Pitt-Bradford senior Dahmir Noel was one of 40 students to attend the 2017 NCAA Division III Student Immersion Program last week in Nashville, Tenn.

Noel attended the four-day event, which is held in conjunction with the annual NCAA Convention, with Pitt-Bradford athletic director Bret Butler and assistant athletic director Tina Phillips. He was nominated by Butler and is the second Pitt-Bradford student to be chosen, joining former Panther swimming alum Jamal Davis.

The NCAA Division III Student Immersion Program was created in 2015, at the recommendation of the Division III Diversity and Inclusion Working Group, and is designed to build a pipeline of talented ethnic minority candidates, with an interest in Division III coaching and/or administration, in an effort to ultimately diversify the division.

In addition to the scheduled Division III programming, participants receive DiSC training, attend welcome and debrief meetings and are paired with a mentor, typically with the same degree. The goal during the convention is to get experience working with athletic administrators and expose attendees to Division III, its members and its governance process.

Applicants must demonstrate a strong interest in coaching or athletic administration and go through a lengthy process after being nominated. If chosen by the NCAA, participants are awarded a grant to attend the program at no cost.

Noel, who has career aspirations to become an athletic director at the Division III level, was extremely grateful for the opportunity.

“This program was a great opportunity for us as students to network and really get a view of life as a professional in Division III athletics,” Noel, a sport and recreation management major, said. “I was able to meet so many incredible student-athletes that shared their experiences from schools all over the United States.

This experience was priceless and representing Pitt-Bradford was the cherry on the top.”

Noel, who is also working toward a minor in athletic coaching, currently serves as an intern in the Pitt-Bradford athletic department, mentoring first-year students, and he was as an assistant coach on the Otto-Eldred football team this fall that won its first Allegheny Mountain League North division title since 1975.

In addition to his coaching duties at Otto-Eldred, the Philadelphia native completed an internship last summer with the Big 30 All-Star Charities Classic football game.

For Butler, Noel’s experience and intentions to pursue a career in college athletics made him an ideal candidate for the Student Immersion Program.

“I am very pleased Dahmir was chosen for this great program,” Butler said. “He had the opportunity to get a close-up view of the NCAA in action, and I am quite certain the experience will serve him well.

Dahmir did a great job representing not only Pitt Bradford but also the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference.”

Noel is set to graduate in May and hopes to attend graduate school in the future.