Health, Sport, and Physical Education Archives - è��ͷ�� University

Sherika Montgomery ’09

è��ͷ�� University — Sun, 02 Aug 2020 21:17:57 +0000

è��ͷ�� offered student-athlete a place to grow in her faith and determine career goals

“My time at GWU taught me to be adaptable and to be grounded in my faith. I had to trust the process. God put me at GWU for a reason—in this environment that was going to allow me to really appreciate my faith more than ever.”

As a student-athlete at è��ͷ�� University, Sherika Montgomery appreciated everything the University administration, faculty, staff and coaches did to help her succeed in the classroom and on the basketball court. After GWU, she worked seven years in the Big South Conference Office, where she was most recently Assistant Commissioner and Senior Woman Administrator. In those roles, she helped set policies, but she’s been waiting for a chance to work directly with student-athletes on a college campus.

When Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., offered her a job as associate athletic director for student success, she couldn’t wait to get started. “This was an opportunity for me to get on campus and provide some of that service and experience that was provided to me as a student-athlete,” Montgomery shared. “Now I’m able to give back.”

Montgomery is excited to be at Winthrop, working with her colleagues to provide services to more than 320 student-athletes. She oversees compliance, academic services, life skills, and all initiatives tied to student-athlete wellness. Her duties also include sport oversight for multiple sports as well as oversight of strength and conditioning and athletic training. She serves on the Winthrop University Scholarship Committee and the search committee for the Winthrop University Vice President for Student Affairs/Life. Off campus, she will continue to serve as chair of the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics. She is also on the board of directors for Project Life Movement, a national initiative to increase the number of bone morrow and tissue donors by testing and registering college students. Under her leadership, students from across all 10 Big South Conference institutions have registered. In 2016, Presbyterian College’s student-athlete Aaron Lesiak helped save a life with his donation.

Montgomery earned a bachelor’s degree in sport management with a minor in recreation from GWU in 2009 and her master’s in sport science/pedagogy in 2011. Through her undergraduate studies, playing basketball and serving on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), Montgomery realized all the careers in sports available to her. “Once I got into my academic career and really understood the significance of being able to go to college on a full athletic scholarship,” Montgomery related, “I knew that sports management was a realm that I would like to learn more about and learn the different career fields and opportunities. I could potentially see myself providing the same impact and opportunity that was provided to me.”

Originally from Plantersville, Miss., Montgomery chose another college over GWU her first year. GWU Head Women’s Basketball Coach Rick Reeves had attempted to recruit her, but she didn’t want to be almost 10 hours away from her family. After that year, she realized her mistake and transferred to GWU, knowing NCAA rules would require her to sit out a year from playing basketball.

“My time at GWU taught me to be adaptable and to be grounded in my faith,” she revealed. “I had to trust the process. God put me at GWU for a reason—in this environment that was going to allow me to really appreciate my faith more than ever. Every practice, every conditioning time, every time the basketball team came together, we started with prayer. It was so comforting to know that regardless of what we were going through we always had our faith and a place for our faith to be evident.”

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Jody Brent Raduly ‘91

è��ͷ�� University — Sun, 02 Aug 2020 19:59:54 +0000

Alumnus goes back to GWU for degree in Physical Education

“All of my professors truly cared about my success in academics as well as my success in life. I was not just taking a class that these individuals were teaching. These individuals were placed in my path to guide me to meet my greatest potential as a future teacher in health and physical education as well as an industrious person in society.”

Jody Brent Raduly of Boiling Springs, N.C., has three degrees from è��ͷ�� University. While his focus changed from studying business to physical education, he discovered that all GWU professors cared about helping him achieve his goals.

“I was not just taking a class that these individuals were teaching,” Raduly reflected. “They were placed in my path to guide me to meet my greatest potential as a future teacher in health and physical education as well as an industrious person in society. This guidance was not always just based on knowledge of content but also adoption of character.”

He received his first degree in 1991 in business administration with a minor in economics and social science. He took a job after graduation, but found he didn’t like working in an office. He wanted a job where he could be more active. After learning more about the physical education program at GWU, he spoke with Dr. Dee Hunt, retired vice president of Student Development and former chair of the Department of Health, Sport and Physical Education.

“Dr. Hunt advised me on what route to take to get back into school and assisted me in setting this new journey in motion,” Raduly shared. “She was the commanding force in the department with a big heart for all of her students. Then, her guidance impacted my learning and career choice greatly, and now she still serves an important role in my life and the life of my family.”

Other professors prepared him for student teaching and his own classroom. One demonstrated how to reach all learning styles and the other gave him resources that he still uses with his classes today. When he received his physical education licensure in 1999, Raduly was confident in his abilities. “The journey of education at è��ͷ�� thoroughly prepared me to be a great beginning teacher with the knowledge that learning as a teacher is lifetime,” he related. “These experiences had the right amount of classroom preparation, content acquisition, and field experiences in the real setting. There did not seem to be anything that came my way, from lesson planning to classroom management, that I was not prepared to handle immediately or with supervising/cooperating teacher guidance.”

Raduly earned his master’s in sport science and pedagogy from GWU in 2007 and supports his alma mater by hosting GWU students in his classroom. He has been teaching nearly 20 years at Boiling Springs Elementary School, a pre-K through fifth-grade school with approximately 550 students. Each student gets physical education twice a week for 45-minute sessions. “Teaching physical education affords me the opportunity to do something I am passionate about which is helping future generations to learn the importance of lifelong activity,” he remarked. “A big part of my program focuses on health-related fitness.”

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Kyndal Davis ’15

è��ͷ�� University — Sun, 02 Aug 2020 00:58:04 +0000

GWU Alumna enjoys chance to work with every student in her school

“They would also give us different scenarios that have happened or could happen and we had to figure out how to adjust accordingly. We had to practice thinking on our feet all the time. We also taught various lessons to our peers and we got the opportunity to teach at local elementary and middle schools.”

Nearly 700 students attend the elementary school in Chapel Hill, N.C., where Kyndal Davis ’15 teaches physical education. The è��ͷ�� University alumna sees them all twice a week. “I love that I get to see and work with all of the kids in the school,” Davis asserted. “I know pretty much every student from kindergarten all the way through fifth grade.”

The opportunity to work with different age groups led Davis to switch her major to physical education at the end of her sophomore year at GWU. “I had worked with children of all ages and simply couldn’t choose just one age group to work with,” Davis reflected. “I had been an athlete all my life, and I loved movement of any kind. I was never good at sitting still. I took a movement class for elementary teachers, which is truly what sparked my interest in changing majors.”

As she stands before groups with 32 to 50 children, Davis remembers the advice her professors gave most often. “Dr. Shonna Snyder, Mrs. Sara McNeely and Dr. Ken Baker preached about the importance of flexibility,” Davis affirmed. “You can’t get all bent out of shape if something doesn’t go the way you wanted it to or if you can’t do what you had originally planned. You keep a good attitude, make the necessary adjustments, and move on.”

She began her job with confidence, because of the real-life teaching situations Snyder and McNeely gave in class. “They would ask us the craziest, most off-the-wall questions that students had asked them or other teachers,” Davis recalled. “They would also give us different scenarios that have happened or could happen and we had to figure out how to adjust accordingly. We had to practice thinking on our feet all the time. We also taught various lessons to our peers and we got the opportunity to teach at local elementary and middle schools.”

Professors offered feedback on how she could improve her lesson plans and were always available if she had questions about certain topics. “I loved the è��ͷ�� community and how everyone looked out for everyone,” Davis observed. “Your professors and other staff members see you as an individual, not just a student. If I needed help in a class or if something was going on in my personal life, my friends, classmates or professors were always there for me. I still talk with my professors and several of the friends I made at è��ͷ�� on a regular basis. I received more than just a degree from è��ͷ��; I gained a family for life.”

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