Jamie Lee, '93

Finding family on the field

As a CSU Lady Cougar softball player in the early 90s, Jamie Lee will tell you she didn't join a team - she gained a family. When her own family encountered challenges at the start of her college career, Lee found solace and support from her new coaches and teammates.

"At the time, I really didn't know what to do," she recalls. "The one thing I was certain of was that I had an opportunity to pursue my education here at Columbus State. I feel very grateful to have had the opportunity and [then-Coach Larry] Keys, who even went a step further. He essentially did everything he could to create this opportunity for me."

It's that service attitude the 1993 CSU alumna has carried into her professional role as the chief service officer at Aflac - the nation's largest provider of supplement insurance and a Columbus-based Fortune 500 company where she has worked for nearly three decades. Some of the most important and transferrable lessons she employs today originated on the softball diamond, "...things like teamwork and discipline, work ethic, structure, winning and losing. All of those things prepared me for the progression that I've had in my career at Aflac, because I think all of those skills were required."

She's paying forward the opportunities created for her as a CSU student-athlete and business administration major through her service to and support of Columbus State. That doesn't just include giving toward a softball scholarship endowment, but how she mentors and encourages young women looking to balance classes and clashes on the field.

"Take it all in - don't take one moment of the whole experience for granted," Lee tells them. "Also, put an equal emphasis on both reasons you are here. You need to emphasize [being both a student and an athlete] because that's ultimately what you are going to need - the skills from both experiences as you transition into the workforce."