Hillsmans Featured in Syracuse Woman
6/18/2012 10:24:19 AM | Women's Basketball
SYRACUSE - Syracuse women's basketball head coach Quentin Hillsman and his wife, Shandrist, are the featured cover story in this month's edition of Syracuse Woman Magazine. Farah Jadran's story focuses on the work the Hillsmans and their foundation does with the youth of Syracuse.
Below is the full feature story that can also be read on SyracuseWomanMag.com.
Setting the Standard For Our Kids' Future
By Farah Jadran, Photography by Cindy Bell
What do you see while driving down East Colvin Street on Syracuse's South Side? Answers might vary, but in general, there's noticeable blight and evident poverty. Continue driving down Colvin, and then turn onto Jamesville Avenue. Now you'll pass Mt. Sinai Cemetery and you're fast approaching the Percy Hughes Magnet School of the Syracuse City School District. Most are aware of the financial struggles of New York schools, and the Syracuse schools in particular, but there is truly more to Hughes than meets the eye.
For the second year in a row, select Hughes students have participated in a program that was designed to instill motivation, drive and confidence in their individual interests and abilities. Quentin and Shandrist Hillsman established the Hillsman Foundation, Inc. in 2008. Quentin, also known as “Coach Q,” is the head coach of the Syracuse University women's basketball team. The foundation's programs were created to benefit under-served youth in the greater Syracuse area; to broaden their self-awareness, build self-esteem, encourage academic success and enhance their experiences outside of their current circumstances, by mentoring and through the arts. This Full Circle Mentoring program is a collaboration of programs created to enhance the life possibilities of under-served students. Through mentorship, it's the Hillsmans' hope that students involved, will learn healthy problem-solving techniques, life skills, social skills, financial education and management; and discover ways to choose their future, despite whatever their current life circumstances may entail.
Although Shandrist and Coach Q have a few programs currently implemented through the foundation, the mentoring program has come to the forefront of their general focus because it's about to come full circle. The program is on its way to “graduating” its first group of eighth graders. While the foundation has been in existence for four years, the Full Circle Mentoring program is only in its second year. Last year Shandrist, Coach Q and the school administration helped generate a group of seventh graders (eighth graders were not included in the initial year because it's a two-year model) who would benefit best from the program.
Mentoring comes full circle
During a regular Wednesday session for the mentoring program, Mrs. Fay Burt's Hughes eighth graders are thoroughly engaged. They're discussing the college process and what it means to apply to schools, earn an associate's, bachelor's or master's degree, and most importantly, how you can pay for such educational paths. “What about the Avid program?” Burt asked aloud. She continued to let her students know that because they're “AVID kids” (Advancement Via Individual Determination), they have an added resource for educational funding. “This helps your family, not just you,” Fay explained. “It will help you pay for school.”
AXA financial advisor Angi Renna chimed in to the discussion and asked the kids whether or not they knew the exact steps it took to earn each degree and what type of certification is necessary for different jobs. Angi has become a staple in the program, as she and Shandrist Hillsman are the primary mentors working with the kids week after week. “The program would not be what it is without Angi's involvement,” Shandrist said. Angi's extensive knowledge on financial planning and entrepreneurship make her a critical asset to the Hillsman Foundation's motto: “Excellence is a State of Mind.” Angi is not only focused on her career goals but she supports the aspirations of others by serving as board president of the Women's Business Opportunities Connections. Shandrist says Angi's ties to the community, both professional and philanthropic, make her a fine example for the Hughes kids.
Continuing the class discussion, Angi mentioned that a successful person learns both in the classroom and outside of it, through personal experience. “There's a lot they can't teach you in school or that you can't learn from books,” Angi explained. “You need to experience it…be the job.” She went on and informed the kids that there may very well be times that they'll participate in a non-paying internship or they may volunteer at an organization in order to gain insight into the career field which interests them. In addition, Angi said there was a period of time when she worked 70 to 80 hours each week in order to build her own financial advising business. In a nutshell, she emphasized hard work, low pay and long hours can tremendously pay off for a determined individual.
Agreeing 100 percent with Angi, Shandrist spoke up and said, “Coach Q was not just head coach [of Syracuse University's women's basketball team] right away…it took 13 years of hard work to get where he wanted to be.” She then asked her husband of nine years to share his first job with the class. “What was your first job, coach?” The kids learned that Coach Q worked in a Foot Action store prior to becoming a high school basketball coach at the Newport School in Kensington, Md. Coach Q also shared that he played basketball at a professional level on a “touring team” overseas. When he returned from playing professionally he indeed took “a lesser job, which ultimately paid off,” in the end. “You have to start somewhere,” added Angi. “What's the benefit to that hard work?” Raising her hand to reply was Hughes eighth grader Lamadriana Cherry, “Bigger and better things…achieving success.” Angi gave props to Lamadriana's eloquent answer and replied to the class, “That's right, and it's not just for the money. It should bring you enjoyment and fulfillment.”
The Hillsman mission begins…
“The core of this [the Hillsman Foundation] was to get to the kids,” said Coach Q in an interview outside of the Hughes School classroom. Seated alongside his wife Shandrist, he talked about a class he took when he was a young student, and how it changed his perspective. Growing up in Suitland, Md., Coach Q said he “vividly” remembers taking a class that taught him and his classmates about “everyday things” kids are unfamiliar with or might take for granted. What's considered an everyday thing? According to Coach Q and his fifth grade teacher, everyday things include knowing how to open a bank account, write a check, tax responsibilities, philanthropy and overall, it was about basic life skills. “I remember sitting with my mom and learning how to write a check,” he said. As a part of the class, he was required to research how much it cost to activate household utilities and cable access, and then, how much it cost to maintain those services. His findings also are vivid. “Wow, mom, you have to pay for TV?” Coach Q said he was stunned to learn that something like TV actually cost money. “As a child, we don't think of things like that,” Coach Q said. After this, he “began valuing what went into living every day.”
Life lessons like these were so influential in Coach Q's education, but Shandrist did not have the opportunity to take such a class or be better informed of these life skills as a child. She had to learn these skills on her own as she entered adulthood. For these simple reasons, the Hillsmans decided this was an important set of values to instill in students in Syracuse. Also, this wasn't just about any students in Syracuse, but those who are under-served and ultimately in danger of not completing high school or even considering attending college.
The couple moved to Syracuse in 2005 when Coach Q was named head coach of SU's women's basketball program. While the Hillsmans felt more established at this point, Q was coaching and Shandrist was running her event planning business, they decided it was time to give back. However, deciding how to do that was not as easy as one might imagine. They both had many interests and ideas for the Central New York community they were getting to know and the focus for an organization or program was still unclear. They exchanged ideas for a few years, and finally they realized they kept coming back to one idea. Aspects and life skills we may take for granted every day, are much more important than we might think. Coach Q's childhood experience was in all respects, “priceless,” he said.
The main Hillsman Foundation initiative, the aforementioned Full Circle Mentoring Program, was an end product almost two years in the making. The Hillsmans worked on developing partnerships with different groups and individuals that would provide benefits to the kids and they met with former Syracuse City School District Superintendent Dan Lowengard to discuss what the district's needs were and how the mentoring program could be implemented. “He [Lowengard] said he had the perfect school for us,” Shandrist said about the preliminary planning. “[Hughes] was a blend of 'right on the fence' kids, those who could go either way (in terms of graduation and retention).” No matter, Shandrist says all the kids in the program are receptive.
Some nerves lingered in the air as Day 1 of the program kicked off last year with a group of Hughes seventh graders, but the Hillsman crew marched in with a mission and an end goal in mind. “Are you guys gonna give us homework?” asked a few students. Shandrist says they moderately replied. “Sometimes we will.”
The Hillsman defense
How are Shandrist and Coach Q able to juggle numerous professional endeavors, a family and the foundation's mission? If you were to sit across a table from the Hillsmans for a few minutes, the answer would be apparent. They're genuine. They support each other and they admire each other a little more every day. Reminiscing about the night they met made their mutual admiration quite clear. On a beautiful May afternoon, sitting a few inches apart on a bench alongside the wall of Armory Square's popular restaurant, Lemongrass, they enjoyed a gourmet lunch, but more importantly they enjoyed each other's company.
“He thought I was real fly,” Shandrist said as they talked about how a mutual friend had “set them up” back in 2000. The “meeting” took place at Shandrist's apartment since the mutual friend also was her roommate at the time. After dinner was finished, Shandrist and Q sat in her living room and talked until 6 a.m. while they ate Fruit Loops straight from the box. At one point of the evening (or morning), Q leaned over to Shandrist and told her, “I'm going to marry you someday.” At Lemongrass in May, that story still made Shandrist smile so big, she lit up a dim-lighted room. “My father always said that you know within the first 10 minutes if that person is 'the one' or not,” Shandrist said. However, Q looked at me and said, “I knew immediately.” Once again, Shandrist lit up the room.
From the set-up dinner to present day, Shandrist says “they've been together ever since.” Their passion and drive to help under-served Syracuse students become contributing members of society has made their bond even stronger. They now feel like they're on a joint mission to give back to a community that has been so good to them. But what makes the foundation's work worthwhile? A poignant example would be this: Toward the end of an eighth grade Full Circle Mentoring session, Coach Q, Shandrist, Angi and Mrs. Burt collectively asked the class, “Who is going to try?” Almost immediately, every hand in the classroom went up.
