You may know Alec from his amazing soccer talent, his work for the honor council, or his fantastic live Thursday performances, but I was lucky enough to have a chance to interview him and get to know him a little bit better.
Year: Senior
Major: Philosophy
Relationship Status: Taken
Hometown: Greensboro, NC
Celebrity Crush: “Well, the new Coldplay Single just came out. So I’m kinda feelin Chris Martin right now.”
What really stood out to me about Alec is how passionate he is about everything he does. His love for soccer extends so far beyond his time on the field. When he talked about the sport he’s been playing since age five, he had no trouble listing the things it taught him outside of athletic skill, including skills in interacting and working with others, prioritizing and decision-making, resilience, and all around personal growth. In fact, last year he was told he could never play again due to an injury. That didn’t stop him from being a huge asset to the team; he organized service learning projects, designed drills, supported his teammates, established a mentorship program for the first year class, and set up camps and gave lessons for local kids. Over the summer he worked for Street Soccer USA in New York City, organizing events such as the Steve Nash Showdown, and a street soccer tournament in the heart of Times Square. He said he didn’t sleep for something like 30 hours to pull that event off, which sounds like a personal hell to most of us, but he describes the “unreal” experience with nothing but joy. When he returned for his senior year, Alec’s doctor reversed his prognosis, and now the ‘Cats have Alec back on the field. He’ll be playing his final game this weekend.
Alec is now nominated for a Watson Fellowship (for those of you who don’t know how insanely impressive it is to be nominated, past fellows include Pulitzer winners, CEOs of Federal Reserve Banks, and Honorees of Forbes’ 30 under 30 list, to name a few), and has designed his project around how soccer can be used to build character and change lives. If he gets the grant, he plans on travelling to four different countries to explore different soccer organizations. In India and South Africa, he will be looking at programs where the soccer is a means of social change, stopping AIDS in South Africa and bringing the sport and all it offers to the kids in the slums of Mumbai. In Germany and Ghana, he is looking at soccer clubs that focus on turning out pro players but have an equally strong emphasis on character building, education, and creating role models.
Alec’s other passions clearly are music and what he can learn from others. He loves artists such as Coldplay, Zac Brown Band, and the Dave Matthews Band, and, he somewhat sheepishly admitted, “I have a Taylor Swift album.” He has also graced the 900 room stage on multiple occasions with his musical talent.
As far as learning from others, he established Davidson Perspectives, a wonderful campus organization that encourages dialogues across lines of difference. His advice to others is “Discover new things about each other. Keep your life interesting. Figure out what you love and follow it. Include others in the process.”
Although we’ll be very sad to see him graduate, I found in just one hour of talking to him that I couldn’t imagine anyone better suited to his aspirations of being a teacher or a coach than Alec. His passion for everything he does, friendliness, energy, desire to inspire others and be inspired by others, and make a change, make him perfect for the job. Whatever he goes on to after graduation, he’s going to make Davidson proud.
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