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FROM STAFF REPORTS

Brittany Wagner, a nationally respected athletic academic counselor and motivational speaker who starred in the Netflix documentary series “Last Chance U,” has been preparing University of Montevallo students to enter the sports-related business field over the last several months.

In fall 2020, Wagner began serving as an adjunct professor in the University’s Stephens College of Business, teaching courses in the sport business minor program.

During her years working as an athletic academic counselor at the community college level, Wagner guided hundreds of student-athletes who were facing significant hardships to academic and professional success.

She helped more than 200 football players qualify academically to play at the NCAA Division I level, and all of the students she advised who are currently playing in the NFL hold college degrees.

Over the past several years, Wagner has traveled the country as a motivational speaker. In 2017, she launched her own company “Ten Thousand Pencils,” which works with high school and college-level administrators, counselors and teachers to help them build better relationships with at-risk students.

Wagner said she has been thoroughly enjoying her time at UM, and said students immediately recognize her from her TV days.

“I am absolutely thrilled to be back on a college campus, this time in a teaching role. I could not speak more highly of the students and staff at Montevallo,” she said. “Some of them are shocked to walk into class and realize it’s actually me, which is fun. I can say, though, that as much as I might inspire them, they inspire me more. There are incredibly bright minds on this campus and I am honored to be here.”