USU Student-Athlete Alumni Return for Beyond Sport Event

Logan, UT — Seven Utah State University student-athlete alumni returned to the Logan campus as honored guests for Beyond Sport, an event that aimed to inspire student-athletes for life after graduation. It was hosted by the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHaSS), the Black Student-Athlete Association, and USU Athletics.

Students from a variety of sports and colleges at USU attended the roundtable discussion and the subsequent networking night.

Amari Evans, gymnast and vice president of the Black Student-Athlete Association, recognized the value of connecting with student-athlete alumni.

“Beyond Sport is important to me because sports aren’t forever, especially in a sport like gymnastics,” Evans said. “We don’t necessarily go pro, so I want to see what I can do with my life and how I’m going to be able to adjust after I finish.”

Evans commented on how validating it was to talk to alumni who have the shared student-athlete experience and to see the paths they’ve taken in their lives.

Camille Brox (Sociology ‘07) was grateful to share her experience as a CHaSS student playing for USU’s inaugural women’s basketball team in 2003. Brox currently works as a police sergeant for the UCLA Police Department and received the 2024 CHaSS Inspiration Award.

“I’d like to give the students some perspective and a little bit of insight on what life after sports is like,” Brox said. “Some of these folks will continue on professionally, but for those that it’s not their aspiration, I'm giving them some nuggets and tools to think about once you hang up your cleats, or your shoes, or your racquet. I want to give them some things to think about for their futures.”

Students in attendance heard from a variety of former student-athletes discussing how they navigated life beyond sports. One such alum was Kenny x Hamlett (Interdisciplinary Studies ‘14), a track and field athlete who found his calling as a filmmaker and founder of Better Days West.

“I only wanted to go to college because I wanted to keep running track, and I didn’t really know what I was going to do after college,” Hamlett said. “Then I picked up a camera, and that’s where I realized I could do something that I love to do every single day with the same passion that I had for track and field. Without a place to channel that passion and competitiveness, it’s easy to feel lost and directionless.”

The participating alumni hope the current student-athletes can recognize the skills they’ve learned through sports and how those can be utilized to help them succeed in a career after graduation.

“We’ve been doing sports since we were five, or eight, or even three or in 9th grade, so what we do have is rigor,” said Xavier Martin (Business Management and Marketing ‘12). “The rigor, as it pertains to waking up in the morning, being accountable to someone besides yourself, working on a team, and all those different aspects that you’ve been doing your whole life. All those different aspects are the key to the next level.”

This event was held to help students and alumni form lasting, valuable connections to impact their futures and success.

“We don't want this night to be a one-night deal where we just talk and we give guidance,” said Justice Smith, USU’s assistant athletic director. “We want them to follow up with our alum and to continuously have a relationship with them to help them out down the road.”