Empower Leadership Academy Series | The Blake School Partnership

We’re excited to host this private Empower Leadership Academy series in partnership with The Blake School Girls Hockey team! This 3-part series will focus on Empower’s pillars: resilience, mental wellness, confidence, and leadership.

This year has been a challenging one for all of us, but especially our children. Last March, their young lives came to a screeching halt. They had to quickly grasp and develop tools to combat isolation, manage stress and anxiety, learn how to grieve what they lost, and become resilient. Being on a hockey team added another layer of uncertainty, questions, and possible stressors. Will there be games? What will the games look like? Can everything change at the last minute? As we focus on developing leadership, building confidence, and strengthening resilience, we will help these young girls prepare to handle all of the challenges that may come their way and build a toolkit so they can excel through adversity.

Our academies feature community leaders that facilitate engaging, fun, and interactive sessions where participants can learn, grow, and develop in a safe, inclusive environment.

Each session is scheduled as follows:

• Session 1 | December 28 | 4:00-5:00 PM
  • Topic: Personal Resilience
• Session 2 | January 19 | 5:00-6:30 PM
  • Topic: 1) Building & Strengthening Confidence, 2) Managing Daily Stress
• Session 3 | February 17 | 5:00-6:30 PM
  • Topic: 1) Strengthening Self-Regard, 2) Strengthening Optimism

Coaches

Peyton N. Owens, III | Senior Associate Athletics Director, Leadership Development and Strategic Partnerships | University of Minnesota, Golden Gopher Athletics

Peyton Owens is in his 13th year with Golden Gopher Athletics. He currently oversees Student-Athlete Development (all education provided to student-athletes, including career readiness, personal development, community outreach and risk reduction), Diversity & Inclusion, the M Club and our Women’s Golf program. Owens has been instrumental in the vision and implementation of Leadership U, which he has had oversight of since its launch. This collaboration with Land O’Lakes Inc. provides leadership development and emotional intelligence education and support to student-athletes, assistant coaches, head coaches and athletics staff. To support this initiative and others like it, he is responsible for cultivating, soliciting and stewarding donors for endowment and annual support of Leadership U, the W.I.L.L. program (Women Invested in Leadership and Learning) and more. Owens is also an ambassador for athletics on campus, bringing the voice of Golden Gopher Athletics to several critical groups. He is a member of the President’s Initiative on Preventing Sexual Misconduct, the Faculty Oversight Committee on Athletics (FAOIAC), and campus’ Equity & Diversity Subcommittee. His commitment to collaboration and strategic partnerships, both at the University and in our broader Twin Cities help champion all that is Maroon and Gold.

Owens is a graduate from the College of William and Mary with a Bachelor of Arts in Kinesiology, and later received a Master of Science in Sports Management and Leadership from Virginia Commonwealth University. He is a graduate of the NCAA Ethnic Minority Males and Females Leadership Institute (2007), as well as the University of Minnesota’s President’s Emerging Leaders Program (2009). Owens has served in various roles advancing the greater mission of the NCAA to include the Student-Athlete Affairs Advisory Board, facilitator for NCAA Leadership Conferences and the NCAA Student-Athlete Affairs Symposium, and was a member of the NCAA Peer-Review Team. Additionally, Owens is active in his community serving as a former board member for ACES (Athletes Committed to Educating Students) from August 2017 through September 2019, as well as a Board Member for the University of Minnesota Alumni Association. Owens currently serves as a Head Coach for Empower Leadership Academy, after serving as a Board Member previously from November 2015 to March 2018.

Kelly Taylor | Program Manager, Empower Leadership Academy | Girls Soccer Head Coach, Eden Prairie High School | Youth Director, Tonka United Soccer Association

Kelly Taylor is in her 13th year of coaching, training, and empowering students grades 2-12 as the Youth Director at Tonka United Soccer Association and as the Girls Soccer Head Coach at Eden Prairie, and is in her 4th year as Program Manager and Coach at Empower Leadership Academy. She has served in a variety of roles throughout her soccer coaching career. As a high school assistant coach Kelly was recognized as the Section Assistant Coach of the Year (2013 – Minnetonka HS and 2019 – Benilde St. Margret’s) and as the assistant coach, she helped two teams achieve Minnesota Class “AA” Soccer State Titles (2010 – Eden Prairie, 2013 – Minnetonka).

As a former student-athlete turned head coach, Kelly is deeply committed to the holistic development of her student-athletes and knows first-hand that the lessons taught on the field transcend sports and are critical life lessons they take with them and use forever. In continuing with her own growth and development, Kelly has received certifications from the National High School Federation and the 3D (dimensional) Institute focused on developing today’s student’s skillset, mindset and heart, and ways they can excel beyond sports.

Kelly graduated with a B.A from the University of Minnesota in 2010, where she spent her four years as a student manager for the Women’s Basketball Program. When Kelly is not working, she enjoys spending time on the golf course, the Minnesota lakes, and visiting family and friends across the country.