Note: The following appears in the NC State football gameday program.
Although the industry of college football has and will continue to undergo rapid and groundbreaking evolution, P.A.W. Journey is resolute in its belief that holistic development is what Clemson’s football scholar-athletes need to achieve and acquire success and fulfillment now and beyond football. Each young man who becomes a part of this team continues to experience the empowerment they need to grow, lead and win on the field and in every aspect of their lives, no matter what happens with NIL, revenue sharing, the transfer portal or the College Football Playoff.
In the midst of an abundance of change, P.A.W. Journey remains the same…the nation’s model program for player relations and student-athlete development, evidenced by the first-class men and world-class leaders who make up Clemson football.
When the vision for P.A.W. Journey is to produce first-class men and world-class leaders, everything they are provided access to is driven by an intent to empower. In player relations, it can be easy to aim to provide an abundance of opportunities and resources. But, empowerment is not about quantity, but intentionality and impact.
Empowerment is defined as authority or power given to someone or something, and the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one’s life and claiming one’s rights. Thus, P.A.W. Journey does not aim for a transfer of power in the form of a plethora of resources for our scholar-athletes. Instead, we maximize the opportunities and resources we provide by ensuring that each young man can utilize what he is exposed to and educated on to take ownership of their lives and the process it takes to create a present and future quality of life characterized by winning.
This form of empowerment was on display when 20 Tiger football scholar-athletes completed a service abroad trip to Cape Town, South Africa in May. Each student served the city’s community by providing physical education to less privileged elementary school kids, and learned about the city’s culture, history and geography.
Tristan Leigh, a P.A.W. Journey ambassador, January’s P.A.T. Man-of-the-Month and winner of the trip’s Work Ethic Award, shared the following.
“You can learn a lot from sitting back and listening. It was fun to see what wisdom everyone brought to the table.”
Leigh’s description of this learning process as being fun is the picture of empowerment. There is nothing greater than a young man seeing opportunities to gain wisdom from others as enjoyable, because no one is able to stop him from getting better and stronger and from being curious and willing to listen.
Hogan Morton, April’s P.A.T. Man-of-the-Month and winner of the trip’s Independence Award, shared his experience in South Africa.
“Every service day with the kids was what I was most excited for.”
Despite the challenging environments the group was exposed to while serving the kids, Morton was empowered. He did not see those days serving as something he had to endure, but rather he saw those days as opportunities to positively impact someone else, no matter how tough their circumstances might be. He knew he had the tools and character to make a difference, and he is now even more confident in his dream of becoming a doctor, because he believes his service-abroad experience taught him more about how to love and serve humanity.
P.A.W. Journey’s annual microinternships are another elite type of empowerment, because each scholar-athlete takes part in the career hiring process from start to finish. They attend resumé and interview preparation seminars to hone how they market themselves to employers in various industries, and they interview and compete against their teammates to secure spots with their companies of interest.
Finally, they experience the fulfillment of a company or companies they interviewed with selecting them to be their intern, or even the frustration of their companies of interest going in a different direction. Everything they do to earn and complete a microinternship gives them access to the skill development they need to become more competent professionals who understand what it takes to be in control of their career trajectory.
“An internship can truly shape a new perspective on your life and what you aspire to do,” said Jamal Anderson, the October 2023 P.A.T. Man-of-the-Month and an intern for First Rate in London. “No matter your age, you should try and go for it.”
Ultimately, the empowerment is in the showing and experiencing moreso than the telling. We can preach how important it is to explore your career aspirations, but providing a scholar-athlete access to the whole experience empowers him to know and believe in it for himself at any age or maturation level.
Also an intern for First Rate, Cade Klubnik, July’s P.A.T. Man-of-the-Month, enjoyed being able to “learn the ins and outs of international business and how to effectively communicate with people all over the world.”
If our scholar-athletes are going to experience true empowerment, they must do the learning for themselves. While in London, Klubnik had to rely on his character, his skills and his ability to adapt and navigate a new industry and country in the present, and ultimately any career pathway he chooses in the future.
P.A.W. Journey is unwavering in its commitment to holistically developing football scholar-athletes so they can establish their own lifestyle of winning. That is why we have highlighted “men” within “empowerment.”
We must see each young man we serve as human first and foremost, so we can empower him with the most impactful and relevant guidance and support for his unique journeys that we cannot live for him, but that he must live for himself.
Whether he makes one dollar or one-million dollars, plays at Clemson for two years or five years or is a scholarship player or walk-on, each young man has access to the tools and experiences that will lead him to become stronger and more confident in himself, his quality of life, both present and future, and his impact on others.
