As an All-American athlete, former student senate president and a parMentor, senior Katie Thurbon represents Baker in many different ways. During spring break she will represent the United States at an athletic leadership conference in South Korea.

The track and field athlete and Baker Orange reporter was chosen to be the U.S. female representative for student-athletes at the International University Sports Federation forum.

Head track and field coach Zach Kindler said the athletic department had no trouble agreeing on whom to nominate from Baker.

“(Thurbon) is the standout for sure,” Kindler said. “They look at academic and athletic success across all the universities in all of North America. You look at the opportunity to represent not only the NCAA, NAIA or Baker, but the United States. And you have to look at someone that can be confident in themselves to speak and have certain values and beliefs in certain things, and by far (Thurbon) is the one that represents it the best.”

While studying abroad in Spain during the fall semester, Thurbon received an email asking if she wanted to apply for the conference. As an economics and international studies major, the concept interested her. After her phone interview went “terribly,” she thought another applicant would be picked, but on Thanksgiving, she heard that she was chosen to represent the United States.

“I had to read it twice,” Thurbon said. “Being in Spain, it made me realize my love for traveling. I think it’ll be really fun to talk to other people from universities and learn from them, because I know how different athletics are overseas.”

Started in 1949, the biennial forum was an attempt to create a global governing body of national sports organizations. This year’s theme is “a networking platform to advance the technical, social and cultural skills of young leaders.”

The students will talk about a range of topics, from social networking to sustainable development, as a means of bringing together university athletics from around the world.

Thurbon believes the forum will go farther than just athletics.

“Athletics in general are able to transcend boundaries,” Thurbon said. “Race, gender, sexual orientation don’t matter when you step out onto the court, field, whatever it is that you play. The social changes that Jackie Robinson made weren’t just confined to athletics.”

While there, Thurbon and the male representative from Tennessee will present to the group about collegiate athletics in the United States, from Division I to the NAIA. Thurbon believes the conference zones in on the NAIA’s emphasis on academics and character.

“The NAIA knows it’s not training professional athletes,” Thurbon said. “While it might be an important part of student-athletes’ college careers, it isn’t what it’s all about.”

While Thurbon is a little nervous to represent the United States, the athletic department has no doubt that it picked the right person.

“She epitomizes what it means to be a student-athlete,” Mackie Valentin, assistant track and field coach, said. “She’s focused, she’s intelligent and she’s hard working, and I know it’s cliché to say that, but the biggest edge she has is that she’s dedicated, and because of that dedication, she deserves to go to those things.“