By Jenny Scherer, WLA Director of Communications

In mid-August, in preparation for the new school year, 25 of the Warhawk Leadership Academy's Veteran Warhawks made a trip to Camp Douglas for a leadership development retreat.
 
The Veteran Warhawks compile a large group of sophomore, junior and senior student-athletes at UW-Whitewater who have expressed a desire to mentor underclassmen Rising Warhawk student-athletes and further hone their leadership skills.
 
The retreat, held in collaboration with the National Guard, featured several challenge course activities and team-building exercises throughout the day. Each of these activities were designed to help this year's record number of 85 Veteran Warhawks from fifteen different sports get to know one another better. Both the Veteran and Rising Warhawk programs are a part of the Warhawk Leadership Academy, now in its third year.
 
Senior cross country/track and field student-athlete Liz Mielke is the president of the Warhawk Leadership Academy, and senior football student-athlete Jack Deichl is the president of UW-Whitewater's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
 
"The Veteran Warhawk program really helps our young guys get acclimated to balancing all the demands of life as a student and athlete," Deichl said. "It also give the upperclassmen an avenue to develop leadership skills for life after college."
 
Junior Kelley Berk of the volleyball team is the SAAC vice president.
 
"Veteran Warhawks form a crucial bridge for educating our future Student-Athlete Advisory Committee reps," Berk said. "Each team has a sophomore, junior and senior voting member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee governance group."
 
The Veteran Warhawks will play a large role in mentoring freshmen Rising Warhawks as they take part in this fall's Identity Development for First-Year Student-Athletes course taught by Dr. Kristina Navarro, Associate Professor and Associate Athletic Director for Student Development and Strategic Initiatives. The course meets once per week for eight weeks and consists of a real talk lecture session and then small-group discussion with groups of approximately fifteen Rising Warhawks, each led by three Veteran Warhawks. The discussions focus on topics such as nutrition, mental health, social identity development as students and athletes and campus culture. The kickoff for this year's Rising and Veteran Warhawk programs is set for Tuesday, Sept. 12, in Timmerman Auditorium. 
 
The Warhawk Leadership Academy (WLA), launched in the fall of 2015, develops, challenges and supports student-athletes to become world class leaders in athletics, academics and life. The Leadership Academy provides comprehensive and cutting-edge leadership development programming through interactive workshops, practical leadership experience and intentional career development programming. For more information on the WLA, visit here.