[caption id="attachment_227" align="alignleft" width="275" caption="Cheering coaches, faculty welcome first-year student-athletes"][/caption]
To kick off the athletic year, all 700 student-athletes from North Central's 22 intercollegiate teams were invited to the sixth annual Huddle at noon on Sept. 17. Cheering coaches, faculty mentors and upperclass student-athletes welcomed first-year athletes into Gregory Arena to the beat of the Red Noise pep band.
Student-athletes heard from President Hal Wilde and Kendra Hunter, head women’s basketball coach, who talked about the meaning and significance of the students’ colored NC Influence T-shirts. Former student-athlete Kam Kniss ’07 gave a keynote talk, encouraging students to take advantage of the many resources and opportunities and to develop relationships with coaches, faculty and mentors. Kniss was North Central’s 2007 Outstanding Senior Man and former football quarterback who broke 14 of the College's 16 passing records and was two-time CCIW Offensive Player of the Year. He was also one of the original founding members of the Athletic Unity Council, known today as Varsity Course and Student-Athlete Mentors (SAMs).
