Johns Hopkins University volleyball student-athletes Elysa Pulliam and Jordan Price couldn’t have asked for a better finish to their first year in college as they joined Blue Jays’ football defensive coordinator Bryan “BJ” Hill in attending the 2024 Black Student-Athlete Summit in Los Angeles.
“It was a once in a lifetime experience. Even though I attended a very diverse private school in Atlanta, I was not in spaces with all Black people. Although our experiences are unique, we shared the amazement in seeing so many people who look like us,”
“The summit had a prolific impact on me. It was powerful to be in a room with hundreds of Black student-athletes talking to one another about everything from social topics and experiences to favorite color,” Pulliam stated.
Hill recently become more active with the athletic department’s Black Student-Athlete Association (BSAA) through the encouragement of former Johns Hopkins Associate Director of Athletics Nikki Betz. “She asked me if I wanted to attend the summit in Los Angeles. I hadn’t been part of the BSAA very long and didn’t know what to expect, but I was all in. It was a chance to speak with a lot of student-athletes and I kept hearing the same things, so I have a better idea how I can help with our students,” Hill described.
The Summit
The goal of the summit is to empower Black student-athletes to maximize their college experience in their sport, in the classroom, and to “not leave any meat on the bone” in terms of 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.
This year marked the ninth year of the annual four-day conference that brings together more than 1,500 student-athletes, university professionals, and industry leaders and was founded by Dr. Leonard Moore, the George Littlefield Professor of American History at the University of Texas at Austin.
Though the event is made up of mostly Division I athletes, the Division III athletes who attended did not feel out of place, which included Pulliam and Price. “I was a little intimidated at first and thought it would be all these superstars and that I would just be ‘fan girling,’” Price laughed. “It was cool to see that division did not matter at all. People talked with us and vice versa. Everyone had shared interests and were there to learn.” Pulliam seconded her teammates’ views. “It really didn’t even come up about what division we were in. We all have athletics and academics. What we are doing in Division III is impressive too,” she remarked.
Hill joked that other than the size of many of the Division I athletes, he also did not sense there were any barriers between divisions at the conference. “There was so much common ground between athletes and others who look like them outside of sports. Someone who plays football at Oregon approached me because they knew someone on the Johns Hopkins football team. People didn’t care about division. They were there to learn, connect, and grow,” he commented.
Price, who is majoring in molecular and cellular biology, appreciated that the summit catered to so many different career paths. “I got to listen to a lot of people who were once on the same path as I am and young pre-meds who are doing what I want to do. I was able to build a network of people older than me who I can come to with questions or for advice,” she explained.
A computer science major, Pulliam benefited from learning from others in her field. “I talked to someone who had been an athlete and was now successful in her career. That really made me think, “I can do this for all four years and succeed,” she said. “People were very transparent about postgraduate education and the costs involved. Everyone was so nice. That is not common in many spaces.”
In addition to workshops being tailored to students, there are also breakout sessions for administrators. “They were very informational with a wide range of topics. We learned a lot about leadership, thinking differently in how to handle various situations. We were encouraged to understand student-athletes and their mindsets on a different level, which in turn helps us grow as coaches and administrators,” he communicated.
Bringing Back What They Learned
“We were the youngest people there, so we kept an open mind when talking to others and gained new perspectives. Things that resonated with me were to not let being Black be the only thing you talk about and don’t worry so much about making the wrong decision or ‘choosing the wrong path’ when there are not multiple paths, just one path that you can experience numerous things on. There is not a split in the road in every decision you make, forcing you to choose one side or the other,” Pulliam expressed.
“I gained a new outlook on what it is like to be a Black student-athlete at any school. Apart from HBCU’s (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), whether we are at a small school or large school, we have similar experiences in college because we are the minority,” Price added. “It helped me to realize that I am not alone and the things I am feeling are what others are feeling as well. Being there inspired me to want to be more involved in BSAA next year and sharing what I have learned.”
Hill also looks forward to engaging more with the BSAA in 20240-25. “I want to emphasize to our student-athletes to embrace who they are and where they come from, to share that even though there aren’t a lot of Black students at Johns Hopkins, they have accomplished great things to get where they are and that can lead to a greater purpose,” he communicated. “I want to say to them, ‘Don’t waste the opportunity just because you are one of a few. Johns Hopkins is a special place. Be grateful to be there and make the most of it. You could go into the workplace and be that influential person who can change lives. Don’t fear being uncomfortable.”
“I’ve been across the spectrum from being the only Black person in school or other settings to being at an all-Black school to being in a diverse high school. I have understood it from all sides,” Hill continued. “So much of the divisiveness we see is from misunderstanding. Social media does a terrible job of displaying how similar all people are. No one is going to fully understand what happens in someone else’s life, but the gap doesn’t have to be as big as it is. We all need to put in the work to close that gap as much as possible. I was able to speak with so many athletes at the summit about finding common ground.”
Encouraging Others to Attend
All three Johns Hopkins attendees highly recommend to all Black student-athletes and the administrators committed to elevating their college experience to attend the summit. “Go in with an open mind, not that I had any qualms about going but I didn’t know what to expect,” shared Price. “Be ready to take in a lot of information. It is okay if you forget some of it because you will take away key points that will stick with you the rest of your life.”
“It is a great opportunity to interact and learn. I took notes for myself from what different speakers said,” Hill added. “People say things that you may not have thought of or put in a way that you had not considered. You just never know what you will learn. There is an ability to grow so much in a space like that.”
Pulliam determined that one way she and her teammate would get the most out of the summit was to be intentional about meeting people and talking to them. “I said, ‘Let’s meet 10 people before the events begin. The hotel was the best opportunity to do that because we truly wanted to interact with people,” she explained. Price admits she was initially hesitant about the plan. “I was stepping out of my comfort zone to agree to meeting 10 new people. I was nervous about it at first and even still a little at the end,” she joked. “It was cool to try something new and every person we met was so nice. Despite my anxiety about it, conversing with people we didn’t know was a great experience.”
Price made one particularly important connection in those talks. “One of the women I met recently had torn her ACL earlier in the year and lived in Baltimore. I recently tore my ACL and had surgery in Baltimore. She texted me the day of my surgery saying that she hoped it went well. We made an instant connection at the summit and that continued,” she described. “There was an inner circle at the summit for athletes who were injured at any point in their careers. People talked about how they overcame their injuries and encouraged those of us currently injured that there was light on the other side.”
“This will be one of the few times you won’t be alone at all. You will stand with thousands of people whose experience is as close to yours as you will get, Pulliam assured. “This is your chance to talk about what it means to be a Black student-athlete with others who share that experience.”