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Chell Helps Foster Campus Wide Change
4/9/2019 10:20:00 AM | Softball
Taylor Chell walked out of a student-athlete sexual assault training last February feeling hopeless and irritated.
After talking to her professor, Dennis Donovan, about how she felt he responded back with, "change it."
And change it she did.
Chell teamed up with Zetta Mason from the cross country team and Thomas Barber from the football team. They went through yearlong discussions and training together so that this year's sexual assault training would be a completely different experience. Survey results sent out to their fellow student-athletes helped find a problem that needed to be addressed.
"We were finding huge gaps in what was perceived and what was reality," Chell explained. "We decided to close those gaps. We decided to focus on bystander intervention."
The biggest focus of the group was not just to teach about bystander invention but also to create a cultural change around sexual assault and the discussions around it.
"We set out to change the norms and perception around sexual assault and especially in how we treat our victims," Chell said.
Chell, Mason and Barber teamed up with 80 fellow student-athlete and helped go through six hours of training with them in order to facilitate small group discussions that took place at this year's student-athlete sexual assault training.
She was not done there though.
"Last week we got a call from the Governor's wife (Gwen Walz) inviting us to the Governor's Residence to discuss our training and discuss how we can further it and implement it into other schools," Chell said.
This is not the first time Chell has made an impactful change in her time at Minnesota. She also started a Future Law Enforcement Leaders of America group on campus for not only student-athletes but also students across the entire campus. Chell is a Sociology of Law, Criminology and Deviance major and wanted to create a group that would provide networking opportunities. She started the group with men's golf student-athlete Campbell Fisher after realizing they had the same goals.
"It has allowed us to bring people from all over campus," Chell said. "Athletes and non-athletes that want to get into law enforcement. This provides them the chance to look federally, locally and at all different areas of law enforcement to see what best fits them."
The group paid off. Chell already has accepted a job with the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department for after she graduates in May. She will start in the corrections unit within their jail and wants to use that to move onto Deputy Sheriff eventually.
Chell is graduating in a few months, but has left behind a base for growth in many areas at the University of Minnesota.
"I hope I leave back hope. The hope that we can make a change," Chell said. "In times we feel helpless or feel like we can't get things done. I want people to spend less time arguing instead of getting things done. I want people to feel that we can be hopeful, we can facilitate conversations even if we don't all necessarily agree."
Rest assured. Chell isn't done making an impact.
"I'm not done yet," Chell said. "We are working on next year's training already and I'll be back for that."
After talking to her professor, Dennis Donovan, about how she felt he responded back with, "change it."
And change it she did.
Chell teamed up with Zetta Mason from the cross country team and Thomas Barber from the football team. They went through yearlong discussions and training together so that this year's sexual assault training would be a completely different experience. Survey results sent out to their fellow student-athletes helped find a problem that needed to be addressed.
"We were finding huge gaps in what was perceived and what was reality," Chell explained. "We decided to close those gaps. We decided to focus on bystander intervention."
#Gophers student-athletes realized the need for better discussion and training surrounding sexual assault prevention and advocacy- so they decided to create change. Hear from a few that are building a community of respect on campus. pic.twitter.com/Wda9a41i4k
— The Gopher Way (@thegopherway) March 5, 2019
The biggest focus of the group was not just to teach about bystander invention but also to create a cultural change around sexual assault and the discussions around it.
"We set out to change the norms and perception around sexual assault and especially in how we treat our victims," Chell said.
Chell, Mason and Barber teamed up with 80 fellow student-athlete and helped go through six hours of training with them in order to facilitate small group discussions that took place at this year's student-athlete sexual assault training.
To say they made a meaningful impact would be an understatement. Since that evening, Chell has met with the University of Minnesota President's Committee and is going to be a part of implementing this training across the entire campus.#HatsOff to our facilitators helping to build a community of respect by leading conversations at the sexual assault prevention discussion tonight. pic.twitter.com/Rs99VwvK94
— The Gopher Way (@thegopherway) March 5, 2019
She was not done there though.
"Last week we got a call from the Governor's wife (Gwen Walz) inviting us to the Governor's Residence to discuss our training and discuss how we can further it and implement it into other schools," Chell said.
This is not the first time Chell has made an impactful change in her time at Minnesota. She also started a Future Law Enforcement Leaders of America group on campus for not only student-athletes but also students across the entire campus. Chell is a Sociology of Law, Criminology and Deviance major and wanted to create a group that would provide networking opportunities. She started the group with men's golf student-athlete Campbell Fisher after realizing they had the same goals.
"It has allowed us to bring people from all over campus," Chell said. "Athletes and non-athletes that want to get into law enforcement. This provides them the chance to look federally, locally and at all different areas of law enforcement to see what best fits them."
The group paid off. Chell already has accepted a job with the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department for after she graduates in May. She will start in the corrections unit within their jail and wants to use that to move onto Deputy Sheriff eventually.
Chell is graduating in a few months, but has left behind a base for growth in many areas at the University of Minnesota.
"I hope I leave back hope. The hope that we can make a change," Chell said. "In times we feel helpless or feel like we can't get things done. I want people to spend less time arguing instead of getting things done. I want people to feel that we can be hopeful, we can facilitate conversations even if we don't all necessarily agree."
Rest assured. Chell isn't done making an impact.
"I'm not done yet," Chell said. "We are working on next year's training already and I'll be back for that."
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