Amanda Waugh's Leadership Extends Beyond the Field

MOUNT PLEASANT — Leadership comes in many forms. Some lead through passionate words and others lead by setting a positive example to their followers each and every day. For Amanda Waugh, the role of a leader is one that she has embraced for years, one that she is now transferring to the real world.

Waugh, a senior forward on the Central Michigan University soccer team, put a lot on her plate this summer. In addition to preparing for her senior season in the fall, the Burlington, Ont. native spent the summer co-founding a non-profit organization called Student-Athletes Leading Social Change (SALSC).

SALSC is a volunteer program led by Jeff Janssen, a leadership expert and author who is renowned nationally for his work. It is a volunteer organization for student-athletes to network with each other across the country to plan charitable events and initiatives when they aren’t competing. During the building process, Waugh and a handful of student-athletes around the nation helped recruit and select members for the group. The group now has close to 50 student-athletes from across the nation and it is growing rapidly.

Waugh was thrust into a leadership role early in her time at CMU. After coming off the bench as a freshman with a senior-laden squad that posted a 13-4-2 record in 2006, she was named a team captain of a much younger unit as a sophomore in 2007. For Waugh, Janssen’s books were invaluable as she grew into a team leader.

“It was a lot of responsibility to take on as a sophomore,” Waugh said. “I was expected to be a leader to our juniors and seniors after only playing one year. I read some of Jeff’s books and decided to get in touch with him during my junior year. The relationship grew, as he became a primary leadership mentor to me. This summer, he mentioned his idea for building SALSC and asked me to help him develop it.  I jumped at the opportunity.”

Waugh’s responsibilities with SALSC over the summer included going through membership applications and serving on the executive board that decided who to bring into the organization.  She then had to write a proposal for a social change initiative for the group to take on, and work with the key members to select the best one.  As a co-founder, she leads conference calls and is the primary liaison to the other non-profit organization they have partnered with, “Me to We”.  

“Everyone on the SALSC leadership team was responsible for proposing an idea for serving the community on either a local, national or global level,” Waugh said. “My proposal was to provide sports participation opportunities to underprivileged families who can’t afford to have their kids play them.

“We ended up selecting a social change movement where we will adopt a village in Kenya and build schools and provide healthcare support.  We are implementing my idea as well though by having a sports day while we are there to pass on our knowledge and skills in sports to the youth in Africa.  The trip will take place next summer.”

As for why she is getting involved with her senior season still ahead of her this fall, Waugh figures it is never too early to start preparing for life after college.

“My experience at CMU has been great, but athletics can only take me so far. Being a leader and helping people is something that doesn’t stop at graduation.”

Click here to view the orignial article on Central Michigan University's Athletics site