This year, Kent Denver has created two guest speaker lineups to educate and support students and our community around wellness and personal growth. The 2021–22 Walker Institute for Wellness Speaker Series—The Science of Storytelling: Unleashing the Superpower of Our Own Inner Voice offers empowering talks for students, parents and guardians, and faculty and staff about the why and how of transforming our critical inner adversary into a trusted inner coach.

Students were inspired by Olympic medalists Dan Jansen (speed skater) and Adeline Gray (wrestler and Colorado native) in the first, student-only presentation in this series.
 
The Olympians were joined by renowned sports psychologist and author Jim Loehr, Ed.D. and Sheila Ohlsson Walker, Ph.D., behavioral geneticist and KDS trustee. Watch the full presentation.
 
“These Olympians are telling the human story...how they got through incredibly difficult things and overcame obstacles to rewire and create new stories for themselves to reach for their biggest dreams,” says Dr. Walker.

Presentations so far in this series have included Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity experts Sarah Burgamy and Debby Irving for faculty and staff, James Nestor, author of Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, Holocaust survivor and specialist in the treatment of PTSD Dr. Edith Eger, and Dr. Ethan Kross, author of Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It. 

The George Karl Student-Athlete Leadership Series, led by former Denver Nuggets head coach George Karl, offers Kent Denver student-athletes the opportunity to learn and develop leadership skills that can be utilized in sport and life.

Karl, one of the winningest coaches in NBA history and a KDS parent, has put together an exciting lineup of speakers featuring prominent members of the sports community. To date, presenters have included Super Bowl Champion and former Denver Broncos offensive lineman Ryan Harris and TV sports reporter and host Vic Lombardi. Read our full recaps and watch clips from those and future presentations on the George Karl Student-Athlete Leadership Series page.