Dear Hornet Nation,
 
What a year this has been. Before I go any further, I want everyone to know that this season is not done yet as Track & Field are competing today, May 12, in Joliet, IL and tomorrow, May 13, to try to qualify for Nationals! Good luck to the squad!
 
But again, what a year 2022-23 has been…
 
The Women's Volleyball team made history, or HERstory, this past year having had the best record in program history going 14-12, earning a trip to the American Midwest Conference (AMC) Tournament. Women's Soccer returned with a vengeance this past fall, clawing their way back to the AMC Conference Final game for the second straight season. Men's Soccer finished with a 10-6-2 record with a second consecutive trip to the AMC Conference Tournament Semifinal. Men's Basketball showed what they were made of when they defeated Missouri Baptist University and Central Baptist College in a span of three days. Women's Basketball traveled to the HBCU Dallas Invitational, sponsored by Puma, providing great experiences and opportunities. Our baseball season provided so many cool moments, including a four home run day from senior, Davie Pound, and a return for the ages when Austin Palacios, returning from a year-long recovery from injury, hit a homer at his first plate appearance. Softball accomplished their highest win total since the 2018 season and was invited to participate in the Hosea Bell Red Dirt Classic in Oklahoma City, OK at the USA Softball Hall of Fame. Track & Field, a year after the program was suspended, have let the AMC know that they are not only back but they are HERE as one, Nyah Parker is the AMC Indoor Triple Jump Champion and AMC Outdoor Triple Jump Champion, and two, Xavier Flemister is the AMC Outdoor 100m Dash Champion.
 
All of that said, due to the achievements of our student athletes, coaches and staff and all of the support from Hornet Nation, Harris-Stowe Athletics finished 2022-23 receiving our highest point total in AMC Presidents' Cup history, a number that is determined by combining the results of all of your teams.
 
When Dr. Collins Smith removed the interim tag last summer and provided me with the opportunity to serve as the Director of Athletics at Harris-Stowe State University, having been at Harris-Stowe for six years, I knew that we needed to take steps to improve our student athlete experience. Our team identified four objectives for our department: To Develop, To Empower, To Serve, To Compete. While it is our responsibility to guide our student athletes to graduation, our responsibility to our student athletes does not stop there. Our student athletes have entrusted us with some of the most important, and developmental, years of their life and we have to not only prepare them for success in between the lines, we have to prepare them for success in their personal, professional and private life as well. To do so, we need to provide our student athletes and staff with opportunities and resources to excel, expose them to the world, while also making it fun!
 
This past year, we were able to host NCAA Women's Basketball Champion and Team USA Olympian, Sylvia Crowley, and she spoke to our student athletes on the importance of Self Confidence, Leadership, Accountability, and Mental Toughness. For the second straight year, the Swarm Awards, our athletic banquet, were held at the Saint Louis Art Museum in Forest Park providing a fun experience for our students. At the Swarm Awards, USA Olympic Gold Medalist, Dawn Harper-Nelson, spoke to our student athletes and let them know they "did not get here by chance, but through hard work and dedication." That same quote from Harper-Nelson was used by Harris-Stowe Women's Soccer student athlete and Harris-Stowe State University Valedictorian, Annika Fischer, in her Valedictorian speech, a testament that the exposure we provide our student athletes with can prove to have an everlasting impact.
 
To watch the Swarm Awards, please click here.
 
The evening before graduation, we also held our first annual Student Athlete Stole Ceremony, a Hall of Fame style event where a friend and/or family member speaks about the graduating student athlete and their journey and presents them with their student athlete stole. It was an incredibly special event, full of some really special moments between individuals that have seen each other at both their lowest moments and their highest.
 
To watch the Student Athlete Stole Ceremony, please click here.
 
Last year, we identified our ability to tell our story as an area that needed drastic improvement. That included our broadcast, not only in quality but consistency, and photography. We have student athletes come to Harris-Stowe from all over the country and the world. Your friends and family are there to support you but unfortunately, due to issues with our equipment, we would not know if the broadcast would work. In the Fall, when it was clear our equipment was no longer working properly and our process was not sustainable, our partners at AH! TV Network and Wilkes Visions stepped in, providing a clear and consistent broadcast, with several camera angles, and in-game photos that we could rely on. Now that a foundation for a strong, consistent broadcast is in place, we can build. The first step in doing so was joining HBCU League Pass+, a app available on any smart device that is dedicated to delivering 24/7 access to Historically Black Colleges and Universities' live men's and women's sporting events and more.
 
To download HBCU League Pass+, please click here.
 
All of this progress is due to the hard work of our student athletes, coaches and staff. Without bright minds bringing new, fresh ideas to the table and advocating for their programs on a daily basis, we do not move forward. We are constantly identifying areas that need to be addressed so that we are not complacent.
 
While I am thrilled to see the growth within our programs and the Department of Athletics, that is not to say that we don't have areas to improve. The Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) era is here and we want to ensure that our student athletes are capitalizing on the opportunity. This past year, we had one student athlete earn over $7,000.00 in NIL agreements through our partnership with Opendorse. If every single one of our student athletes pursued Opendorse NIL agreements with the same level of energy as our top earner, our student athletes would have earned over $1,000,000.00 in NIL deals. The opportunities are there and we will do our part in making sure our student athletes know they are. In addition, while I am proud of the growth we have shown in terms of serving our community, there is much more that we can do. I look forward to our teams and coaches being out in local K-12 schools, continuing to have local K-12 schools competing on our campus and in our facilities as well as continuing to volunteer with local organizations on a more consistent basis.
 
There are so many more areas to improve from facilities to organization, communication to equipment. However, as we will continue to develop those areas and more, as you can see from the above and what Hornet Nation has already accomplished, I am thankful. I am thankful for the opportunity to serve our student athletes. I am thankful for the opportunity to serve our staff. I am thankful for the opportunity to serve our alumni, our institution and our great city of St. Louis. As a member of Hornet Nation, you have the opportunity to impact our community and change the world and part of our responsibility to you is making sure that you believe that.
 
For alumni out there and those that have just graduated, I hope that we make you proud. For those student athletes that are returning, it's time. And lastly, for those student athletes, coaches and staff that have yet to join us, the standard has been set – are you prepared to do what it takes to raise it?
 
Thank you, Hornet Nation, for believing in us and supporting us over the course of this year. Stay ready. This is only the beginning.
 
Sincerely,
 
William A. Carey
Director of Athletics

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