Scott Soaks Up Life Lessons While Witnessing History in the Making

Leadership, ambition and global warming highlighted the agenda for Orange football student-athlete Kevyn Scott at the 2009 University Presidential Inaugural Conference (UPIC) in Washington, D.C. As a member of the National Honor Society, Scott was invited to attend the conference and the inauguration of President Barack Obama. At the time he made the decision to attend, Scott had no idea what historical impact this inauguration would have.

“I received a letter congratulating me on being selected to attend the University Presidential Inaugural Conference last January,” Scott said. “I spoke with my mother and we thought it would be a great event to attend, no matter who was elected president. As a young African-American man, it was very significant to see history in the making. To have an African-American president, it shows that anything is possible.”

Scott is anxious to use what he learned at the conference from speakers such as General Colin Powell, NBC reporter Luke Russert and former vice president Al Gore, to enhance his experience as a student-athlete at Syracuse.

“Luke Russert spoke about going out and being ambitious about your goals and what you want to accomplish and to not let anyone tell you that you are too young,” Scott said. “That was very motivating as a young person to hear that you are not too young, go out and make things happen.

“The next day we listened to General Colin Powell speak about leadership. I took a lot from him because being on the football team, you think about being an effective leader. His speech was very powerful. Then Al Gore spoke with the group about global warming, which was new to me because I have not followed that. I learned a lot.

“I can transfer all that I learned. To be an effective leader you have to have clear goals and you have to lead by example. Basically, you have to establish yourself before you can get others to follow you. I can transfer that over to the football field, showing the guys something like this conference, that it is not just about what you do on the football field, but it also about what you do in the classroom because you are a student-athlete and the student part comes first. If you take the classroom as seriously as you do the football, you are going to excel in so many different areas of life.”

Scott was among about 500 college-aged students from all over the world at the UPIC.

“There were people from all over the world, students representing their countries, including a person from the University of Iceland,” Scott said. “Some said they were amazed by the number of people at the inauguration because they do not even have that many people in their own country.”

Though he did not meet President Obama in person, he saw him at the Youth Ball. Scott was in line to gain entrance into the Youth Ball when the presidential motorcade arrived and the Secret Service held up the line for President Obama and his wife to enter. Once everyone was inside, President Obama addressed the crowd at the Youth Ball.

Scott did have the opportunity to meet and speak with a number of famous people including Emmitt Smith, Patti LaBelle, Kanye West and Usher.

“It was great to witness history,” Scott said. “I have never in my life seen so many people in one place. Everybody was in a great mood and you felt a great vibe from everybody. You felt the atmosphere all over Washington, D.C. It was a new experience waking up every morning at 6 am and dressing in professional attire, it was almost like going to work every day in the business world, attending different workshops and seminars. The whole week was enlightening.”

Syracuse University Athletics

Scott Soaks Up Life Lessons While Witnessing History in the Making

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