Kansas City, Kan. (June 25, 2010) – St. Thomas University Athletics recently agreed to a multi-year partnership with Career Athletes.  The partnership between Career Athletes and the St. Thomas athletic department provides a national representation of unique networking opportunities and career development resources for current and alumni athletes. St. Thomas University Director of Athletics, Laura Courtley-Todd stated, “We are very excited to partner with Career Athletes.  The connection to online tools and exposure to employers is a huge boost to providing the necessary resources for our student-athletes to succeed off the field/court.  Further, the mentoring opportunities to engage with former student-athletes are priceless.  We feel this partnership will also reunite our alums and allow them to engage with their former teammates, as well as the current student-athletes.  The total concept of Career Athletes is exciting and I know it will be a great addition to our campus.”

This Online Career Community Network will provide benefits such as mentoring, professional networking, virtual career coaching and 12 years of best practices from the leading and largest career services organization assisting athletes, athletic departments and campus career centers.  The St. Thomas University “Community Network” consists of current and alumni athletes from the institution as well as local, regional and national employers all managed and monitored by Career Athletes at its home office in the Kansas City area.  Individual members of Career Athletes are also able to network with over 65,000 former college athletes from across the nation while having access to over 5,000 career opportunities exclusive to www.careerathletes.com. 

DJ Washington at Career Athletes explains that beyond an athletic department's initiative assisting with career opportunities and educational resources, it also helps when there is already a foundation on campus toward academic success.  “We are pleased to assist St. Thomas University Athletics with its commitment toward career development of athletes, but it is also just as important to recognize the program's culture of achievement in community service, academic performance and athletic success,” shared Washington, Vice President, Career Education and Training.  St. Thomas University is no stranger to success as indicated by these additional achievements:

·         33 student-athletes achieved Sun Conference All-Academic honors while 20 were Scholar All-Americans this past year

·         St. Thomas produced 10 Players of the Week, 1 Player of the Year, and 1 Champion of Character Athlete Award winner

·         7 St. Thomas teams earned NAIA Scholar Team awards for achieving above a 3.0 cumulative GPA

·         St. Thomas produced 8 All-Conference First Team and 5 All-Conference Second Team members

·         Women's Basketball qualified for its first National Tournament, only three seasons into the program

·         Men's Tennis qualified for its second appearance at the National Tournament

·         Men's Golf had a freshman athlete qualify for their National Tournament

St. Thomas University student-athletes are also actively involved in several community services projects throughout the Miami and Miami Gardens area. In addition, the student-athletes and coaches are very engaged with the NAIA's Champions of Character, following its credo of respect, responsibility, integrity, sportsmanship and servant leadership. In building the St. Thomas Athletics program, the University opened a 62,000 sq ft Fernandez Family Center for Leadership & Wellness, in October, 2009. This is the campus's first gymnasium and official home to Bobcat Athletics.

We encourage all current and former student-athletes to register for this free service at www.careerathletes.com