Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/109500
WOMEN���S BASKETBALL TAKING A STAND Penn State guard Gizelle Studevent fights back against bullying | G izelle Studevent insists she wouldn���t go back and undo it, even if she could. Not the insults. Not the threats. Not the taunts about her basketball skills or the ethnic slurs. As painful as it was at the time, the bullying she endured served a purpose in her life. ���It opened my eyes to a lot of the issues out here, a lot of things that we put under the rug,��� she said. ���I want to make a difference and bring things up that are uncomfortable for people. Because that���s the only way, I feel, that you can progress.��� Studevent is a senior guard on the Penn State women���s basketball team. A native of the San Diego area, she is averaging about 10 minutes a game and has helped the Lady Lions at several key points in the season, including victories over Michigan and Minnesota in which she came off the bench to knock down critical jumpers. ���She doesn���t take a lot of shots, coach Coquese Washington said, ���but she makes the ones she takes.��� And as important as she���s been to the Lady Lions, Studevent���s impact at Penn State has by no means been confined to the basketball court. She has started a student group called Penn State Athletes Take Action whose purpose is to combat bullying in schools. Using a curriculum supplied by the Centre County Women���s Resource Center, Studevent and a number of other athletes from the women���s basketball, football, soccer and cross country teams, as well as cheerleaders and members of the Lionettes dance team, visit Mount Nittany Middle School each month to talk to sixth-grade classes about bullying. ���I knew going through my experience and having overcome it, that I wanted to do something. It was just a matter of figuring out what I wanted to do,��� Studevent said. ���So I picked up an independent study with a professor who I have a great relationship with. She���s a criminal justice professor. You can do research and write a paper, but I told her I didn���t want to do that. I wanted to do something to make an impact on the community. She knew about my story, so she said, ���Why don���t PennStateLive