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Select Student-Athletes, Staff To Participate In Summer DEI Trips

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Select University of Iowa student-athletes and staff will participate in three Diversity, Equity and Inclusion trips throughout summer break, including the Black Student-Athlete Summit, LGBTQ+ Symposium and Big Life Series” Selma to Montgomery.

Iowa football’s Brenden Desfernades and AJ Ediger of women’s basketball will travel to Los Angeles and the campus of the University of Southern California on May 21 to attend the Black Student-Athlete Summit where 46 student-athletes and 26 professionals from the Big Ten will be in attendance.

Students will participate in a “Pro Day” and the Playfly Sports Career Combine, which aims to provide students will career development opportunities. Holston will lead a presentation during the research symposium titled “Let’s Talk About It: How Roe v. Wade will Disproportionately Impact Black Female Student Athletes.”

Seth Schrock (Cheer/Spirit), Ryan Ruckdaschel (Director of Operations, WGym), Lowell McNicholas (Assistant Coach, Rowing), Anthony Embry (DEI Coordinator) and Holston will attend the LGBTQ+ Symposium on May 31 at the Big Ten Headquarters in Rosemont, Illinois. Hawkeye representatives will connect with attendees and participate in panel discussions and breakout groups.

“We as a department understand that our students learn best through experience and want to continue to provide opportunities to engage in experiential learning. This summer we will offer three opportunities for our students to engage with other student-athletes across the nation and explore their own values and identities while learning about diversity, equity and inclusion. I am excited to watch these scholars grow and develop from this experience and empower their peers to be change makers.”

Assistant AD, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’s Lorenda Holston

Four female student-athletes, Myah Lugar (rowing), Harper Dunne and Mary Jane McNary (field hockey) and Alli Bookin-Nosbisch (track & field/XC) will participate in the Big Life Series: Selma to Montgomery, July 14-16.

Student-athletes, coaches, administrators and Big Ten Conference staff members will travel through Selma and Montgomery, Alabama, for a civil rights movement educational experience. Student-athletes will visit various museums such as Rosa Park, Freedom Riders, Alabama State, Alabama Archives, Civil Rights Memorial Center and the option to visit The National Memorial for Peace and Justice as well as march from Selma’s First Baptist Church across Edmund Pettus Bridge.

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