On 
Tuesday, 18 Panther Athletes attended the Greater Cleveland Athletic Conference’s Leadership Conference at Cleveland Browns Stadium.
Organized by the GCC and sponsored by the Browns Give Back, nearly 140 students from the seven districts that make up the GCC - Brunswick, Cleveland Heights, Euclid, Medina, Mentor, Shaker Heights and Strongsville — along with another 30 athletic department staff attended the all-day conference focused on empowering student-athletes to serve as leaders in their schools, communities and on their teams.
Throughout the day, the student-athletes listened to experts who spoke about leadership and engaged in meaningful discussions about race, diversity, equity and leadership with students from other districts.
Jensen Lewis, a former pitcher for the Cleveland Guardians and current broadcaster, served as the Keynote Speaker. His presentation covered everything from the importance of a college education, to trusting teammates, to smart social media use.
Following Lewis’ keynote, the students participated in group sessions that focused on developing strategies for creating inclusive cultures on their teams and in their schools.
Before lunch, Coach Creel led a short session about leadership, culture and behavior. He emphasized that leaders create culture, culture drives behavior, and behavior produces results.
Following lunch, all the students participated in a large group session, led by Jared Wilson from Shaker Heights High School where he asked students how to foster relationships between teams and schools that are positive and productive.