How One Student Leader Can Impact an Athletic Department

The story of Athens Drive Magnet High School’s (Raleigh, North Carolina) cultural shift begins with one student – and one opportunity. Libby O’Leary, now a senior, has spent the last 2½ years as an athletic intern, using high school sports not just as a stage for competition, but as a platform for leadership, service and change. Her journey shows what can happen when a school truly empowers a student to chase big ideas.

For O’Leary, it all started with an idea that never materialized. As a sophomore, she approached the athletic director with a proposal to host a summer cheerleading camp for young athletes in the Athens community. She knew it was ambitious, but she also knew bold steps spark meaningful progress. The camp was ultimately vetoed for liability reasons, but something more significant came from that conversation.

The athletic administrator saw potential. He saw initiative, creativity and a willingness to think beyond the classroom setting. Instead of simply letting the initial idea fade, he opened a new door and opportunity: an internship in the athletic department as the school’s first Student Director of Leadership Engagement. This role didn’t exist until that moment – he created it for her.

O’Leary’s first major assignment appeared quickly. In fall of 2023, Wake County launched its inaugural season of girls flag football, and Athens Drive High School formed its first-ever team. With her passion for expanding opportunities for female athletes, O’Leary jumped right in. She worked at the SuperHER Bowl game days, assisting with operations and scorekeeping, and she saw how a new sport can transform the lives of young women searching for a place to belong.

That experience ignited a broader mission: elevating the visibility of women’s sports – and all student-athletes – on campus. O’Leary launched DRIVEN, Athens Drive High School’s first sports podcast, giving coaches, administrators, athletes and alumni a platform to share stories and celebrate their accomplishments. What began as a simple project quickly became a vibrant reflection of the school’s spirit.

Around this time, O’Leary developed the largest and most influential initiative of her high school career. Inspired by the chance to give student-athletes the opportunity to serve in their community and represent their athletic department, she created the Athletic Honors Society at Athens Drive. It was designed to honor student-athletes who excel academically and lead through service – a recognition she and the athletic director felt was missing due to what was lost during the COVID pandemic. The athletic administrator once again gave O’Leary full creative control: admissions criteria, core values, service expectations, programming, and everything that was needed.

What started as a vision became a movement. In its first year, the society inducted 65 varsity athletes who achieved GPAs of 3.75 and higher. Now boasting more than 85 members, this group volunteers with the Miracle League of Raleigh, the Food Bank of Raleigh, Brown Bag Ministries and numerous other school-based programs. The society members tutor peers, assist with game-day operations, and lead community projects – not because they’re obligated, but because they’ve discovered the fulfillment that comes from giving back.

Then came an unexpected and urgent challenge. During the fall of 2024, Hurricane Helen devastated communities across western North Carolina. O’Leary couldn’t watch the destruction from afar. Using her school connections, she contacted every athletic director in Wake County and coordinated a multi-school supply drive. Volunteers from the newly formed Athletic Honors Society helped sort and pack donations from 14 schools before they were transported to the Raleigh Baptist Association and delivered to the mountain communities in need. The experience reinforced a truth O’Leary already believed: students have extraordinary power to mobilize and make a real impact.

Through every success, setback, idea and initiative, one constant remained: none of this would have been possible without trust. “Mr. Seese gave me freedom – true freedom – to create, experiment, fail and grow,” she reflected. “That belief in me shaped my leadership skills far more than any title ever could.”

As O’Leary looks back on her internship, she realized that her greatest lessons were not logistical or administrative – they were personal. She uncovered a passion for leadership, a confidence in her abilities, and a deeper understanding of what it means to build something meaningful. Every opportunity she embraced came from one simple gift: the chance to try.

O’Leary’s message to other high schools is clear. Don’t be afraid to let student-athletes lead. Yes, they will make mistakes – every leader does. But when adults embrace the learning process alongside them, the entire program grows. And in the end, schools can take pride not only in the athletes they produce, but in the resilient, capable young adults they become. They truly become the best versions of themselves.

Libby O’Leary, a senior, two-year captain of the cheerleading team at the school and the director of the Student Leadership Engagement program and the Athletic Honor Society, is living proof that leadership doesn’t begin with perfection. It begins with trust, freedom and one person behind her willing to say, “Go for it.”

Travis Seese is the athletic director at Athens Drive High School in Raleigh, North Carolina.