Welcome back to another episode of Bearcat Chats.
And, a pleasure to be joined by Brittany Korsah, the president of Student Athletes of Color for Success.
Tyler Shephard, who is the vice president and Jessie Fuca, an assistant coach with the Binghamton University Track and Field Team.
And, I guess an informal advisor/consultant.
You know, he's been a focal member of getting this club off the ground.
To all three of you, thanks so much for joining me.
Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you for having us. Thank you. Sure.
Brittany, let's start with you.
I'm really impressed, not just in the development of the idea for the club . . .
But the amount of time and care you took to really build a solid foundation where it can be successful, long-term. 0:00:54.000,1193:02:47.295 How did you go about doing that?
Um. So, it took a lot of like, who I would go to for help.
I definitely needed a lot of help. I didn't know who I would go to, to talk about this.
So, I had a discussion with this one track and field athlete who used to be on the team.
I brought it up to her, because I felt like she would be a perfect person to talk to about it.
And so, she helped a lot. She had experience with other clubs and so we just started drafting like how we can get this club going.
It was about a year ago, so last like October we started talking about this.
And, yeah she really helped a lot, um - making this happen.
So, it definitely was a little difficult, but we got a lot of support from it, so . . . yeah.
Was that Janelle Williams, your?
Yes. Yes. [Laugh]
So, we'll give Janelle some love you know and we'll get to the alumni element of this, which I think is great, in a moment.
Tyler, for you, you know when we talked last week, you said after your freshman year, you were sort of looking and now you are a junior; Brittany is a senior.
And, you were looking for a way to really make an impact.
How did this fit into that goal?
Yeah, so like I said before, my freshman year, like everybody comes in as freshman and everyone's happy; you know it's college, you know.
It's a whole new experience.
But then, I feel like sophomore year, a lot of people started to think, "Like, who am I really?"
And, what do I really want to get besides just an education and you know, do well on the track team?
And, I came from a really diverse high school.
So, I had everybody around me and then to jump into Binghamton, where it wasn't the same case . . .
I was like, you know, I need to find . . . I need to find me, here at Binghamton.
And, it was hard at first.
So, I used to talk to Jessie about it all the time and you know, he had said, that this is not a new problem . . .
This is something that a lot of people have expressed to him and that was the real like catalyst into like . . .
you know, after talking to him, and hearing that you know, there's a possibility of something like this starting.
That was the real catalyst in my mind, like oh, you know, this could be your opportunity to be more than just an athlete.
And, Jessie, that's the perfect segway.
You were sort of the glue having all these separate conversations.
How did you help guide Brittany and Tyler and everyone else to come together?
Um. So honestly you know, I . . . I credit them more than anything you know, just for being willing to have these conversations with me.
You know, as a coach I'm always checking in on my athletes and everything.
And, you know, I tell them all the time, I say, "Happy athletes compete well."
So you know, I'm always making sure that things are going well off the track and stuff like that and you know, Brittany, Janelle and Latoya Shan . . .
We had like a two-hour conversation probably was it, right after the weight room one day last year.
Where you know, they really just shared a lot with me about their experiences as black women at Binghamton . . .
And, you know, what their experiences were and what this University kind of meant to them . . .
Why they chose it and you know, where they were supported and not supported, since they came here.
You know, so the biggest message that I had for them was that the you know, significance of them talking to me about that wasn't lost on me . . .
and that you know, I really appreciated them being candid and being honest.
And, I always preach to my athletes too about just being authentic and you know, trying to find your identity . . .
And, really being who you are.
So, this club definitely fit with all of my values and you know just trying to be there to support my athletes . . .
And, just make sure that you know, they feel that there's a place for them on campus.
So, you know again, the credit definitely goes to them, for having the idea.
You know, having the willingness and openness to talk with me about it and you know Tyler definitely was a huge aspect of it and Brittany was a huge aspect of it . . .
in just being able to kind of keep things together and connect them, was huge.
Brittany, now that the club is off the ground and I really like the roll-out on Instagram, and a great article for those that haven't seen it on the BU Bearcats website.
What are the goals? What do you do to? What are the things that you want to put into action?
Um. So, not only do we want it to be like a safe space for all of us to be in, but like we definitely wanted to help us like, gain opportunity in the future . . .
And, create like alumni networks for everyone.
And, honestly like, we're looking to like work with other people in the community; like we're looking to work with Binghamton High School.
There's a lot of people that have been reaching out to me.
There's like a club called, an organization called "Athletes for Charity," where they work with . . .
They team up with like pro-athletes, student athletes and so I can help to like benefit under-privileged like youth.
So, we have like a lot of like events that we're thinking of doing.
And just helping the community and stuff, so yeah.
Picking up off that point Brittany, Tyler it's really cool I think the way you guys want to make a difference both ways.
Bringing in alumni. And, paying it forward to high school students and folks in the community.
What excites you most about that?
Both aspects really excite me the most.
Definitely giving back to the community is the first thing.
We here at Binghamton, I feel like there is a lot of minorities around in Binghamton that I don't think the University necessarily directs their resources to . . .
that they could help you know like create a bridge to help these kids that need, you know the extra like financial help or just an opportunity to come to a school like Binghamton.
I don't think there's really any ties right there, so it's a start that from now, even within our group could help bring a lot of POC not even, just student athletes . . .
but just students here to Bing to raise numbers.
And then, the part or the aspect with the alumni, like I said, like it's been said before, there's not a lot of . . .
Our experience is unique here to Binghamton.
You know, not even as just a student athlete, but just as a black person in general.
So, to get in touch with other black athletes or even just black alumni that came from this school, get help; form connections and get us into a better spot.
And, also help them give back, because I know they kind of want to, but it's hard; especially in this climate, especially what happened you know, over the summer and everything like that.
Everybody wants to give back now and make sure that we're all doing the right thing.
And, I think that both aspects help us in doing this so . . .
Apparently you were involved or are involved with the Black Student Union, as well.
I know that you were even thinking of going on to their executive board before you got involved with this.
How do you see these two organizations potentially working together?
Ah. So. Yeah. I was looking to get onto the E-board and I actually got the position and I could see us working together; especially with the minority communities here in Binghamton.
You know, they do a lot of programming between U-Turn; you know trying to break that high school-to-prison pipeline in minority areas.
They have a youth program. They have even a program where they go to the local . . . to a prison, in Ithaca.
You know. And, then talk to some of the inmates.
And, with that programming, we could . . .
We would collab. with them, you know in order to get ourselves off the ground.
You know, get us some traction to help people come in and then also for them to start to mingle with that.
Because believe it or not, the athlete and non-athlete lifestyles, is very separate here.
You know. So, they don't even know what happens in Athletics, nor did I know what really happens, being a non-athlete, you know in a lot of these areas . . .
So, that could also bridge the disconnection right there.
And then, you know the black athletes and then the black non-athletes, that's just you know, is power in numbers, right there.
Put them both together: You know, what can we not do?
Jessie, you know the athlete experience as both obviously, being on the Track and Field Team and being an alum.
What are you thinking as you are hearing Brittany and Tyler talk about the potential of the club?
Um. I'm just really excited for it.
I mean, you know, obviously being an alum of the University, I have a lot of pride in the program . . .
And from the other ladies that spoke with me last year, really just echo the sentiments of a lot of the teammates that I had and the people that I ran with. 0:10:19.000,1193:02:47.295 And you know, I had a great student athlete experience here myself, but you know the stories that I've heard from Tyler and from Brittany . . .
And you know, things that, like Tyler said, you know, it was nothing necessarily new to me.
It wasn't a surprise to me. It was just more so, the fact that they were willing to talk to me about the stuff that you know, sparked all of this.
So, you know, I've definitely you know seen and heard enough to want to support this and really just kind of look towards the future of how we can benefit.
You know our student athletes of color that you know, need that extra support and need a community, and need to be you know, involved with something that you know, can help them with their identity . . .
And, you know, help them; help their own community in this University and again, within the Greater Binghamton community, as well, so . . .
You know excitement is definitely the key word for me.
Brittany, what's been the response and how have you gone about expanding the club to obviously, you guys are track and field athletes?
But you have some other sports involved, but where do you go in terms of speaking with other teams?
Um. The support has been definitely great, like a lot of people have been supportive.
Other coaches from other teams have been like, being so helpful.
And, just wanting to be there and even wanting to be like a part of like our club.
And, when we have meetings and stuff, so the support has really been there, and I'm really happy that we had gotten all of this support from all of the coaches
because definitely reaching out to like the other student athletes was/is kind of hard, so it's been very beneficial with that.
And, I'm just happy that we get to speak to all the other student athletes, because sometimes like our schedules and stuff . . .
Like, it's hard to see everyone . . .
So, I'm happy that we get to have this club, so I can meet everyone.
And, just everyone can just be together and get to know each other.
And, so if people want to get involved Brittaney and they may be learning about the club for the first time . . .
How can they reach out and express interest?
Um. So, definitely through our Instagram.
We've been making that like our priority to make sure that we get out there, because social media is definitely powerful, and that could really help.
And, also we have been starting to . . . We have a group meeting so we have been trying to reach out to people and getting people to add other people to the group meeting stuff. . . .
And, definitely, we're starting to like work on making like newsletters and stuff, to get that out there.
So, that's really what we've been doing to get the word out to other people.
And Tyler, you mentioned in that Athletics article that you're going to have serious current event discussions a couple of times a month and lighter things like a game night.
To the current event piece, what do you see that looking like?
I see that looking like more of a discussion because everything, news comes and goes, and especially you know, being student athletes, we don't have like a very forgiving schedule.
There's a lot of things and having different athletes on different clubs, everyone's on their own schedule, so . . .
It would just be a discussion; we would have a topic about the biggest thing that is going on, but honestly, a list of topics that you know, our E-board would come up with. .
You know, as news comes and goes.
Just to talk about, you know, see everyone's different thoughts on it and learn from it and see how you know, we can do better, as a lot of people in our community.
Well Brittany, Tyler, Jessie, we're all excited and can't wait to see where the club's going . . .
And, only wishing you continued success, as this is like the big kick-off.
So, I look forward to talking with you down the road and keep up the great work.
Thank you! Thank you! Thanks!