All of us in higher education experience moments that validate the work we do. What faculty member, for example, hasn’t felt the joy of graduates returning to say that the instruction they received made a difference in their lives? What academic advisor hasn’t seen students blossom in challenging curricula that they otherwise might not have sought? For that matter, what president or chancellor hasn’t relished entire departments or programs that have made superior contributions under his or her leadership?

Most of us who choose careers in higher education do so because we want to make a difference. At our core, we are educators who thrive on the success of the young people we influence. When they are successful, so are we.

There are more than 360,000 successful young people at NCAA institutions. Because participation in intercollegiate athletics is an integral part of a student’s educational experience, all of us who work under the NCAA umbrella experience the same kinds of validating moments that others on the campus do. What coach, for example, hasn’t seen the satisfaction in a student-athlete’s eyes when he or she has worked hard to achieve a personal goal? What athletics director hasn’t felt good about student-athletes reaching out to the community or lending a hand to people in need? And what president or chancellor hasn’t been proud of student-athletes as they receive their diplomas?

Now more than ever is the time to celebrate that success. The year 2006 is perhaps the most special in NCAA history — all 100 years of it. The theme for our Centennial is “celebrating the student-athlete.” And why not? The student-athlete is central to all we do. That has been the case for the last century and it will continue to be that way. We not only celebrate student-athletes’ success on the courts and fields of play, but we also honor their success as leaders in life’s arenas.

We know intuitively of the importance of athletics participation in the collegiate experience. Student-athletes’ graduation rates have been higher than those of other students for more than a decade. Student-athletes also, through their advisory committees, display their leadership qualities in the development of NCAA legislation, policies and procedures. We also know of the character that sports instills in participants and of the lasting bond it promotes among teammates — the commitment to self-discipline and hard work, and the development of balance among athletics and educational endeavors. Student-athletes go about their business with passion, dedication and skill.

We know those things because we hear time and again the testimonials from those who have excelled through their connection with intercollegiate athletics. Like the former student thanking the faculty member for being a positive influence, so, too, do student-athletes acknowledge the difference college athletics has made in their lives.

And some of them indeed lead very high-profile lives. Peyton Manning, for example, perhaps the most highly regarded role model in the NFL today, told an NCAA Convention audience as a Today’s Top VIII winner in 1998 that he could have been a student without being an athlete, or an athlete without being a student, but that “it wouldn’t have been as joyous.” Student-athletes, he said, are better leaders for the experiences they gain.

Similarly, many will remember remarks at last year’s Convention from astronaut and educator Sally Ride, who upon accepting the NCAA’s Theodore Roosevelt Award said being a student-athlete taught her skills necessary to her success as an astronaut — teamwork, communication and collaboration,

and a commitment to getting the job done. She said her experiences as a student-athlete helped make her dreams come true, and she encouraged NCAA administrators and coaches to continue training student-athletes for their futures. “The academic and athletics programs at your institutions are preparing hundreds of thousands of young men and women to reach for the stars and fulfill their dreams, too,” she said.

Intercollegiate athletics participation not only enhances lives; it changes them. Take Macharia Yuot, a cross country runner from Widener University, for example. Yuot was one of 26,000 boys orphaned by a two-decade religious civil war in his native Sudan. Now he is the most decorated track performer in his school’s history, having twice finished second at the Division III Men’s Cross Country Championships during his career.

William Cohen is another example. When the man who became the U.S. Secretary of Defense was asked, considering all of his other experiences, why he listed his participation as a student-athlete at Bowdoin College on his resume, Cohen told the inquirer, “Perhaps it’s not significant to you, but to me it was everything. Being a student-athlete is how I learned the joys of victory, the sorrows of defeat. It was how I learned about discipline, goal setting, teamwork and the pursuit of perfection.”

There are thousands and thousands of similar stories. We all have witnessed firsthand the value of intercollegiate athletics through the success of those who have participated in them. It is why we do what we do. It is why our leadership in the intercollegiate athletics enterprise is value-based.

It is not by accident that the NCAA has flourished for 100 years. We inherit a history of college sports, and we represent those who are engaged in it, not only those who coach and administer college athletics, but most especially those who participate.

It is our job to ensure that we protect and nurture this great enterprise we call intercollegiate athletics because of the difference it makes to so many young people — and because of the difference they in turn make to us. The refrain in the television spots that says, “There are 360,000 NCAA student-athletes, and just about all of us will go pro in something other than sports,” is true. We must never lose sight of that fact.

In the spirit of the Centennial, cheers to all student-athletes, those from yesterday, those of today, and those who will follow tomorrow. And cheers, too, to the rest of you in intercollegiate athletics who provide the opportunity for student-athletes to compete, to learn — and to lead.

It is the difference we all make.

Myles Brand is president of the NCAA.