Las Vegas City Wire

David Wedley, director of student-athlete academic services at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, is reflecting on how the school has helped him in his career. 

According to a news release provided by the university, Wedley came to the school to obtain a master’s degree and quickly fell in love with being a Rebel, even if it wasn’t what he had planned.

“Honestly, I desperately needed a job after graduating from UNLV with my master's degree, and the advising office was in a pinch for a new hire,” Wedley said in the release. “I had no idea what I was doing but thought I could at least be a body for the advising staff. However, I came to realize that this field was a passion of mine due to the ability to help mentor and advocate for student-athletes.”

With Wedley advising the Rebel football team, they have recently recorded their best educational semester with its highest, cumulative grade point average, conference scholar-athletes, academic all-conference honorees and two football academic all-Americans — a first-ever for the football program.   

He added that it was during his first year of advising that he knew he was on the right track when a group of freshmen thanked him for helping them throughout the year.

“They gave me a card which had notes inside thanking me for everything during their first year. This gave me comfort in knowing I didn't totally screw them up and that even though I wasn't an expert in my job, that just being someone they could talk to and rely on meant a lot to them,“ he said.

Las Vegas is more than a gambling town and is as diverse as any other large, metro area in the county, according to Wedley, who admitted he was “nervous” coming to UNLV for his master’s degree.

“I wanted to work in Major League Baseball. Realizing I wasn't going to get much bigger than 5'9" and 160 pounds, I knew it wouldn’t be as a player and I transitioned to wanting to become a general manager,” he said.