Photo by Shane Farrell.
This week I got to sit down and talk with senior Jackson Straughan. Straughan is a captain on the track and field team and was a captain this fall of the football team. He was also a CORE leader last year as well as this year. Straughan, a thrower for the track team, is very excited to see what the last part of the season holds!
Shane Farrell: How has being a captain of the football team transferred over to being a senior leader on the track team?
Jackson Straughan: For me, my leadership on the football team was more of a lead by example including doing the little things right all the time, making sure I was on time and being responsible. I think that carried over into track and helped me maintain a leadership role with my track teammates. Being the only senior thrower, it has been a huge part with a lot of younger guys in the program. It is important to set a tone and expectations.
SF: How would you describe your leadership style?
JS: Like I said before, leading by example is very important; however, I like to be very personable. Especially with my throwers, I like to see and know how they are doing, making sure they are staying on top of their school work and making sure they aren’t too stressed out, because that will inhibit their ability to perform at their best. And, if some problem arises, I am the one to pull them aside and try to help them out.
SF: How has your season and the team’s season been going?
JS: It has been going really well! I’m excited to see what we can do leading up to the Midwest Conference Championships. We are definitely going to surprise some people at conference. Both the men and women took fifth out of eleven teams. There was some serious competition there too.
SF: What do you plan to do after college?
JS: I will be taking a gap year. I will continue to work with CVS as a pharmacy technician and take some supplementary classes to build up my application to apply to pharmacy schools.
SF: Will you take any of the skills from being a captain into the post-college world?
JS: Yes, definitely! A lot of schools ask for a personal essay along with the application. I regularly talked in those essays about my participation and leadership on the football team, track team and as a CORE leader. Those experiences really helped me prepare for those questions.