The seventh annual NCAA Leadership Conference May 25-29 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, proved that some good things never go out of style.

Much has changed since the first Leadership Conference in 1998, from the country's president to the Association's president to world affairs and the world of fashion. But the nearly 300 attendees at the conference, which is designed to help student-athletes sharpen their leadership skills, came away with many of the same benefits gained by those in 1998 and the years since -- an awakening of their own potential, a desire to do more to help their communities and their colleges, and a curriculum designed to give them the tools to effect change.

This year's crop of attendees was selected from more than a 1,000 nominations submitted by college and university athletics administrators in all three divisions. Only those NCAA member institutions with CHAMPS/Life Skills programs are eligible to submit nominees. The student-athletes chosen this year represented 22 sports, as well as all three divisions and all regions.

In addition to participating in a curriculum designed to expand the way they think about leadership, the student-athletes also discussed many current issues in intercollegiate athletics, including the demands and expectations of student-athletes, diversity, party behaviors and trust gaps within athletics.

Tim Clark, NCAA assistant director of education outreach, said this year's conference was among the most energetic he's seen in his three years working with the program.

"Every day was a great day. The student-athletes were engaged and asked questions," he said. "They really understood that they need to play a bigger role in intercollegiate athletics and they really do have a voice."

Clark also noted that this year's group of facilitators (athletics administrators who lead the "color teams" of student-athletes) "brought a high level of energy to the group, and the student-athletes were able to feed off of that."

One new twist this year was the addition of athletics administrators and coaches who participated in the entire conference and were assigned to color teams. In the past, administrators and coaches have participated in panels or select programming at the national conference, but this was the first time that administrators were assigned to color teams and participated in the entire four-day event alongside the student-athletes. About 20 athletics administrators attended.

Clark said the idea for the administrators to attend and participate in the entire conference originated with the student-athletes who had attended the previous year.

"I think they felt that when the administrators came in, whether it be for the career roundtable or a panel, and then left the next day, both the administrators and the student-athletes missed out on a chance to connect," Clark said. "We've already received some great feedback about the way we did it this year. The coaches and administrators have said that they received some great insights on student-athlete interest in key issues on campus, and the student-athletes have told us they really benefited from the administrators' participation."

Also new this year was the addition of a second session focusing on student-athlete advisory committees (SAACs). There were two sessions for each division, and the sessions were planned by the three national NCAA SAACs. The first set of sessions focused on what successful campus and conference SAACs look like and how to emulate them. The second set was more focused on the issues that may face a campus or conference SAAC and how student-athletes should seek to influence decisions on important issues.

Robert Brooks, a basketball student-athlete from Georgia Institute of Technology who attended the conference, told USA Today that the ability to discuss issues and learn how to influence decisions on campus and on a national level was an important part of the leadership conference.

"This conference is so good because the opinions we have are actually going to be discussed," he said. "This conference enables us to be heard."

Student-athletes attending the conference also had the chance to hear some inspirational messages from two national speakers, human rights activist Richard Lapchick, the founder and director emeritus of the Northeastern University Center for the Study of Sport in Society in Boston, and five-time Olympian Willye White.

White, who won a silver medal in the long jump at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia, also won a silver medal in the 400-meter relay at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. She has been a member of 39 international teams in her athletics career, which spanned 27 years and took her to 150 nations.

She also has the distinction of being the only American to have ever competed in five consecutive Olympic Games in track and field, and she was the first American woman to win an Olympic medal in the long jump.

White spoke at length to the student-athletes about the importance of athletics in their lives and the importance of believing in themselves.

"My greatest gift of all was my athletics ability," she said. "Athletics exposed me to all the elements of life: pain, joy, failure, disappointment and success. I learned early that winning and losing was a part of life. That realization helped me to become a balanced person in mind, body and spirit."

She also noted that the determination and discipline learned through athletics participation was what changed her life for the better.

"I strongly believed that I was the master of my fate, and athletics was my flight to freedom -- freedom from the Mississippi Delta cotton fields, freedom from illiteracy, ignorance and prejudice. I gained so much from sport."

White encouraged the attendees to maintain a positive attitude, surround themselves with others who have goals and dreams, and not to fear failure in the pursuit of success.

"Whatever you do, strive to do it so well that no one living and no one dead and no one not yet born can do it better."