Blue White Illustrated

tion of Washington, a Notre Dame assistant coach at the time. When Washington left South Bend to become Penn State���s head coach, Studevent decided to check out the Lady Lions. She and her father nearly turned around and went home when their flight out of Southern California was delayed. But when they approached the gate agent, they were told their bags were already on the plane and couldn���t be retrieved. So they waited out the delay and flew to Penn State. Studevent hit it off with Washington during the visit and signed with the Lady Lions. A two-time Academic All-Big Ten choice, she���s been a boon to Penn State ever since, on the court and off. ���Gizelle is just an outstanding young woman,��� said Jody Althouse, director of outreach and communications for the Women���s Resource Center. ���She keeps a low profile. She���s not seeking fame and fortune; she���s seeking to make a difference in the lives of children. Because what she experienced was so real and so hurtful, she wants to prevent this from happening to other children. And if it has happened, she wants them to know that you can get past it, you can make a difference, you can learn from it, grow from it ��� which is what she���s done.��� With her college basketball career about to draw to a close, Studevent doesn���t dwell on the torment she endured before heading to Penn State. When she does think about it, it���s with a sense of detachment. ���You don���t necessarily ever forget how you felt,��� she said, ���but you move on. And when I say ���move on,��� I mean using what I remember to help these kids. I remember how I felt, I remember feeling down, crying, all those things. In remembering that, I want to use that to help them. That���s the important part for me.��� Athletes Take Action developed its program last fall. The athletes met with Althouse weekly to plan their presentations to the children, and in December they made their first trip to the school. Sixth-graders are the perfect age for the program, Studevent said ��� old enough to grasp the message and young enough to be receptive. January���s lesson focused on name-calling. Washington joins PSU���s presidential search committee Women���s basketball coach Coquese Washington has been named to the search committee that will help select Penn State���s next president. The 18member Presidential Search and Screen Committee includes professors, administrators and graduate and undergraduate students. ���I���m looking foward to it,��� Washington said. ���It certainly won���t be a one-week process. This is a very serious decision, and so a lot of thought will be placed into it.��� The committee is charged with helping find a successor to Rodney Erickson, who is planning to step down by June 30, 2014. Recommendations will be forwarded the Trustees Presidential Selection Council, which is led by trustee Karen Peetz. ���Fortunately, I���m not on the committee that makes the final decision,��� Washington said, smiling. ���So I feel good about that.��� ��� M.H. ���I brought up the fact that I was bullied and that I was told I wasn���t good enough to play basketball and that I couldn���t play basketball in college,��� Studevent said. ���I didn���t go into the specifics��� but I got reactions from the kids. They were really tuned in. They were raising their hands, saying what kind of things they���ve heard, what people have called them. You could tell from the tone of their voices that it���s affected them.��� According to the National Education Association, one in three schoolchildren in sixth through 10th grade has been affected by bullying. The vast majority of students ��� 83 percent of girls and 79 percent of boys ��� say they have been harassed. The Penn State athletes have instant credibility when they step into the classrooms. They wear their team apparel, and when they first met with the students, they all brought something from their respective sports. The football and basketball players brought balls, the cheerleaders brought megaphones. ���It got a nice connection going,��� Althouse said. ���It was something the sixth-graders could grab onto and relate to with the athletes. This wasn���t an unknown college student in the classroom; it was an athlete in the classroom. They could ask questions about the sport, about practice, about how hard you have to work, about how you still have to study. It gave the sixth-graders an ability to relate to them immediately.��� Studevent���s goal is to keep the organization going after she graduates in May. She���s hoping to arrange a golf fundraiser in San Diego modeled after Coquese���s Drive, an annual summer golf tournament that raises money for the Women���s Resource Center. She���s motivated in part by the stories of others who were bullied. Anti-bullying campaigns have gained momentum nationally following a string of tragedies, including the suicide of 15year-old student Phoebe Prince in 2010. Prince���s death touched Studevent deeply. ���I knew that something needed to be done about this, because people were hanging themselves,��� she said. ���It was getting to that point, and it needs to stop.��� The campaigns have pushed back against the notion that bullying is just another adolescent rite of passage. Studevent is pleased to be a part of the movement, and she has every intention of continuing. ���I���m really big on being positive and turning negatives into positives in my daily life,��� she said. ���Especially with this. With my story, even though the things that happened to me were bad, I have the ability to turn them into something that could change lives and potentially touch these kids. I���m definitely glad I did this.���

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