Giovanni Hutchings believes sports can be a way for athletes, especially minority athletes, to have a chance at college.
But it’s the education that they’ll get that is truly their way out – out of poverty, sometimes away from abuse.
Giovanni, a 2019 graduate of St. Edward High School in Lakewood, is a sophomore football player here at Ashland University. I met with him a few weeks ago for the first time to review his resume to give some suggestions on how to improve it. As we talked, I lea
rned about his desire to join the Ashbrook program and someday be accepted into law school.
Students often choose Ashland University to feel as if they are a part of a family. The idea that “You are who you surround yourself with,” was instilled in Giovanni by his father who has spent his life investing in his son.
“I picked AU because it was a small school where I would not only be able to focus on academics,” Giovanni said, “but also myself and my religion.” He wants, he said, to surround himself with Christian individuals within a small community of people who love each other and understand each other. AU is a place where students can grow in all aspects of life.
Giovanni shared this Fredrick Douglass quote: “The silver trump of freedom had roused my soul to eternal wakefulness. Freedom now appeared.” Douglass, he said, found freedom through education. He began to understand slavery on a new level and what the white man took away from him. “Education is the key thing that stopped them from freeing themselves. Douglass now has fretted his mind which leads to freeing his physical body.” He offered other themes expressed by Virginia Woolf and Maya Angelou, which struck me.
Athletes, Giovanni said, need to break out of the prison in their mind. Only a small fraction of individuals are drafted into professional sport, he said, and most won’t make it to the point. Giovanni hopes that those who do not go pro still see the endless opportunities ahead of them that their education makes possible. Academics appear to be overrated to some of the athletes Giovanni has encountered. He has seen many of them go from “high to low” because they were only going through the motions of academics.
When asked what Giovanni plans to do after school, he said, “I want to help people; free people’s minds. I want to free my own mind as I continue to grow. I want to share what I have learned to help others.” Giovanni would like to encourage student athletes, specifically minorities, to embrace education as much as they embrace athletics. “ I want minorities to know they are worthy and in all aspects of life, not sports alone."
“This is an obvious topic. Many times we forget about the obvious; I want to bring attention back to the obvious.”