Milligan senior Seth Wright was recently awarded the Ledford Scholars Award, funded by the Appalachian College Association. He was one of 45 students selected for the award, which provides stipends for students wishing to participate in undergraduate summer research.
The Appalachian College Association is a non-profit consortium of 33 private four-year liberal arts institutions located in the Central Appalachian region whose mission is to serve Appalachian communities through the transformational work of its faculty, staff, and students. Recipients of the Ledford Scholars awards get funded at up to $3,600 for their research.
Wright’s topic of research includes the exploration of the relationship between role perception and intrinsic motivation and its effect on team-based athletes. Through this research, Wright hopes to better understand how one’s role on a team affects one’s motivation to succeed.
Upon approval from Milligan’s Institutional Review Board, his research methods will include gathering data through surveys of teams at Milligan University and East Tennessee State University in the summer and then analyzing the results in the fall that will culminate in a research paper and a 4-6 minute video presentation to the Appalachian College Association.
His application process included creating a project narrative for a basic review of his research topic, writing a short biography, and enrolling in a 499 undergraduate research credit at Milligan University, among other things.
Apart from being a member of the Milligan men’s soccer team, Wright has completed fieldwork at Woodridge Hospital in Johnson City, as well as working with the Milligan Athletic Training Department. He hopes his research will provide insight and better understanding into his intended career focus,
“I’m excited to start my research,” he said, “My intended career focus is sports psychology, and this program allows me to dig a little deeper into that field and it also helps me broaden my academic scope into research while also preparing myself for success in the future.”
Wright is expected to graduate in the Fall of 2022 with a pre-professional bachelor’s degree in psychology and hopes to continue onto graduate school.
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