My name is Chanel Gardner and I attended a four-year college at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. While attending Oakland University I ran 4 years of collegiate track competing in mainly the 400, 200, and 4×4 relay holding several collegiate records. Prior to college, I attended Livonia Churchill High School running track and playing basketball. I still live in Michigan and recently graduated in 2021 with my degree in Exercise Science.
The reason I wanted to work for NCSA is because when I was getting recruited for college, I did not know what to do. Even though I was a good athlete, since I did not know what to do and was uneducated on how the recruiting process worked, I just sat there until my senior year to start making a move once I noticed it may be too late. It actually was too late for me to go the places I truly wanted to go regardless of how good I was. Once I made my move I earned a few last minute offers from Division 1 programs and landed at Oakland University. I am ready to play a part of making each student athlete that I encounter, have a better recruiting process than I had.