LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Avery Koch, who is a thrower on the Bellarmine University women's track and field team, was chosen as the Chair of the Female-Identifying Athlete Caucus, which will involve leadership development with an advisor/mentor from It's On Us.

Koch participated in a Q&A with Bellarmine athletics communication about the position.

• For those unfamiliar, what are the Female-Identifying Athlete Caucus and It's on Us?

"The Female-Identifying Athlete Caucus Chair will act as a voice for female athletes for the It's On Us team. For me, I have been working on giving the team ideas on how to engage female athletes in the talking about the movement. Right now, I have been trying to engage athletes as a whole. We at Its On Us are trying to get athletes involved because this is not just a one-gender movement, and many athletes feel that sexual assault or abuse does not happen to them.

"It's On Us was founded in 2014 under the Obama-Biden Administration. It's On Us has grown into the nation's largest nonprofit program dedicated to college sexual assault prevention and survivor support activating students on hundreds of campuses in their awareness and education programs. Their work is centered on basing their research and teaching through conversations through peer-to-peer interactions."

• What are your specific responsibilities and duties as the Chair?

"I work alongside Kyle Richards, who is a former college football player, to bring programming to athletes across the country. These programmings are still in the works but will be launching soon to 25 universities across the nation. Working closely with Kyle has brought me into the movement and has focused most of my work on engaging athletes in the topic of sexual assault."

• Can you describe what the selection process was like?

"I was told about this position by my boss, Danielle White. I had to answer some questions and submit my resume. After that, they put me through a background check they interviewed me via Zoom. This process was relatively easy, and I do not know how many other people applied for the position. I was very excited when I was hired on as the Caucus chair! This work is very important to me, and I want to be able to act as a voice for this movement."

• What inspired you to get involved with the organization and ultimately pursue a leadership position?

"I am the Vice President of Brave BU here on campus. This is our campus organization that educates about sexual assault and intrapersonal violence. I have been working with this campus group since the past spring semester. I enjoy being a voice for survivors and helping lead the movement toward preventing intrapersonal violence. We provide resources for survivors of sexual assault and plan events on campus to bring awareness to intrapersonal violence."

• What is your calendar like this year?

"I will be going to the Midwest It's On Us Regional Summit, or any summit that is within driving distance. I am meeting with the Indiana coalition to end sexual assault and human trafficking soon to gain chapters in Indiana. I have been helping Danielle White create programming for Bellarmine athletics to fulfill the NCAA requirement for Title IX. I will be at most of these trainings for athletics depending on my academic schedule."

• What are your goals as the Chair?

"The main goal I want to achieve in this position is to normalize the discussion of intrapersonal violence and end the stigma toward it. I also want to help engage men into this conversation. Like I said before, this isn't just a one-sided gender issue, but it is both genders. We all have experienced some type of intrapersonal violence, and I would like to bring awareness to both genders. Engaging men will give a 'safe space' to talk about these issues and know that they are not just seen as perpetrators but also can be seen as a survivor and they can participate in the movement."

• How is Bellarmine connected to your work as the chair?

"I use the experiences that I have here at Bellarmine such as providing training for student-athletes to bring that to a national level and how we facilitate our trainings toward both genders of athletes. Also, I bring the training that I am facilitating through It's On Us to Bellarmine to help shape the training we are doing for athletes and to engage students and faculty on campus."

• Lastly, can other Bellarmine student-athletes become members/get involved? If so, how?

"Yes, Bellarmine student-athletes can become members by going to the It's On Us website (https://www.itsonus.org/) and signing the pledge. If student-athletes do not want to get involved on a national level, they can sign up for Brave BU and help spread awareness for this movement across our campus. Above all, you can get involved in many ways even just by being a listening ear for somebody who has experienced some type of interpersonal violence."

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