Withers, Durham represent WU at regional diversity career forum
The “Take Your Mark, Make Your Mark” Career Forum held this past weekend was a forum for ethnic minorities and female student-athletes to demonstrate and explore their leadership abilities and discuss the barriers and hurdles they face on a regular basis.
The forum was organized by The National Consortium for Academics and Sports (NCAS) together with the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference and the Presidents’ Athletic Conference to aid students in their career paths towards intercollegiate athletics.
Senior basketball player BJ Durham went into the experience not knowing what it entailed.
What the conference ended up being, according to Durham, was a continuous session of workshops and leadership building activities to not only give participants the confidence and leadership abilities instrumental to their future careers, but the networking and application to make their dreams a possibility and reality.
Among the many speakers that engaged with him and his peers, Durham specifically mentioned a psychology professor who discussed how “confidence can carry you a lot longer on the path of life than you think.”
He also discussed a workshop where he met one of his peers for the first time and shared your experiences with adversity. Durham shared his experience as a freshman with the basketball program. He says taking a back seat and learning from the older guys humbled him. By season’s end, he knew he had to be stronger and faster so that he could contribute. He knew he had to put in a lot of work.
“In high school, you have the talent to get past. In college, everyone’s as good as you,” said Durham.
In terms of obstacles that he’s met in regards to his race, which was another of the topics at the forum, Durham says he tries to embrace it and use it to his advantage.
“Someone says, ‘You know, your only knows you because you’re the black kid.’ And yeah, maybe I am, but I’m going work the hardest and become one of the best students in the class,” said Durham.
Durham says he made a lot of connections while at the forum and said something that was being said a lot at the conference was, “You can only go as far as your network can take you.”
Chelsey Withers, a junior soccer player, said the conference took a look at women and how people who are diverse can make a move in athletics, asking “How can we one up in a field that’s dominated by someone else?”
Withers said she learned a lot about how to present herself and that some of the discussions and activities were about learning how to bring the best part out of you as well as self-identity.
Withers said it gave her a better perspective on different people’s opinions.
One of her strongest takeaways, she said, was to “take advantage of every opportunity. Every opportunity is equal within itself. This conference didn’t seem like a big deal, but I’m extremely blessed to have gone.”