Brandywine student travels to Nashville for NCAA Convention

MEDIA, Pa. — Karly Rees, a fourth-year business major, recently made the 700-mile plane ride to Nashville with Regional Chancellor Marilyn J. Wells and Director of Athletics Bobbi Caprice to attend the NCAA Convention. The convention, which ran from Jan. 14 to 17, allowed thousands of NCAA student-athletes across Divisions I, II and III to connect, attend educational workshops, honor achievements and more.

As a former softball player and current president of the Penn State Brandywine Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC), Rees was thrilled to represent the campus and the United East Conference.

“It was super cool to be able to talk about how athletics departments work on each of our campuses, issues we might be having and how the whole conference or division handles certain topics. Having insight on the business part of how those things work on the back end was very informative as a student,” she said.

“I’m the first from Brandywine to go to a conference like this, which is only the beginning for our campus. I’m hoping this experience will help expand SAAC so student-athletes can see what opportunities they can take advantage of if they join.”

Rees first learned she was able to attend the NCAA Convention in the fall at a United East SAAC meeting, where it was mentioned that students could apply to be delegates at the conference.

“When I was told that I could apply to go to the NCAA Convention, I jumped at the opportunity. I explained in my application that I would love to represent Brandywine, and even though I’m not playing this year, I have so much care for our Brandywine Athletics and wanted to see SAAC succeed on our campus,” she said.

Some of the highlights from Rees’ trip to the NCAA Convention included a Division III student mixer and an event with the Special Olympics. She said she enjoyed spending time with the kids from the Special Olympics and playing cornhole, making bracelets and dancing.

“One of the highlights from my time at the NCAA Convention was definitely the Special Olympics. That was one of my favorite parts of it. We were able to hang out with the kids for a couple of hours, playing games with them and making bracelets. I had never done anything like that before, so that was really cool,” she said.

“We also had a Division III student mixer, which was fun because that was a bonding experience for all the athletes in that division. It was a really unique event because I was able to connect with student-athletes from all over the country.”

Rees noted she benefited greatly from the conference, saying she was able to form relationships with so many people in the United East.

“One of the biggest benefits I got from going to the NCAA Convention was how many people I met and the relationships I was able to build. I met a lot of students in the United East and now we’re all friends,” she said. “We really bonded over the experience and I really enjoyed connecting with them at and outside of the convention. Because I went to the NCAA Convention, I now have a bigger network of friends and people I can reach out to, whether personally or professionally.”

The next NCAA Convention will be in Jan. 2026 in Washington, D.C.