50 Years of Title IX: Joelle Weltner - Diving

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the passing of Title IX by the United States Congress. In 1972, Congress passed Title IX as part of that year's education amendments. Written by Representative Patsy Mink, Representative Edith Green and Senator Birch Bayh, the law prohibits sex-based discrimination in all schools receiving federal financial assistance. Although the text of the law makes no reference to athletics, it was later determined to encompass all aspects of a school's operations, including intercollegiate sports programs. One study found that, between the implementation of Title IX and 2006, there had been an almost 500% increase in the number of female collegiate athletes.

Joelle Weltner was eleven years old when she began diving. She started out doing competitive gymnastics which is a common sport to do prior to diving.

"When I started diving, I fell in love with it," Weltner said. "The air awareness you develop in gymnastics leads for an easy transition into diving."

Joelle was inspired by two of her older female family friends who competed in diving at the collegiate level.

"Being a student-athlete was always a goal of mine. Without Title IX, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to continue diving throughout school. It opened the door to pursue an athletic and academic career."

Joelle started her freshman year at Cal Poly in 2018. Throughout her time at Cal Poly, she was very involved on campus.

"I gained leadership experience at Cal Poly by serving as the team captain for two seasons. To be the person that my teammates were able to come to and look up to has been awesome." For the past year, Joelle interned for the Athletic Department at Cal Poly under the development team.

"My experience at Cal Poly has been nothing but amazing. I've met so many amazing people. My teammates I know I'll stay in contact with forever. They're basically my family."

"The bar is set high [at Cal Poly] not only for athletics, but academics as well. Students always work to push themselves and to be the best person they can be. It's very admirable and it makes me want to be better."

One of Joelle's favorite memories at Cal Poly is sitting in the jacuzzi with her teammates in between dives. "We just mess around, tells stories, catch up on the weekend. It sat as a nice break from school and work."

As for future athletes, Joelle's advice is: "Use every opportunity and take it. You never know who you might meet and what doors they can open. There are so many possibilities at Cal Poly and being on a sports team heightens those opportunities."

Joelle graduated from Cal Poly last weekend with a degree in Business Administration. For the summer she is moving back to Orange County, and in the fall, she plans to move to San Diego for a job.

Calendar

50 Years of Title IX: Joelle Weltner - Diving

Players Mentioned

Joelle Weltner

Footer

Upcoming Events