Black Excellence: Seyi Ogunleye

Tariq El-Amin 00:1 
Welcome to “Black Excellence” at UIC. 

The Office of Student Success and Belonging, with Dr. Aisha El-Amin.  

Recording of Dr. Martin Luther King 00:09 

[Applause] Believe in yourself and believe that you’re somebody. 

Clips from 1995 movie “Panther”  00:17 
His intention is that we study and master a bunch of different things. 
Why are you here?  
Study and master a bunch of different things. 
I’m proud to introduce our new Minister of Information 

Aisha El-Amin 00:26 

I’m Dr. Aisha El-Amin. 

Tariq El-Amin 00:29 

Welcome to “Black Excellence.” 

Seyi Ogunleye 00:33 

When you’re in a room with people who have high expectations, it raises your expectations as well. I’m a naturally competitive person, but it was just kind of like an iron sharpens iron type thing. It was just, I was around very motivated people. And it just kind of pulled the best out of me. 

Aisha El-Amin 00:44 

Hello, hello. Hello, good people and welcome back to all of my great listeners, both new and old. I want to welcome us to the University of Illinois Chicago, “Black Excellence” podcast, sponsored by the Office of Student Success and Belonging in partnership with Office of the Vice Chancellor for Strategic Marketing and Communications.  

And I’m your host, Dr. Aisha El-Amin. I serve as UIC’s executive associate vice provost for student success and belonging. So, I stand in gratitude for the time that each of our alumni have given to us to have a conversation and to inspire with understanding that you cannot know where you’re going until you understand, appreciate and connect to where you’ve come from. In this episode of the “Black Excellence” podcast, we’re speaking with Seyi Ogunleye. He is a UIC Track and Field alum who approached his athletic career different than most. We discussed UIC’s impact on his trajectory, the tough realities he overcame as a student and the valuable advice he has for prospective student athletes considering UIC, and the important factors to weigh when making that decision. He kicks the conversation off by sharing why he chose UIC. 

Seyi Ogunleye 02:53 

I chose UIC because I wanted to run track, so I ran track while I was at UIC. And at the time, I had a really good friend who went to the same high school as me, who was currently running track at UIC, and and he loved it. He loved how it was. It was close to home because he grew up in Calumet City. But it was far enough where he had his own life, and he didn’t feel like he was too far away from family and friends. And he spoke really, really highly of the coach, who at the time was Coach Knoedel and Coach Gabe. They both moved on since then. But Coach Knoedel is retired and Coach Gabe is coaching at North Central. But he spoke extremely highly about the team, about the coach, how it felt like a family. He felt that the coaches actually cared about him, not only as a student but as an athlete as well. They wanted to see him grow in both aspects to make sure he had time for his classes. They worked practice around the students’ schedule. So, yeah, education was always very, very important for me. So even though I wanted to run track, I wanted to go to a school where they valued education as well. Where I could get the best of both worlds. 

Aisha El-Amin 04:07 

So, are you a Chicago native? 

 Seyi Ogunleye 04:09 

Yeah, well, Chicago suburbs. So yeah, Calumet City. I was born in Nigeria. I moved to Calumet City when I was 4 years old from Nigeria straight to Calumet City, and then I was in that kind of city school district all the way until I came to UIC. 

Aisha El-Amin 04:26 

Sounds like athletics has been a huge part of your life for a long time now. I know you hold several records like long jump, triple jump from the Horizon League championships. Can you talk a little bit about some of the highlights of your athletic student life at UIC?  

Seyi Ogunleye 04:45 

My time at UIC, like I said, it was tough because you want to see it’s a very educational school, they value education, you know, some schools if you’re an athlete, you kind of like skate by, but that’s not the case at UIC. So, I want to say some of the highlights is kind of like being able to succeed as an athlete. I was a conference champion as a junior and as a senior, but also I was able to keep my GPA above a 3.0 the entire time I was competing. So, I value that a lot. That balance I think is really difficult to achieve being a successful athlete and a successful student. So, I would say overall, just being able to stay afloat doing both. It was difficult. I didn’t sleep as much because I needed to. But it was a good experience. 

Aisha El-Amin 05:39 

You talked about the balance between your academics and athletics. So, when prospective student-athletes, current student-athletes, listen to this, what is some advice you would give them in trying to maintain that balance? 

Seyi Ogunleye 5:56 

You have to learn how to prioritize. For me, I had to spread out certain classes. So, I was exercise kinesiology. So, there are certain classes that you know are going to take up a lot of time and you got to put in a lot of effort to succeed. I highly recommend not taking more than one of those classes at a time. So, for example, some classes are really difficult. Calc is difficult. Anatomy and physiology is difficult. Organic chemistry is difficult. There is no need to ever take those classes in the same semester, right? When it’s time to take an anatomy class, those classes are very involved.  

Spreading out your classes, utilizing your counselor, take a full look at what classes you need to graduate. And then strategically placing those classes where you’re not having to take organic chemistry and calculus in the same semester. Because that’s just gonna be really difficult. Or like a physics class and another class, you know, just being honest with yourself, knowing that you if it’s only one person, you have to spend X amount of time practicing, you have to spend time eating, you have to spend time socializing. And no one, no college student, just wants to study like all day, not have a life outside of studying. So just spread it out so you have enough time to do everything. That is the number one advice I would give this. Spread it out. Don’t try to prove that you’re the smartest guy on campus. Don’t try to prove that you can do it. You know, even though your counselors telling you not to. Yeah, spread it out.  

Aisha El-Amin 7:52 

That’s really good advice. That’s really good advice. Now, I want you to tell us a little bit about that life outside of campus that you touched on. Everybody wants a life outside of class. What did that look like for you at UIC? I know you met your wife but what were some of the things that you did while you were at UIC besides the classwork.  

Seyi Ogunleye 7:21 

Being an athlete, a lot of my social life revolved around just hanging out with other athletes. We would you know, the basketball team, volleyball team, soccer team, we would support each other at all the different events. So, track season is in the spring semester. So during the fall semester, I’ll try to attend as many soccer games as possible as many basketball games. And then the athletes, we just kind of have like a community where we did our own thing a lot. So, the good thing about being in Chicago is there’s always something to do. There’s always a festival going on or concert going on. I don’t know if UIC still does it. But when I was there we used to have the free concerts. So, I saw Childish Gambino at UIC. I saw J. Cole at UIC. I saw Lupe Fiasco at UIC. And all these concerts were free for UIC students. So, whenever we had events like that, I made sure to go because you know, it was always a good time.  

Aisha El-Amin 9:11 

Part of your decision to come to UIC sounds like it was coming from a friend who talked about those relationships, and how coaches look out for you. So, if you could talk a little bit about the value of developing, you know, those positive relationships with coaches, advisors, professors, other students, what did that look like for you? And how would you encourage other students to form those relationships while in college? 

Seyi Ogunleye 9:36 

At the time, I didn’t realize how important it would be. But being 30 years old now looking back, I feel like those relationships are extremely important. I wouldn’t say like the first job I got outside of college was based on my coach knowing somebody, like “Oh, Seyi will be a great candidate for this position.” He introduced me to the person, and I still had to interview and I still had to you know, I had to do my part. But those relationships that I cultivated in college led me to pretty much where I am today. You know, knowing one person connected to somebody else was connected to somebody else.  

And I’m learning that that is how the world functions. What is amazing, it’s good to be smart, to be intelligent and you have to have a good foundation, but who you know also gets you through a lot of doors. So, I think networking is one of the most important things you need to do in college. And networking was pretty much just socializing, having fun and like networking is the corporate term, but it’s really just socializing. You don’t know who was in that dorm room next to you, that might that person that may be a CEO of a company that can help get you an internship one summer, and then that leads to a position the following year. So just being open minded, and just being friendly, being social, speaking to people asking questions, you don’t really know what you don’t know, until you just have a conversation with somebody.  

So, I think I think those relationships are extremely valuable. And the great thing about UIC is it’s really diverse, you know, so you can meet a bunch of different people with a bunch of different backgrounds and have like a bunch of different cultures. So yeah, I think UIC is great for that. It’s definitely a melting pot. I got to experience so many different people. And those relationships were extremely valuable to help get me to where I am today. 

Aisha El-Amin 11:43 

Seyi, everyone, through their college journey, generally faces a challenge. Can you talk a little bit about one of your biggest challenges that you faced as a student-athlete. 

Seyi Ogunleye 11:55 

My freshman year, I had some issues with my financial aid, and I’m a first-generation immigrant, so my mom didn’t go to college in America. So, she really did not understand how the financial aid system worked. So, when I started school, I ended up not having enough funds to cover that first semester. And I tried to jump through a bunch of hoops, but pretty much I had to sit out the spring semester until I paid off the fall semester. So, it was extremely challenging. Because I had started school, I had made all these friends, built all these communities. And then at the end of the fall semester, I wasn’t able to come back in the spring. And it was hard because I had so much momentum. I had a great first semester at UIC. My grades were good. My friends were there. Competition-wise, athletic-wise, I felt like I was going to have a really, really good year leading up to that first season. And then all of that just kind of fell to the wayside. A door just slammed my face because I wasn’t able to financially afford that first fall semester. And I think what I ended up doing and me just showing that, you have to be diligent, have to be a hard worker, you have to keep on grinding, even when doors close.  

I ended up just going to a community college for the spring semester, I made sure that the classes are taken I was taking would translate or transfer to UIC and I kept in touch with my coach. He sent me workouts he told me, if you want to come back in the fall, the following fall, we’d love to have you, and to give me a program — this is what I want you to work on while you’re away. And then I stayed at a community college, so when I came back the following year, I hadn’t missed too much. I was still on track to graduate on time. I was still I was still training. My body was still ready for the next season. And I think for me, that was very, very big because I could have given up; I could have just be like, You know what, it’s not for me, let me just stick to a community college or let me just go find another job and not worry about school. But I wanted to compete at the Division I level for track and field and I wanted to finish what I started. I didn’t want to be a dropout per se. So, I just had to put on my big boy boots. And I had to just find a way to make the money to pay off the fall semester. I worked. And I went to community college and then I was able to get the fall semester paid off. I was able to fix my financial aid. I had some resources that will help me find helped me file the paperwork correctly. And on time this time, so I wouldn’t have the same issue. Then yeah, that I was able to get back to UIC and everything, everything worked well, from then on.  

Aisha El-Amin 15:04 

Wow, that is amazing story. And, you know, we really are working to try to catch students in that space and offer them some support, so they don’t have to transition in and out. But kudos to you for doing all that you had to do to continue at UIC and finish. When you look back now because you have a little bit of space in time between the time you graduated and now, how did UIC see impact your trajectory, like where you are now. 

Seyi Ogunleye 15:34 

I think UIC positively impacted my trajectory. My family has always been big on education. So I think my push to finish came from home. But the kinesiology program at UIC is ike one of the best in the state. So, the moment you step into your first kinesiology class, the professors, the students — they all have high expectations. You know, a lot of people in kinesiology want to become physical therapists or occupational therapists or something like doctors. And the professors know that, and the students know that. So, it’s kind of like, everyone that’s in that field always comes in with their best foot forward, every day in class. The students there want to learn. The physical therapy program was extremely competitive. So, everybody there was, was pushing for A’s and B’s. And when you’re in a room with people who have high expectations that raises your expectations as well. 

I’m a naturally competitive person, but the students in the kinesiology program were also very competitive because you have to have a certain GPA to get accepted into UIC kinesiology program and OT program and things like that. It was just kind of like an iron sharpens iron type thing. I was always around very motivated people. And it just kind of pulled the best out of me. So yeah, I think one of the reasons, like I said, I chose UIC is that it has a high academic standard. It’s not just a school where you can just come to and just skate by my professors held me to a high standard. My coaches, my teammates and my peers also helped me to a high standard. So yeah, it was it was really good.  

Aisha El-Amin 17:32 

As high schoolers think about what to consider when picking a university, especially as a student-athlete, what are some things that you would recommend that they consider? 

Seyi Ogunleye 17:44 

OK, as a student-athlete, my reality is a little bit different than others. So this one might ruffle feathers. But I never had the desire to go professional. I always understood in the back of my mind that I enjoyed doing this for now. And I’m going to put my all into it right now. But my end goal, or my main focus, is still picking a major and finding something out that will lead to a good career, where I can live a lifestyle that I want to live, provide for my family, and just do things that I want to do. I didn’t have aspirations to be an NBA, or NFL or running in the Olympics, I just wanted to be the best version of myself, of my athletic self, and then find something or find a career that I can use for the rest of my life. So I think it’s difficult because some athletes do aspire to go professional, to be a professional athlete or a coach. And if that is your aspiration, I definitely say you should go for it and try to be that.  

But on the other hand, I always say, you have to keep it in the back of your mind that everybody can’t be a professional athlete. So, if you’re going to be an athlete or Division I athlete, you have to make sure that you are working to have a backup plan. If I don’t become a professional basketball player, what am I going to do with my life outside of that, or soccer or baseball or whatever it is — if you don’t make it professionally, you have to have a backup plan. You have to have something that you can fall back on and rely on. So yeah, that would be my advice to all of the incoming freshmen or all of the current high school students is have a backup plan and don’t put all of your eggs inside a basket of I’m going to be a professional athlete. Pick a major that you can do something with; you can always improve by just changing your outlook on a situation.  

I remember when I remember my first year at UIC, I wasn’t doing well in English. I just wasn’t prepared for college-level writing. And I had to go to the English learning center before I submitted every single paper. If I want to succeed, there’s certain steps that I had to do before submitting the paper and the resources are there. You have to be willing to go and look for them. I think UIC is really good with that. Any class that I struggled in, they had free tutoring and free resources for me to improve. So, no matter where you’re at right now, if you want to do better, you can do better. You just have to be willing to put in that time and sacrifice to improve whatever skill you want to improve. 

Aisha El-Amin 21:07 

Seyi, I really appreciate you. I appreciate your experiences, your experiences. Very unique being a student-athlete, being from the Chicagoland area and really started your family here. I’m wishing you all the best. It was a joy meeting you. 

Seyi Ogunleye 21:27 

Thank you. Thank you very much. 

Tariq El-Amin 21:30 

Thanks for joining us find more inspiring and informative conversations with UIC alum, faculty and staff and blackresources.uic.edu. That’s blackresources.uic.edu