{"id":79767,"date":"2013-06-26T08:23:52","date_gmt":"2013-06-26T12:23:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=79767"},"modified":"2013-07-03T09:06:23","modified_gmt":"2013-07-03T13:06:23","slug":"donation-takes-okafors-legacy-beyond-uconn-sports-record-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2013\/06\/donation-takes-okafors-legacy-beyond-uconn-sports-record-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Donation Takes Okafor\u2019s Legacy Beyond UConn Sports Record Books"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_79771\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-79771\" style=\"width: 605px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/EMEKA7.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-79771  img-responsive lazyload\" alt=\"Former UConn men's basketball player Emeka Okafor with children at the Clark Elementary School in Hartford in 2007, after announcing his initial gift to the Husky Sport program. (Peter Morenus\/UConn File Photo)\" data-src=\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/EMEKA7.jpg\" width=\"605\" height=\"403\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/EMEKA7.jpg 630w, https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/EMEKA7-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/EMEKA7-150x100.jpg 150w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 605px) 100vw, 605px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 605px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 605\/403;\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-79771\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former UConn basketball player Emeka Okafor with children at the Clark Elementary School in Hartford in 2007, after announcing his initial gift to the Husky Sport program. (Peter Morenus\/UConn File Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Celebrated NBA and former UConn basketball standout Emeka Okafor doesn\u2019t just believe in the power of dreams, but in the importance of every young person having them \u2013 which is why he recently donated $100,000 to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.huskysport.uconn.edu\/\">Husky Sport<\/a>. His gift is an extension of an initial donation of $250,000 to the program in 2007.<\/p>\n<p>Founded in 2003 by UConn\u2019s Neag School of Education, Husky Sport provides children in Hartford\u2019s North End with a broad range of in-school, afterschool, and weekend programs focusing on sports, physical activity, nutrition, academic enrichment, and life skills. The initiative is led by UConn faculty, staff, and student mentors, and conducted in partnership with the City of Hartford, several Hartford Public Schools and community agencies.<\/p>\n<p>Okafor\u2019s first gift allowed for the expansion in the number of trips per week UConn students could take to Hartford to participate in Husky Sport. Since 2007, Husky Sport has expanded its service learning course opportunities in Storrs, the number of UConn students involved in Husky Sport, and the number of programs operated in Hartford.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese students engage in a curriculum on sport-based youth development in low-income neighborhoods, with a strong infusion of cultural competency education,\u201d says Jennifer Bruening, associate professor of educational leadership and director of Husky Sport. \u201cThese students typically say that their experience with Husky Sport evolves from believing that they have something to give, to expressing that what they\u2019ve given pales in comparison to how much they\u2019ve learned from the class and their time with the kids in Hartford.<\/p>\n<p>Husky Sport encourages kindergarteners to 12th-graders to become not just their best selves, but to <i>believe <\/i>in their best selves. Its school-day programs focus on academic success, while afterschool and weekend programs tackle topics as broad and essential as accountability, sportsmanship, conflict resolution, college preparation, and community pride.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are many avenues to success,\u201d says Okafor, who was a No. 2 pick in the 2004 NBA draft, and graduated from UConn with a 3.8 GPA and bachelor\u2019s degree in finance in just three years. \u201cIt\u2019s OK if you don\u2019t play for the Rockets. You can be a rocket scientist,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s OK if you don\u2019t play for the Rams. You can be a veterinarian.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s these kinds of ambitious, but attainable, dreams that Husky Sport encourages.<\/p>\n<p>Benefits of the program include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Improving the participants\u2019 academic and physical abilities;<\/li>\n<li>Working with mentors and peers;<\/li>\n<li>Connecting with their community;<\/li>\n<li>Applying the skills they learn from Husky Sport to all aspects of their lives;<\/li>\n<li>Believing in themselves and their abilities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Since its founding, Husky Sport has provided more than 100,000 hours of academic, health, and other support services to more than 1,500 Hartford schoolchildren. Among its many successes is the Read &amp; Raise school-based reading program, which offers incentives to those who participate including extra recess time, healthy food parties, and trips to UConn.<\/p>\n<p>Although the program has the potential to expand to other areas of the state, staff have purposely kept it focused on children living in the Clay Arsenal, North East, Blue Hills, and Upper Albany neighborhoods of Hartford\u2019s North End.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe goal is for the program to provide a concentrated and continuous presence, and to show youths \u2013 as well as their families \u2013 the successes and possibilities that can come from focusing on academics, personal and social growth, and healthy lifestyles,\u201d says Bruening.<\/p>\n<p>One of the most rewarding aspects of the program is when former participants become graduates of UConn or another college, Bruening says. For many of those involved, however, dreams of college are not the draw. Often, it\u2019s the association with sports, particularly UConn sports, that gets kids initially interested.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSport is the initial bond, but then we use it as the common denominator to teach, bring people together, and to build positive, lasting relationships between people from very different lifestyles and backgrounds,\u201d says Justin Evanovich, Husky Sport\u2019s assistant director, who was Okafor\u2019s teammate on the 2004 UConn NCAA basketball championship team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince everything we do at Husky Sport involves collaborating with a school or agency in some way, there\u2019s a lot of power sharing going on,\u201d Evanovich adds. \u201cWe at UConn bring our strengths, the school or agency brings its strengths, and together we give the kids something really powerful to take away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The idea that every young person has the power and potential to become his or her best self is something Okafor also believes in, and that he hopes to encourage through his support of Husky Sport.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConnecticut is a big part of who I am, and who I have become,\u201d he says, \u201cand I\u2019m privileged to be able to help in any way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><i>Information from a Hartford Courant story was used for part of this story.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former UConn basketball player Emeka Okafor has made a second donation to the Husky Sport program, which mentors Hartford schoolchildren.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":79771,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1715,1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[117],"class_list":["post-79767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-impact","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 00:56:25","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79767"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79902,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79767\/revisions\/79902"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/79771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79767"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=79767"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=79767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}