Meet Joelle: Sport management

I chose sports management because I grew up around sports. My dad immersed me in all sports, and I really just found my passion in it. And I was like, why not go into sports management? 

So my favorite class within my major was probably, it’s going to sound crazy, but first aid. Honestly, I loved my first aid course. I was going around telling everybody I'm first aid certified, but it was something that I'd never done before. It was really interesting to me.

You know, I heard about Western during one of the decision day things that Detroit Public Schools had at the time. We were at Renaissance and we went around and basically turned in our resumes and our SAT scores to all these different colleges. And so that's when I think I learned about Western. But I literally visited over 50 schools and Western was really nice. The distance from home was really good. So that's why I end up coming here.

My favorite class at Western probably has to be Black feminism. I really, really enjoyed that class. It’s taught by Dr. Jennifer Richardson. I didn't even know too much about feminism, but then it was Black feminism, and so I learned a whole bunch about that. But Dr. Richardson was just hilarious and she made the classroom fun and interactive.

With the men's basketball team at WMU, I filmed practice and games. That's my main job. But then I wanted more because I honestly didn't like filming. And so that's when I end up going on the court and helping out the players, talking to players, really networking with them, I think that was probably the best part that I got out of that whole experience. Just actually like understanding what player relations look like.

I'm just going to shout out TRIO Student Success Program (SSP). The TRIO SSP is the reason I'm here today. Honestly, they've advocated for me. They've helped me along the way. I got leadership positions within TRIO SSP. I think that was really helpful for me as well because I was an office aide, I was a facilitator, and a program mentor.

And I really, really, really, really thank them because without them, I wouldn’t be here. They've helped me with my financial aid, picking classes and there has been so much that TRIO SSP has done for me.

Being on campus really immersed me into the campus, which is I really enjoyed. My classes were really close and I think that was the best thing because I didn't have to go too far.

I ended up doing my internship at Detroit Power, which  is back at home in Detroit, and that's a police athletic league. So there I was doing events, which is why I picked up the event management minor.

I was the president of the Black Student Union (BSU) for 2 years and it is something that I have near and dear to my heart. When I first got to college, it was something that just really gave me a home. I do live 2 hours away, but the issue was, I've never really left home before. And being a minority on Western's campus is hard in itself, but then finding that community is just like, wow, like kind of a relief. So throughout my time within BSU I held multiple leadership positions and planned, hosted and executed over 50 events.

One of the biggest things that I've taken away is networking and really finding who I can learn from. I never thought I would have been in a sorority but I've traveled and met so many different people just based off the fact that I'm in Sigma Gamma Rho. It is kind of family and I've met a lot of really great women because of it.