Former Davis Enterprise sports editor Bruce Gallaudet will provide in-depth content spotlighting the programs, teams and people that represent UC Davis, the City of Davis and the region with his weekly column, Inside Aggie Nation. On a daily basis, UC Davis proves that young adults can receive a world-class education, compete at the highest level of intercollegiate athletics and live a college experience like no other — stories that Gallaudet will share each Tuesday throughout the 2018-19 academic year.

The program is called EVO.

It's an ace in the hole for student-athletes at UC Davis.

From the moment a freshman athlete steps foot on campus, Aggie coaches, administrators, counselors and alums align to provide career guidance in this mandated program.

Shorthand for "evolution," EVO has a razor-sharp focus on what will give UC Davis student-athletes a leg up for life after graduation, after sports.

"We feel a commitment to our student-athletes to help them get the most from their time at UC Davis in order to condition themselves for whatever comes next … whether that is a job, graduate school or, in some cases, professional sports," says Kevin Blue, the university's director of athletics.

"EVO is integrated into their normal experience in the same way that going to lift weights or going to the training room to get treatment is."

Blue says four key elements provide "an uncommon commitment."

Skills explored and practiced: emotional intelligence, self-awareness, leadership, teamwork and cultural competence. Opportunities to get what Blue terms "awesome internships" through a century-old network of Aggie alums and their business connections. Help with résumés, LinkedIn profiles, interviewing techniques, cover letters, business cards and headshots, among other important things. A feel for what careers — and the paths to those careers — are available.

"It's an unprecedented program in many ways in athletics," explains Blue, who implemented EVO last summer. "We don't profess to have all the answers after one year, but the need and the enthusiasm for the program is evident among the student-athletes."

This past summer, senior volleyball player Brianna Karsseboom completed an internship at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management in San Francisco, an opportunity she credits to Aggie EVO.

"This program is the greatest resource I used on campus," said the fourth-year managerial economics student. "Being a student-athlete at UC Davis, it can be difficult to prepare for the future when you are so consumed with academics and sports. This program has helped me build my resume, improve my interview skills, and grow my network."

"Additionally, it has allowed me to use to qualities I have gained from being an athlete and apply them outside of the gym. Without the help of Aggie EVO to receive this wonderful internship opportunity, it would've been difficult for me to gain experience in a professional workplace and determine the path I want to pursue in the future," Karsseboom added.

The relationship between Aggie football coach Dan Hawkins and a former teammate helped senior linebacker Ryan Parenteau get his foot in the door at Jacobs Global Engineering. Experiences gained at UC Davis allowed Parenteau to walk tall through that opened door.

"Especially for parents, looking at UC Davis for their kids, it's a desirable program that … really nobody else in the country offers," says Parenteau, a 6-3, 223-pound aerospace science and engineering major. "I haven't heard about about programs at my (friends') schools that help them get jobs."

And with newcomers getting the full impact of four years supported by EVO, Parenteau says "it definitely sets freshmen up for success."

In their first year on campus, Aggie players receive résumé support and self-assessment tools.

As sophomores, exercises in personal storytelling and career assessments (both huge components of job interviews) are implemented.

LinkedIn profiles are created and those interviews skills are honed when the students are juniors, followed by internships and real-world job networking through to graduation.

There are field trips to corporations, conferences and many other avenues of support to prepare Aggies for a profession or graduate school.

A lion's share of the oversight of EVO falls to Senior Associate Athletics Director Michael Lorenzen. Most recently serving as assistant AD and adjunct professor at Georgetown University, Lorenzen made Blue's acquaintance when both were at Stanford a decade ago.

"Working out with Kevin, we were always talking about college sports and how do we make it all better," says Lorenzen, a former Cardinal assistant gymnastics coach. "When he took the (Davis) job, we started talking much more seriously about the potential at UC Davis, what could happen here and what did he want to do from a strategic perspective."

Blue was clear: He wanted the best possible experience for Aggie student-athletes. Blue also wanted the most meaningful experience for his sports-playing men and women.

Knowing Lorenzen had worked his magic providing Georgetown students with career-path assistance, Blue was quick to recruit him into the Aggie fold. Blue considers Lorenzen "a key member of our senior leadership team … (bringing) a wealth of experience and expertise to the university."

"The normal thing at a lot of schools is that student-athletes graduate with a degree … with no internships, no experience, no connections," says Lorenzen. "They're not really sure that was the degree for them because they kind of get forced into a path that they haven't really thought about for themselves.

"So now they're a 22-year-old college graduate. The thing they cared most about in their lives the last decade is taken away. Their sport identity ends and they have no sense of who they are, what they're supposed to do and they are not adequately prepared for what we define as 'launch.' "

Launch?

"Moving from graduation into a meaningful next step that builds upon the college degree and replaces sport as the center piece of your identity as now a young professional," Lorenzen continues. "We have a great school academically, great coaches. We can make up the gap in facilities, but we're never going to be better/dominant in that area, so what is the thing we can be dominant at?"

Lorenzen recalls one chat with Blue: "It became clear to him quickly, when he tried to find opportunities for building sustainable advantage here, there was an opportunity for something that we were both passionate about — doing a better thing for kids in sports."

From that EVO, er, evolved…

Lorenzen loves the program, noting: "No. 1, it's just the morally right thing to do. The noble ideal of the amateur athlete using sport as a developmental vehicle is largely lost in the modern landscape."

He also sees "an evolution in the sport-business model itself," based upon such student-athlete outcomes programs like EVO.

"We know that the next generation of donors want to be involved with students," he continues. "It's that that matters to them more, so, do we have an opportunity to build a better connection between student-athletes and people? Yes.

"Finally," says Lorenzen, "there is a sense that higher education and college sports in general have an issue in not adequately preparing student-athletes for the next thing. The key issue, we think, is that the college degree has become a little bit commoditized — everybody has one — and if you just have that, it's not really enough anymore."

Nonetheless, UC Davis has been ahead of the curve. Year after year it is ranked among the top public universities in the world, and the school's all-inclusive commitment to its student-athletes has always been at the fore.

Even so, under Blue, UC Davis student-athletes will graduate with a road map to the future in hand.