Former Idaho State volleyball standout and current graduate assistant for Idaho State Student Support Services with Athletics Hayley Farrer-Peterson was selected to take part in the 2018 NCAA Emerging Leaders Seminar (ELS) Jan. 24-26 in Indianapolis.

Farrer-Peterson is one of about 200 current graduate assistants and interns from NCAA membership schools, conference offices and affiliate organizations chosen from a record-breaking applicant pool to take part in the annual seminar at the NCAA headquarters.

“I was absolutely blown away [to have been selected],” Farrer-Peterson said. “I did not expect to get in because they did send an email saying, ‘Hey, we have record-breaking applicants.’ I was like, well, they probably just sent that to say they’ve started the process to deny you.”

Farrer-Peterson received a confirmation email in late December 2017, detailing her acceptance into the seminar. Everything but airfare to and from the event is covered by the NCAA, and the seminar gives Farrer-Peterson the opportunity to meet and network with some of the NCAA’s top leaders, in addition to other eager graduate students dreaming of a career in collegiate athletics.

To apply, Farrer-Peterson said, she had to send in her resume and cover letter, in addition to six essay questions detailing why she wanted to pursue a career in college athletics. Though there was not a face-to-face interview or phone call, Farrer-Peterson said the detail of the application process was more than enough information for the NCAA to adequately select people.

“It was probably a four-week process,” Farrer-Peterson said. “We didn’t even get a response until about a week before Christmas. It was a long process of waiting, but I felt like the questions that were asked were just so detailed and everything that they didn’t need to do any other interviewing.”

According to the NCAA’s website, the ELS provides attendees the opportunity to “explore the role of NCAA governance, including the differences in the divisions and the role of the conference offices, and you also get the opportunity to identify, and network with, key decision makers within college athletics.” For Farrer- Peterson, the opportunity to network was one of the most exciting aspects.

“I think it’s extremely important,” she said. “That’s why I’m so grateful because I feel like I am on the younger side of things, the bottom of the totem pole, which is completely fine. But now, I think it’s who you know. Everybody says that in this world, they’ll maybe open up a job and you can apply for it, but they’ll give it to somebody they know.”

In addition to networking, Farrer-Peterson said that the attendees will be broken up into groups based on personality questionnaires each filled out prior to arriving, given a case study and be asked to come up with a plan of action. At the end of the seminar, each group will present its action plan to an NCAA panel.

“It’s a great opportunity to learn and grow,” Farrer-Peterson said. “That’s one of the things they talked about [in the application process] was kind of your strengths and weaknesses, and how you’re going to contribute. I want to continue to grow in this field because once you stop learning and trying to grow, you’re done.”