have said like, hey, what's your major? Oh, you're into physical training, or just sports and medicine. Well, we have a athletic trainer internship program that we have at our campus that you are more than welcome to apply to. And I love taking that information and giving it to the students on my campus who are interested in that.

Personally, I am not but [LAUGHS] to each their own. And so when it comes time that I take my step into whether it's my law career or my political career, I know that I have these networks that I've created throughout my years at university, high school and just walking down the street that I know that I will be able to reach out to. So making those connections is a fantastic way to get involved.

And if that even that is something that you like or if you want to get even more involved. Fun fact, your local elected officials have to hold public office hours. So if you have something that you don't like, you can go to your local mayor's office. You can go into his office, and you can sit there, and you can talk to them. They are required to have those.

I do that in Salem, I do that in my hometown. That is something very simple that you can get involved in. You can also call your elected officials, your state reps, your congressional reps. You can write to them, you can call them, you can email them. They have to listen to you. So if you want to make change and you really, really want to get involved, I think that's one of the easiest ways to get involved.

JESSICA KEARNEY: I love that. I love the example of talking to the player on the opposite team, someone that you're supposed to be at odds with, and I think having those skills to bridge that relationship and then you really flipped it on its head and use it as something positive to expand your networks. And I think when we're thinking about public discourse and we're thinking about civic engagement, I love that example. That's terrific.

Scott, do you have any thoughts on that, finding the ability to help you find common ground with folks that might not have the same point of view as you, which is obviously something that we need in society today if we're going to make progress?

SCOTT MCKENZIE: Yeah. I mean, I go to a Church of Christ school in Nashville in the South. I'm Australian. I'm Catholic. I came into a culture that was completely different to mine. And we have a ton of people that come from all over the world, all over the country from different cultures, from different microcultures and we all have to work towards a common goal and understand those differences, recognize those differences.

My team meets every Sunday just as a healthy-- we call it Vulnerabilitea. We have a cup of tea, and we talk just about our lives. It's really like a strange example, but understanding everyone on a deep note on our team allows us to get to know the differences of one another, why we act the way we do, why we talk the way we do, what builds us and makes us who we are.

I think understanding those differences and how different things at different levels impact each other, whether it be something small like your friends or something big like legislation, how those impact different people groups, I think it's extremely important. So understanding those cultural or microcultural differences is crucial for that.

JESSICA KEARNEY: That's great. And what did you call that, the gathering?

SCOTT MCKENZIE: Vulnerability but put TEA at the end instead.

JESSICA KEARNEY: Oh, got it. I love that. I love that. And, Joe, I know just looking at the work that you do with The Team, I know you have a bunch of different-- I'd say I call them tactics, the different ways of bringing people together and breakfasts and these types of thing.

Can you share maybe some creative ideas or ways that folks who are working with The Team across different university campuses are actually just like the Vulnerabilitea that Scott was just talking about, just maybe some of these practical ways that people are bridging that gap and bringing people together just to give our audience members some ideas, things that they could copy or steal from?

JOE KENNEDY: Yeah, definitely. I'll start with-- so our website is theteam.org. I'm going to put in a plug for that right now. If anyone wants to visit the website, you can see our work up there at theteam.org. Believe it or not, it was not taken. So we got that somehow, which I'm still very grateful for.

So I would say two things, Jessica, one was that we try to use sports as a way to get people to come together and then we use that moment that sports kind of pulled people together to now have these conversations. Now it's a little bit easier to have the open-minded and have this discourse in a different way than a lot of times maybe our politics pulls us into a different type of conversation.

So I'll give you an example. In 2022, we did a Zoom call. We were very fortunate. We recruited Dr. Condoleezza Rice on the call from Stanford, Stephen Curry, Coach VanDerveer from Stanford women's basketball who's now the winningest coach in the history of basketball, and we had a conversation about what it means to be a great teammate.

And we had over 2,000 people jump on that Zoom call on a Tuesday night in September of 2022 at 8:00 PM. And they were there because they saw that it was Stephen Curry and it was Dr. Rice and Coach VanDerveer, but hopefully that moment of using sports to pull these folks together. Now we had a conversation about what it means to be a great teammate.

How do I help at the local level and support my community, not just sit on the sidelines and complain as a fan but actually get in the game of democracy? And so sometimes using that from our perspective, that platform of sports, can be really positive.

One resource on our website that's free for everybody to utilize is we have a resource page, we have a video library. Within that video library, we've cut up what we call Chalk Talks. We've got about 30 or 40 short videos, three to five minutes that you're hearing from a Stephen Curry, a Dr. Condoleezza Rice, you're hearing from Demario Davis who plays with the Saints about a particular topic and message. And then on many of them we also have some follow-up questions.

So for anyone that maybe wants to have a conversation, it could be a high school team, it could be high school students, it could be a workforce, a team getting together in that environment, right there is a pretty easy and free resource to maybe just drive a conversation. And yet, you're inspired to think about things a little bit differently because maybe there's a different voice that you're used to seeing up there on Sunday play football or you're used to seeing an NBA game proposing a question in a different way can open up a different type of conversation.

JESSICA KEARNEY: That's great. Yeah, that's terrific. And I think all of the useful tips and tricks on your website will be helpful to folks and learning from others' experiences. Like I said, it's always good to not reinvent the wheel, use others' ideas and stretch it how you can.

So we have a number of audience questions coming in. So I do want to get the audience engaged here and have the three of you weigh in on some of the questions. So one of the questions that just came in is I have a soon-to-be college-athlete, what advice, Miah and Scott, do you have for launching a program on their campus? If they're starting from scratch, what would be some of your ABCs must do to get something up and running on their campus?

SCOTT MCKENZIE: Contact The Team, first thing. [LAUGHS] That would be an easy plug, but I think tap into the resources you already have on campus. Your campus already has built-in networks, built-in ways of doing things. You don't have to completely reinvent the wheel. Tap into the things that your university or your city already has, and then build off what they have in your own unique way. So tapping into the resources that are already available would be my first piece of advice.

JESSICA KEARNEY: Miah.

MIAH REYES: Yeah, I agree. I think that's a great way to get involved. I think waiting until second semester is going to be really helpful for you. In that first semester, you don't know a lot of people. A lot of people don't know you, especially. So trying to create something from scratch is going to be a little bit harder. So definitely wait till spring semester or second semester, depending on however it goes, and get involved that first semester.

Join anything that you might have a slight bit of interest in because that's going to help you in the long run when trying to create your own program. And see what's interesting to the other students on campus, I think that's really important as well. If you come into a campus that isn't really interested in a topic and you try and have a program on that topic, you're not going to have a lot of engagement with it.

But I also think that if your campus has like a center for civic engagement, institute of politics, if you're a student-athlete, a SAAC organization, stuff like that, really get involved with that because they're there to help you. Campuses itself also have things like career centers and stuff like that that are really there to help you to create your ideal life at college. So really utilizing the stuff the campus has.

Every campus also has a budget built out for their campus life and rec. So if you want a very large campus program or something like that, reach out to them. They have money and they want to spend it, especially for students, so there's no problem reaching out to them. And the worst thing that they can say no, but they're probably going to say yeah.

JESSICA KEARNEY: That's terrific advice. So take the time, get your feet wet, develop some of the relationships, use the resources that are there, and then see where you can take it from there. So I think that's good advice from both of you.

Joey, this one's for you. We've got a few versions of this question coming in. Folks saying sometimes I've heard student-athletes when it comes to talking out on different issues, they're told to stay in their lane. So have you ever-- have you had that challenge, I guess, on some of your campuses through The Teams or any feedback or have you helped students work through any of that, or is that not been something that you've seen?

JOE KENNEDY: I think we have not seen a lot of it, which I think is really positive. I think on the flip side when most people see the college student-athletes becoming more engaged, taking a step to try to be more involved in the community, it's met with applause.

But one of the things we do is we showcase to our student-athletes, other athletes who at different times in history have stepped out and have probably been met with a lot more criticism, but they were willing to do that in that moment for something that they were very passionate about, whether that could be Billie Jean King, could be LeBron James in 2020, could be Jackie Robinson.

I mean, there's so many sports figures who in a moment said I am going to step forward because I'm really passionate about this, and this is something that I think is wrong, and I'm going to use my platform to try to make it better. And so showing athletes that you have a platform beyond just your sport, and here are these historical figures that came before you. But then also tying it back to like you don't have to be Billie Jean King to make a difference. She's done amazing things in her life.

Hopefully, we could all have a massive impact, but just being able to make a positive difference in your world, in the sphere of influence that you have that Scotty talked about could be really, really huge just in your own locker room and your own dorm, somebody who's a friend on campus. It's just taking that first step like what they were just talking about when you get to campus too is like, don't hold back. If you're passionate about something, take that first step and then you don't know where it's going to go from there.

JESSICA KEARNEY: We have another question coming in kind of continuing along the same line of thinking. Is there anything that can be done regarding having student-athletes participate in these types of projects as part of their name, image, likeness requirements? So I know that there's been quite the overhaul over the last several years. And I think I read something about NIL on your website, Joe. Can you take that one at all?

JOE KENNEDY: Yes. It's a really good question from the audience. So for those who don't know, name, image and likeness, what you hear a lot is called NIL, is a rule that was established recently through a court decision-- a few court decisions that the NCAA opened up the possibility for student-athletes to be empowered, to be compensated for their name, image and likeness.

It is certainly a big rule change that has happened recently. When I was a coach, you felt like if you bought someone a cheeseburger, you might get arrested. Now that barrier has gone down.

And the way we've viewed it at The Team is that there's great opportunities to work directly with student-athletes in a way I couldn't have four or five years ago to try to support them, not in a transactional way-- come to my Ford dealership and take a picture next to a car-- but be part of this leadership program for nine months.

We cover the expenses of the projects that they're doing on their campuses because we didn't want that to be a barrier to executing the project. So as a nonprofit, we're going to do that fundraising to cover that expense so that they can make a positive difference in their community. That's trying to use NIL for good.

We compensate students for their time with some of our programs. We think that's important because they are giving their time and energy. Maybe they won't be able to work another job. They're utilizing their social media platforms for supporting The Team.

That's I think a way to try to think through our leadership program and some of our other resources that this is transformational, not transactional, and we're trying to work directly with the student-athletes in a way that we were not allowed to before NIL. So I think there's actually an immense opportunity for NIL to be a very positive thing to support just not a student-athlete but support the campus and support the community by empowering student-athletes and working directly with them.

JESSICA KEARNEY: Yeah, that's great, that's great. Another one coming in and Scott maybe we can start with you. Can you recall a time when you saw the impact of your efforts come to life and inspire others?

SCOTT MCKENZIE: Yeah. This one's really fitting. So I've been going to these SAAC groups. We went to the Juvenile Justice Center last year. So it was like a test run, see how it'd go if it would be something that we could continue to do. And after the experience, we met as a group of 40 athletes, the 10 SAAC reps from each school tell us about your experience in the Juvenile Justice Center. Did you have any interactions? Does anyone want to share?

After a couple-- a lady from TSU, Tennessee State University, had spoken about a young juvenile delinquent female that said, "After our conversation, I really want to become a athlete at TSU. I would love to come out of this place and strive to be a collegiate athlete." And I've used that story so many times over the past five weeks when going to these SAACs to get them to understand the influence.

And she was talking about how much of a profound impact that had on her as an athlete. And she didn't think that this would be the discourse she was having or the impact she was having with these juvenile youths. So that was an immediate impact from going to the Juvenile Justice Center using their influence and understanding that influence.

JESSICA KEARNEY: That's great. Yeah, that's like the epitome of what you're trying to reach right there. And Miah, what about you?

MIAH REYES: So a lot of what I do on campus is yes, we do inspire people but it really is to give information and resources out to people. So one thing that I help with on campus is giving out scholarships to students who are doing internships in public service. And so I think that is something that I can see my-- the impact of my efforts in that.

We do a preliminary information on them. We ask them to fill out a survey and then we do a post-survey with them as well and to see the impact that they had where their internship was. I think that is really what brings me happiness and what really inspires myself to continue doing this work on my campus.

We've had people do insane things. This past summer we had a young student who went to London and worked at the history there. And that is an act of public service. And they were able to find World War II memorabilia and return it to those families.

JESSICA KEARNEY: Wow.

MIAH REYES: And just to be able to read their story about that was fantastic. We also have stuff that do microservice with homing initiatives, affordable house care, affordable health care, stuff like that, and be able to see the impact they have in these small communities. It's really fantastic and it really motivates me to continue to push and to fundraise to be able to have this money to allow them to do their public service internships.

JESSICA KEARNEY: That's fantastic. Joe, as we're reaching the top of the hour, can you leave us an inspirational note and also maybe just a look ahead at what's coming up for The Team. I know you showed your four main programs for 2024, but what are you looking forward to down the road here?

JOE KENNEDY: Well, I'll start with this. I'd like to just make sure I stress again I think hopefully, some of the things we're talking about today when people think about democracy at the local level and their community and how to make a difference, this idea of showing up for each other is really important, being positive and optimistic, and then ultimately thinking about having this common goal even if we're coming at it from a diverse set of backgrounds.

That's what a team’s is doing all the time. And if that transfers into our discourse and into our civics and into our democracy, that's only going to be a positive. We're not going to agree on everything, but if we're coming at it and showing up in a positive way and in an optimistic way and having some empathy for people in the conversation, I think that's really important.

For The Team, I think you see with Miah and Scotty, they're just amazing leaders right now. And they're going to be impactful leaders the rest of their lives. And so anywhere that we can try to support student-athletes across the country to continue to grow their confidence and their skills and their experiences to be the leaders of tomorrow, I think that's a great thing for our country, for our communities and for our democracy because I know that they can continue to lead in a positive way.

The last thing I'll say is I think for folks that are on the call too of just thinking about what can you do. I think there's so many ways to take that first small step, one is just trying to vote and participate in local elections. We always think of big four-year presidential elections, but there's so many opportunities to participate in democracy at the local level that affects your life more than the presidential. And so I think that's so important being able to research those things on the ballot.

Two is there's always great opportunities to be a poll worker or try to support your local election process, which is great. Three is just volunteering for a local nonprofit or a local community group is really, really powerful and helpful to help those folks. And then lastly, I just thought-- four was if you do have something you're passionate about, take that step to go get the ball moving and create something around that.

You've got the agency and the power to do that. And hopefully, some of the stories of what Miah and Scotty are doing on campus can highlight that we all have that power within us to take that first step to really tackle an issue that we're passionate about.

JESSICA KEARNEY: Joe, Scott, Miah, thank you so much for spending the hour with us. Thank you for sharing your stories. This has been really informational, and I hope very practical for the folks in the audience. We appreciate your time. Keep doing what you're doing inspiring others, and we look forward to hearing more about your stories and where you end up as you go through the rest of your college athlete careers.

So thank you again for the time with us. Thank you to everyone in our audience for joining us today. I'm going to close the program today just with a quick preview of a few other programs that we have coming up that you might be interested in, we'd love for you to join us.

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Text, CITIZEN TRAVELERS AT THE TRAVELERS INSTITUTE, A SERIES ON CIVIC ENGAGEMENT. Upcoming Webinars: April 3 - 2024 Economic Pulse: Legislative, Industry and Business Trends. April 8 - How Technology Innovations are Improving Distracted Driving Data. Register: Travelers Institute dot-org. 

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So a few programs you'll see here on screen. Please join us on April 3. We're going to shift gears a little bit. We're going to talk about the 2024 Economic Pulse-- Legislative, Industry and Business Trends coming up and how that can help your business and your clients ahead for the rest of the year. 

And then on April 8, a few of us are heading out to Denver, Colorado, to the Lifesavers Conference, one of the largest gathering of roadway safety professionals across the U.S. So we're going to be livestreaming a program from on-site at the conference called Painting a Clearer Picture-- How Technology Innovations are Improving Distracted Driving Data. So we're going to dig into distracted driving, telematics, what some of that data is telling us, and how it can help us improve roadway safety trends moving forward.

So details for all these programs are in the chat. Thank you again to our speakers and to you, our audience, for joining us. I hope you have a great afternoon. Thank you.

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Text, Watch Replays: Travelers Institute dot-org. Text next to the LinkedIn logo reads, Connect. Janice G. Brunner. Text, Take Our Survey. Link in chat. Hashtag CitizenTravelers. Text, CITIZEN TRAVELERS AT THE TRAVELERS INSTITUTE, A SERIES ON CIVIC ENGAGEMENT.