June 16, 2008

Auburn, Ala. - Auburn gymnast A.J. Mills was the special guest speaker at the Auburn University Truman Pierce Institute Summer Program on June 12. The Truman Pierce Institute is a research and outreach unit in Auburn's College of Education. Twenty-five high school students from rural Alabama towns were on campus for the week-long summer program.

Mills spoke to the students on the "Value of Education as a foundation for life - even if you are a good athlete, too". Her power point presentation showed several clips from the 2007-2008 Auburn Gymnastics season, as well as a commercial from the Southeastern Conference on student-athletes going pro in life.

Mills encouraged the students to "seize the day and take advantage of all the opportunities they have and to make sure they get a quality education they can fall back on in case they are not selected to play professional sports". One highlight of Mills' presentation was her P. O. K. E. theory, which stood for P-passion, O-opportunity, K-knowledge and E-endurance.

After taking several questions from the students, Mills gave each student an Auburn Pride Sportsmanship bracelet to encourage them to always practice good sportsmanship as they return to their communities.