CARMEL, IND. - Ten students were able to attend the 2025 NCAA National Convention in Nashville, Tenn. in mid-January thanks to a grant provided by NCAA Division III through the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference.

During the week, the students participated in a wide variety of events with other Division III student-athletes from around the country. The student-atheltes also participated in an event with Special Olympics Tennessee. During that event, they played cornhole, danced, and made friendship bracelets with the Special Olympic athletes. 

Some of the participating students shared their thoughts on some of their favorite memories at Convention. 

Jerneisha Lewis - Berea College - Track & Field - Senior - "The NCAA Convention in itself was just amazing! However, if I have to choose my favorite part about the NCAA Convention, it was the Social Mixer for the DIII athletes. I had so much fun there and it was not like what I expected it to be (which was great). The people there were lively, energetic, excited, and just a joy to be around and embrace. I made so many new friends that night that I am still talking to weeks after the convention happened. I also loved that everybody there was a student-athlete. Sometimes it can be hard for some people to make new friends while being an athlete because you have conflicting schedules with those who don't do sports like practices, competitions, community engagement opportunities, etc, so being able to connect on that level with these other students and having a mutual and relatable understanding on that was awesome!"

Alexis Gibson - Earlham College - Track & Field - Senior - "My favorite part of the convention was the opening award ceremony. Listening to the President of the NCAA speech was a morale-boosting piece that honestly made me hopeful for women's sports in the future. But really, it was listening to all of the stories of the award winners.  Different backstories, genders, and races, but they were all great people with great goals for humanity and cultures."

Charlotte Green - Transylvania University - Women's Lacrosse, Swimming & Diving - Senior - "My favorite part of the convention was the leadership Session on Wednesday with all of the D3 athletes. I believe the presenter's name was Raven Smith. She was very entertaining and had some great things to say and advice to take to our teams back home."

Two students were able to participate in additional programming through the Division III Student Immersive program and the D-III National SAAC representative. 

Alpha Diop - Berea College - Men's Basketball - Sophomore - Immersive Student Program - "My favorite part of the 2025 Student Immersion Program was the late-night networking event with sports administrators and leaders. I connected with a wide range of different people in the association, with each advising me on my current trajectory towards my ambitions. As Berea College’s first ever representative at the Student Immersion Program at the 2025 NCAA Convention, I had no idea what I was going to be getting into when nominated, accepted, and while preparing. I was confident that this experience would solidify the foundation of my goal of working in sports leadership. The welcoming ceremony and various meetings and speeches with notable members of the NCAA community were the most memorable moments of my first ever conference. The ability to learn from these figures, who were wearing the shoes that I aspire to wear in my future career, was truly groundbreaking. Meeting consultants from the leadership and development fields, marketing, and communications, and even directors and commissioners of the NCAA, gave me perspective and insight on what my career field expects from me. Overall, the NCAA Convention and Student Immersion Program were life changing experiences as a sophomore student athlete, and I am absolutely grateful for having the opportunity to represent my school and community!"

Arturo Casas - Manchester University - Baseball - Senior - D-III National SAAC Represenative - It was a great honor to represent the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference at this year's NCAA national convention held in Nashville Tennessee. While it was a very busy week, it was also very rewarding to see our work at national SAAC be shown off throughout the whole association. Our first two days with SAAC we had Division III updates from our vice president, Louise McLeary, and managing director, Bill Regan, who helped us understand the landscape of our Division and how much work is going on for all Student-athletes. An association wide update with the NCAA president, Charlie Baker(I got his autograph!!) Where we learned about issued from litigation and the separation between all three divisions. Many more updates from very important people that do so much for all of us. We also went over legislation and how we were going to communicate SAAC's position in our conference meetings. Wednesday morning we started with a joint breakfast with President Council and Management committee about sports betting giving our insight to two of the highest committees within Division III. We then had a joint luncheon with DI and DII SAAC to discuss how we should communicate with the board of governors. Shortly after we went to set up one of my favorite parts of the week, the special Olympics event where we had corn hole, friendship bracelet making, volleyball, and so much dancing. We had the longest conga line I've ever seen and we did some line dancing! That and evening the woman of the year award was held and a Division III athlete won! After a small but much needed break, National SAAC held an amazing student- athlete social mixer where we had music trivia and more dancing to end the night. Thursday was much lighter, we started with the issues forum where all Division III membership joined together to discuss problems within the division and how to go about them.  After this every conference held their administrators meeting to discuss how every school should vote for the business session. This was my favorite part of the whole trip because I was able to provide a SAAC update and be the student-athhlete voice. We are very lucky in the Heartland to have administrators who care and listen to what the students think, we are a very important part of the legislation process. This is why SAAC is so very important. Friday was very short, it was the business session where all of the legislation went to a vote and everything was voted in. This was the end of our very long but very positive and insightful week full of amazing people and experiences.