CHARLOTTE — Thursday is National Junior Collegiate Athletic Association Day, and schools were able to highlight their efforts in Charlotte to help the next generation of students.
You may know the colleges and universities as “JUCOs,” and they provide two-year programs for student-athletes to progress in the classroom and on the field.
The NJCAA is headquartered right here in Charlotte. President and CEO Christopher Parker says the day represents the hard work students at the two-year schools put in before taking their next step.
“The NJCAA is all about the opportunities. Our motto is opportunities start here. And that’s what we do best, we create opportunities for young men and women to get an education, a great ROI on their college education their first two years,” Parker told Channel 9. “Where they go from here, the sky is the limit.”
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The organization aims to show the cost-saving benefits of JUCOs, along with the chance for student-athletes to get noticed in their sports after high school. Charlotte might be familiar with one athlete who went that route, Cam Newton -- he started at a JUCO in Texas before he was a Carolina Panthers star.
It’s the eighth annual NJCAA Day, and this year’s theme is Empower the Future.
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