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Photo courtesy of University Athletics

By John Rosengren and Erin Peterson

The “student” part of the student athlete equation often gets lost amid the fervor surrounding intercollegiate athletic competition. But it’s rarely lost on the student athletes themselves who work hard to achieve success in academic as well as athletic pursuits. In February, the athletics department hosted the 20th annual Scholar-Athlete Awards Ceremony, which honored 565 University of Minnesota scholar athletes who have performed with distinction both in the classroom and on the field. The four honorees featured here exemplify their achievements.

Ibrahim Kabia
Adversity and inspiration
But that’s not the inspiring part. The truly difficult circumstances that Kabia faced started in his native Sierra Leone, during a civil war that claimed the lives of more than 50,000 people, including his uncle, the minister of social welfare. As a young boy, Kabia saw people shot in the street and heard about others being killed. He was separated from his mother for a time, when she fled the country in 1995. Though she called weekly from the Twin Cities, where she was living with her brother, young Ibrahim missed her. When Kabia was 11 years old, the rebels attacked his house and set fire to it while he hid inside. He eventually managed to run outside, but nowhere was safe in his war-torn country.

Kabia escaped with his two brothers, sister, and father to Guinea, where they lived as refugees for almost three years before they were allowed to join Kabia’s mother in the Twin Cities in January 2001. “It was definitely tough to leave because I have so many family members and friends in Sierra Leone,” Kabia says. “But we had to leave so we could live a peaceful and better life.”
Kabia ran track at Champlin Park High School, where he set a state 100-meter record and was all-state for three years. He was a shy, quiet kid when he came to the U in 2005. Bonding with his track teammates helped him open up. “Now I find myself not able to keep my mouth shut, always joking around,” he says. “My teammates helped me grow as an athlete and as a person. I tell them all the time how much I appreciate them.”
Kabia will graduate this spring with a bachelor’s degree. His mother, a nurse at a Twin Cities hospital, has inspired him to apply to nursing programs with the goal of becoming a nurse practitioner. “Since I was little, we talked about the stuff she does on a daily basis, helping people overcome adversities,” Kabia says. “That influenced me.”
His ultimate goal is to return to his homeland. “People there have gone through so much and have very little help,” he says. “Nobody’s going to help the people there but the citizens of the country. If people coming here to better themselves go back, it will speed things up. That’s what I’m hoping to do.”    —John Rosengren

See the other stellar student-athletes:

Gabriele Anderson Dedicated to giving back

Matt Nohelty Batting a perfect 4.0

Erica Niemiec Rowed to success