An Elon student is studying the effects of mentorship on Black student-athletes and how it impacts their lives, both academically
Rising junior Danielle Dyer dug into the research after being told about the study by professors Eric Hall and Caroline Ketcham. The project relates to a grant from the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics meant to help advance racial equity in college sports.
“I’ve been doing literature reviews, so just reading a lot of existing research and existing studies that are on mentoring within athletic programs,” Dyer said. “We also have a survey that’s going out within the Elon Black student-athlete population.”
The survey was sent out by Hall to 100 Black Elon athletes. Results from the survey are being compared to the previously existing research in order to identify trends present within the Elon community.
As a Black athlete herself, Dyer greatly prioritizes being able to find someone she can identify with, something that some students may struggle with in a predominantly white institution. While this struggle differs from sport to sport, Dyer hopes that this research will help students be more aware that they can reach out to different people to establish a “constellation” of mentors.
“The mentor constellation is being able to reach out to more than one person, more like three to four people, but all of them provide different needs for you,” Dyer said. “One could be for athletic support, one could be for academic support, one could be emotional, and one could just be a friend.”
Dyer believes that Elon does a good job of being welcoming, but for her, the biggest problem is that incoming athletes are not aware that they can reach out beyond their sport to find someone to connect with on a more personal level.
“I think having a mentor, especially outside of athletics, can help you remember that you have an identity outside of being athletes,” Dyer said. “Say you have a mentor within your school or your department within the university; that’s going to help you be able to form relationships outside of athletics.”
According to Ketcham, Dyer’s presence in the research added a voice that added variety and nuance to the study. Her voice and insight as a Black student athlete herself provided valuable information to the research team, which helped better inform their study.
The results of the study have yet to be published and organized, but according to Dyer, the data will soon be scanned over and arranged.
Omar Kayali was born and raised in Edmond, Oklahoma, and now lives with his family in McLean, Virginia. There, he’s a member of his high school’s newsmagazine staff. Following his stints as opinions editor and online editor for the publication, he will serve as editor-in-chief of the magazine’s website for the 2022-2023 academic year. He looks forward to sharing his passion for technology and coding, while also expanding his journalism skills.