Oct. 28, 2015 WASHINGTON - Over this past weekend, the Cooper Athletics Leadership Program (CALP) hosted a couple of events for Georgetown University student-athletes. A small group took part in the Captains' Council Retreat in Gettysburg, Pa., while, on Sunday, a screening of The Hunting Ground and conversation took place about effective advocacy and cultural change.

Captains' Council Retreat
On Friday, six captains from four different teams -- Jordan Portner of men's tennis, Victoire Saperstein of women's tennis, Savannah Kochinke and Abigail Reinhold of women's rowing and Grace Appelbe and Taylor Henry from softball - drove to Gettysburg for two days to learn about the leadership lessons of the Battle of Gettysburg that turned the Civil War. Three classroom sessions that emphasized key themes that connect Jesuit, athletic and battlefield leadership were interspersed with a chronological walk over the battlefield locations where important events took place. Marine Colonel Doug Douds, a military historian at the Army War College and authority on the Civil War, did an extraordinary job of telling the story of the major characters and helping the student-athletes to connect their leadership challenges to the lessons of the battle.

UCanBU
On Sunday, the entire student-athlete population gathered in Gaston Hall for a screening of "The Hunting Ground" and conversation about effective advocacy and cultural change using the student-athlete platform. The conversation was led by panelists from Men Can Stop Rape, Health Education Services, Break the Cycle, Georgetown's CAPS, and the Network for Victim Recovery.

UCanBU is the component of the CALP that addresses proactive leadership education on sociocultural risk issues. Georgetown believes that educating student-athletes about their opportunities to be change makers and influencers in their community is a vital component of leadership training. UCanBU strives to teach young people about critical issues, giving them opportunities to reflect individually and in groups and exposing them to different perspectives. This gives them the best possible chance to authentically explore and express every aspect of their student, athlete and social identities as they develop their unique leadership identities.