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Kansas State came away as the big winner at the Black Student-Athlete Summit this past week in Houston. The Wildcats won the Black Student-Athlete Organization of the Year during an annual gathering of 400 black student-athletes along with 200 administrators, coaches and professors during a three-day event at the Westin Medical Center Houston.
K-State’s organization P.A.L.S. boasts about 40 regular members. It stands for “Positioning African-American and Black Athletes for Lifelong Success” and is led by Julian Jones, Assistant Athletics Director of Student-Athlete Development/Chief Diversity Officer.
The program was a big hit among the more than 30 colleges represented at the summit and the award was decided through a formal application process.
“I don’t think any of us had any idea,” K-State women’s basketball All-American Ayoka Lee said. “We were all pretty surprised. I think it just opened my eyes to how much K-State does value black student-athletes and our experience. It was really cool to get the award and reflect upon how great Julian is and the work he is doing to help us. He’s willing to do as much as he can to make our experience better.”
Lee was joined by men’s basketball player Markquis Nowell, volleyball player Aliyah Carter, track and field athlete Monique Hardy, and football players Cartez Crook-Jones, Phillip Brooks, Felix Anudike-Uzomah and Julius Brents. Coordinator Chris Sharp and postgraduate intern Bradi Nowak also joined Jones and the Wildcats in front of the gathering to accept the award.
“It was just amazing,” Jones said. “It just goes to show the hard work that’s put into the opportunity that our student-athletes have. It wouldn’t be possible without our student-athletes. Knowing we have a group like P.A.L.S. that our student-athletes really enjoy and take pride in is amazing.”
The basis of P.A.L.S. is simple.
“The group is for community so other black student-athletes can hang out with other black student-athletes,” Jones said. “It’s about bringing together community. We talk about issues and things that will prepare them for life, and just make sure they have a good experience while they’re here. We talk about relationships, mental health, professionalism, and we do fun outings as well.”
In the past year, the group visited the Negro Baseball Museum in Kansas City. Recently, the group enjoyed a crawfish boil with K-State football assistant head coach Van Malone and director of strength and conditioning Trumain Carroll.
“We use culture and community to talk about experiences that are similar and different,” Jones said, “and how we can continue to strive in that area.”
The Black Student-Athlete Summit was founded in 2015 by University of Texas professor and vice president Leonard Moore and this year was hosted by Rice Athletics on the campus of Rice University on May 23 through 25.
K-State has maintained a presence at the summit all three years that Jones has been at K-State.
“It’s good to see student-athletes wanting to learn and help and become leaders,” Jones said. “It’s not just them bringing it back to their black student-athletes, but they’re learning leadership so they can bring it back to their teams. It’s focused on black student-athletes but the things that they learned they can bring back and can help all student-athletes be better people.”
The Black Student-Athlete Summit is the only event of its kind that caters to the holistic development of the black student-athlete and features content, people, and networking. The goal is to empower black student-athletes to maximize their college experience by excelling in the classroom and to maximize opportunities. Professional staff who attend the summit are empowered to go back to their campuses and create innovative initiatives to ensure that black student-athletes are competitive in the global workforce upon graduation.
“It was terrific,” Nowell said. “We learned about NIL and mental health and other topics. The biggest takeaway was the networking. There were a lot of people there of influence and you just got to network with a lot of different people. I learned most about branding and how to market yourself in a way that can create leverage and value for yourself. They talked about using your smile as your logo. As often as you can smile you should do it.
“They talked about not downplaying yourself to others. Sometimes, as student-athletes we can get a lot of different pressure from different walks of life — your family, the outside world, social media, and the media, because you have to act a certain way. You just have to be very careful with how you act as a student-athlete. I felt it was very helpful for my life and the direction I want to go, which is to elevate and expand myself.”
Student-athletes and professionals enjoyed TED Talk-style presentations and panel discussions.
“The theme for this summit was mental health,” Jones said. “I think that’s what they talked about the most, the stereotype in general and how mental health isn’t always talked about. We must take mental health seriously. I wanted to hear from other student-athletes and hear how we can improve and what we can bring back to K-State. I’m looking forward to that.”
Likewise, Jones anticipates the opportunity for K-State black student-athletes to engage in their own roundtable based off the summit.
“I’m excited to hear a little bit more about what they brought back that they didn’t think they were going to bring back,” he said. “We’re going do a sit-down session and perhaps record it and have the whole group together like a roundtable discussion just to hear it verbally as well and record it so we can share it with others as well.”
Mental health is an emphasis for Lee, who graduated with a 4.0 GPA and is working on her master’s degree with plans to pursue a career in psychology and mental health counseling sometime down the road.
“Mental health is definitely an area I’m interested in, so it was really cool to connect with people who have the same interest,” Lee said. “It also made me really thankful for the administration that we have and the work that they do because a lot of schools don’t have that or are still fighting to get those people advocating for them.
“Being able to meet so many other athletes and hear their experiences and willingness to share was my biggest takeaway and the coolest part.”
In the end, K-State, through its efforts in P.A.L.S., took away the top prize.
“The award was great,” Nowell said. “They clapped for us. It was a good experience to actually win the award and to be recognized as a very good group at K-State. The summit just shows different areas of life where you can improve and allows you to meet people of influence. I’d like more student-athletes to go in future years.”
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