Bankole Alade  0:01  
ooling was never a goal. Like I never thought of schooling as being a way to get a better life for me. I thought if I didn't make it in basketball, I wouldn't make it at all.

Mikyas Tessema  0:19  
[Basketball commentary]

Bankole Alade  0:31  
I started playing basketball at eight years old, I was really, really bad. My first couple of years, I never played basketball before my dad's never played basketball before. I remember watching Kobe Bryant, play basketball, and I was like, Wow, I didn't know you could really do that stuff. I never seen anyone do anything like that. So after that, I actually fell in love with the game a lot more. I spend hours and hours practicing. Ever since that I've been playing competitively.

Chris O'Rourke  0:53  
I remember it was any other gym and you said, coach, if I see Oh, if I make this from center court, you got to play me one on one he made it. So we had to play one on one. I remember I want you why assistant coach, he was at the nationals. And bank. He was on Team Alberta. And we were searching for a particular need, which was rebounding and athletic forward. Conrad texted me right away. When he was out there. After watching Alberta and banky play and bank, he actually led the nationals and rebounding that summer. And then we have a model we try and say recruit character and teach skill. And he's definitely was a character kid right from the beginning.

Bankole Alade  1:36  
Early on, I didn't do well. I was playing like zero minutes, I played the puck without two minutes every second game. And at the same time, I was doing terrible at school. I remember at the end of my first semester, I actually almost got kicked out of university for having a super low average. I'm just saying to myself, why am I Why am I doing all this for it? This doesn't make any sense.

Chris O'Rourke  2:04  
Well, he struggled. He struggled academically. And he's struggled with basketball, every toll on my friends before and I told him I was like, I'm going to talk to Chris, I'm about to quit the basketball team.

Bankole Alade  2:12  
And I'm about to drop out of school.

Chris O'Rourke  2:15  
I remember Conrad and I sitting down with him and saying, you know, it's your first year to transition.

Bankole Alade  2:20  
He said, Banky, we see you have a lot of potential inside of you. And he tried to make me question if I really have done everything possible. You're not training all the time, you're not going to workouts all the time. Like you're not doing everything you need to to be successful. And that's something I never really thought about. I feel like I've especially early on, it was more, me not being good enough. And less of me not working hard enough

Unknown Speaker  2:45  
[Coach giving instruction]

Bankole Alade  2:49  
That summer, I was training every day I lifted every day. I feel like I noticed myself getting better from a basketball standpoint. But it is possible for me to get better at basketball by working a bit harder. Why is it not possible for me to improve the rest of my life by working a bit harder.

Chris O'Rourke  3:05  
So the student athlete Mentor Program, there's all kinds of resources there how to write papers, study habits, there's just a whole gamut of things that they can access, and banky was in that I think he just felt his confidence grow.

Bankole Alade  3:21  
Personally, I did not like school whatsoever. But taking Marketing was such a different route than any of the other classes that I've taken. They weren't grading me on what I how much I could remember, or how much I studied beforehand as a degree to be barbel. How well, I'm able to convey thoughts of what I'm thinking in my head, allow me to to use a different side of my brain that I wasn't used to that I actually enjoyed a lot more good. I mean, I'm doing digital strategy, so it's a little bit different than what...

Kathleen Rodenburg  3:50  
I think that he found his passion. I think he found his confidence. I think he found his voice. And I think he realized that he contributed in some way.

Bankole Alade  4:01  
Tech companies who have who may have ulterior motives 

The University of Guelph has a lot of resources to help students do well in schools without till every single single student can do on essays, go to the writing services at the Learning Center, because they're they're there to help and you will do better. Guaranteed. JC was a first club, I joined at Guelph, the first step of actually joining the student club was that I never thought that I would that I would do ever helped me grow a lot as a person and be in a club, you realize how important these things really are to maximizing your success at the University. But one of the things I began to realize is that no black students would ever attend these events.

Unknown Speaker  4:47  
[Montage of various speakers in a video]

Mikyas Tessema  4:52  
I wanted to be a part of a organization that endorsed networking between black students and Professionals. And as soon as I saw Banky's post, I thought this was the best place for me to have that team feeling at U of G.

Bankole Alade  5:08  
There was such a big divide and that black students were missing out. And we felt that we could easily take down these barriers that they see, and hopefully get them to capitalize on these amazing opportunities that the university has.

Mikyas Tessema  5:21  
The Guelph Black Professionals has shown me how to be a better leader, you're only as strong as your weakest link. So as long as everyone is involved, and actively participating, the whole team will be successful.

Kathleen Rodenburg  5:33  
Having this organization not only helps black students in our community, it helps everybody else think differently about the community. Everything that you're doing is influencing and affecting people so positively. It's so amazing. I'm so proud to know. I mean, you're just incredible. I think what happens is we come with voices in our head, that have been told to us our whole lives, and I see for Banky someone that might have been telling themselves wrong things about who he was. And I think as an institution and as a as a instructor, our opportunities, help them find those voices, their real voice, who they really are,

Unknown Speaker  6:17  
You could find passion in university. I think if anyone looked at me at first year I don't think anyone would really have said, you could be going to do your masters. I couldn't do it. I didn't think I could do it. I have don't have the grades to this, but now to be where I am now. Like I have all these possibilities and all these opportunities, and it's just so amazing to think about.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai