On this week's installment of the 'Chris & Coach; Beyond the Box Score' podcast, Chris Grace and Mike Whalen '83 are joined by Babila Fomuteh '21 (football) and Myla Stovall '22 (field hockey) who are the president and vice president, respectively, of the Wesleyan Student-Athlete of Color Leadership Council (SACLC). The podcast is released on the second day of the NCAA's Diversity and Inclusion Social Media Campaign.

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Executive board members of the SACLC, Fomuteh and Stovall lead the council, along with advisor Sean Stanley of the football team, that features 19 student-athletes across 11 different varsity teams on campus. The council meets regularly with a goal to build a safe, more diverse environment which will enhance the athletic experiences of student-athletes of color throughout Wesleyan. The SACLC's mission statement mentions a main goal being the development of programs and service with the intention of implementing a system that establishes a social network amongst athletes of color, promoting solidarity and encouraging discourse, in an attempt to alleviate the disadvantages associated with being an athlete of color.
 
"The council has been a great experience since I first arrived on campus," Fomuteh said on the podcast. "To see it grow to what it is today definitely has been incredible. Getting to know everyone in the NESCAC, the other councils at other schools, getting to meet other students has been great just watching it progress."
 
Last year, the NESCAC started a student-athlete of color leadership council for the first time with representation from each member school of the conference. This summer, Wesleyan took a leading role in league-wide discussions involving this leadership council and have since focused efforts on a localized level with similar councils at Trinity and Connecticut College.
 
Most-recently, Wesleyan's SACLC collaborated with the Gordon Career Center and hosted a career mentoring panel discussion focused on finance and consulting. This was the first of many in a series of networking events that delved into how factors such as COVID, being a student-athlete, and being a person of color have affected their experiences as well as giving advice and discussing generally about the recruitment process overall.  
 
Among the topics discussed on the podcast this week with Fomuteh and Stovall included their journey to Wesleyan, the importance of the SACLC's goals as a whole and to their individual Wesleyan experience as well as initiatives put in place by the council. The pair also touched on their favorite memories at Wes, practice experiences this semester and they ran through the rapid-fire gauntlet of questions Chris & Coach pose to guests each week.
 
"I'm really grateful to have this resource, to not only be a part of this council but to have a leadership position on it now so I can really see how the council is growing and contribute in some way to be that support system I found when I first came on campus," Stovall remarked. "I really think this University is one of the greatest places to have these sorts of discussions. Students are very open and willing to challenge themselves, challenge their beliefs external to Wesleyan, and I think this council is helping to kickstart those conversations and be a resource to not just student-athletes of color but for those who might not have these sorts of conversations in an athletics standpoint."