Wake Forest Student-Athletes Receive Industry Insights From Truist Experts
2/20/2023 8:00:00 AM | General, Les Johns
Eight Demon Deacons recently traveled to Charlotte to connect with Truist executives at the Innovation and Technology Center.
While the new Truist Innovation and Technology Center demonstrates the core company value that "collaboration breeds innovation," Wake Forest University President Susan R. Wente, Ph.D. has consistently highlighted what she calls "radical collaboration" during her tenure.
So it's only natural to see Truist and Wake Forest work together in ways that benefit both, such as the mid-January career trek to Charlotte taken by eight Demon Deacon student-athletes.
The group was able to visit Truist headquarters and the new Innovation and Technology Center, while also meeting with senior-level staff in effort to gain insight about potential career paths.
"We have a great relationship with Truist," said Arin Dunn, Senior Associate Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Development. "We want to find unique ways to provide professional development opportunities for student-athletes. This was a great chance to bring them down and get them introduced to the great folks at Truist and learn about the various career opportunities in their organization.
"Even further than that, they were able to connect with the different individuals along their career interest at Truist. We were able to gather eight student-athletes who had interest in the financial space. Truist did a great job of organizing executives who were in those areas of interest, and the student-athletes got to spend one-on-one time with those people."
Wake Forest football student-athletes DeVonte Gordon, Malik Mustapha, Chase Jones, Taylor Morin and Michael Jurgens were joined by Kaia Harrison and Olivia Summiel of women's basketball and Garrison Tubbs of men's soccer.
"We had a group of student-athletes we really wanted to pilot this with," Dunn said. "It was the first time this had been done, and with the level of folks they would be meeting with, we thought it was important to have an elite-level student-athlete; in terms of athletics, academics, and leadership and development.
"They're the cream of the crop. They get it done in the classroom and on the field, but also in terms of leadership. This is an example of what tremendous, well-rounded student-athletes we have here at Wake Forest."
Summiel, a senior captain on the women's basketball team, was brought on the excursion late, not completely knowing what she was signing up for at the time.
"I didn't know what to expect, but it ended up being a really rewarding experience," she said. "I got to meet some of the senior-level management at Truist. We got to see their innovation center and tour their beautiful facilities.
"They really value teamwork and refer to each other as teammates. They had a mini basketball hoop in the office and had us get some shots up while we were there. It was great. We talked about the future beyond sports and what Truist has to offer. They offer a wide variety of potential career paths. After lunch, we had an opportunity for one-on-one breakouts with upper-level Truist personnel. That was my favorite part of the trip. Overall, it was an awesome experience and exemplifies what the student-athlete experience is like at Wake Forest."
With sprawling open spaces and a creative, collaborative atmosphere, the new Innovation and Technology Center didn't have the stuffy office vibe that Tubbs might have expected.
"Their setup was amazing," he said. "I was astonished when I walked in and saw their Charlotte headquarters. It was nothing like I expected. It was very updated and modern. It seems like an amazing environment to work in daily, that encourages creativity and inspiration.
"Meeting with the leaders there was great, just learning what it's like to work at Truist. Hearing the advice was a big selling point for the trip as well. I met with a leader in their insurance department. I wanted to get to know more about how that department runs, and that was an interesting time. I got to share that experience with Chase Jones, and listening to them go back-and-forth was illuminating."
Wake Forest Director of Athletics John Currie chatted with the group of student-athletes as they prepared for the journey, then made the trip down to Charlotte with them.
"It was a special experience and exemplifies the type of World Class Student-Athlete Experience we provide at Wake Forest," Currie said. "We had a great partner in Truist with [chief retail and small business banking officer] Dontá Wilson and his entire team, who worked with eight incredible student-athletes who are dialed in on career opportunities and leveraging the platform they have at Wake Forest."
In listening to feedback from the group on the way back to Winston-Salem, Dunn came away convinced that the one-on-one time with industry leaders was perhaps the most impactful time experienced.
"We got a great overview of what they're doing, and got an incredible tour of their facilities," Dunn said. "We had a great lunch and then our student-athletes had that vital one-on-one time with Truist leadership in their specific career interest. It was a good opportunity for student-athletes to be in that space and learn about the organization, but also to get some real insight in the spaces they are looking at pursuing from a career perspective.
"In a one-on-one setting, you get the opportunity to ask the real questions. You get to hear their story and experiences better. The real connection and engagement is done in those one-on-one sessions, so that was huge."
While eight Wake Forest student-athletes had the opportunity to learn more about their prospective careers from dynamic leaders at an industry leader, folks at Truist may have gotten a brief glimpse at some who could make an impact in their organization down the road.
"We also wanted it to be meaningful and impactful for the folks at Truist as well," Dunn said. "They were taking time out of their day and schedules to spend time with our student-athletes. In the end, they didn't want us to leave, and were asking for more time. We got great feedback from them, and they loved the time they got to spend with our student-athletes.
"One of the most important things for us is developing our student-athletes holistically. We want to ensure we are providing career development opportunities. This was a great opportunity to do that. Connecting our student-athletes with world class organizations like Truist to be able to provide those experiential opportunities is extremely important in terms of their development. When we talk about a World Class Student-Athlete Experience, these are the types of opportunities that are the building blocks of that."
Not only did these eight Wake Forest student-athletes learn directly from industry leaders at Truist, they were also able to bond with each other through this shared experience; making the ride back home to Winston-Salem all that much more illuminating.
"Although we're all competing in different sports and our day-to-day all looks different, a lot of the conversations we're having in our locker rooms are similar," Summiel said. "It was eye opening that even though our sports are different, we're all going through a lot of the same things. It was great to connect on that level with fellow Wake Forest student-athletes.
"It was a rewarding experience and gave us a chance to reflect on what life looks like after the ball stops bouncing. Our day-to-day time right now gets taken up by so many things, whether that's class, practice, weights or a lot of homework. To have this experience and give that time to our career was really important and necessary. Having this professional development opportunity was helpful."
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