This past weekend, Oklahoma State University student Kahlil Martin participated in the first annual Mr. Black OSU Scholarship Pageant. Competing along side three other males, Kahlil stood out by being the only freshman to run for the title this year.
As we can see he is an outgoing freshman, who dreams big, and goes after what he wants, but who is Kahlil Martin really?
Kahlil’s path to college all started when he was a young kid in Lawton, Oklahoma. His biggest teacher in life, his mom, always told him, “You can talk about it, but its another thing to be about it,” and even now Kahlil holds these words true to his life. Everything that he puts his mind to, he always carries out.
After graduating from Eisenhower High School, Kahlil decided to attend Oklahoma State University and major in Mechanical Engineering, in which he wants to one day move to Germany and create sports technology for Adidas, Nike or Under Armor. While at OSU, Kahlil has become a leader here on campus by being elected to be in charge of Telecommunications in the National Society of Black Engineers, participating in the Big 12 Conference on Black Student Government, and also being a member of the African-American Association, Retention Initiative For Student Excellence (RISE), and the Diversity Living Learning Community.
While interviewing Kahlil Martin, he stated to me that his life motto was to, “Dream so big that even dreamers want to be you.” ‘Dream bigger?’ you might ask him, seeing that he has accomplished so much in his first year here at Oklahoma State, but Kahlil drives to achieve more.
Shining The Light is a mentorship program that Kahlil wants to establish for younger children, and is essentially his platform for life. Shining The Light would be based upon three core values: Scholarship, Community, and Encouragement, because these are the values he holds true to his life. He stated, “My mom allowed me to dream, and always guided and provided for me. I want to give the same outlook my mom gave me to someone else.”
By being in the running for Mr. Black OSU, I had to ask the inevitable question, “ How would you impact the university if you were to win?” He stated, “I would still encourage others to get involved in every aspect of life, to encourage them to step into more leadership roles, and to take chances to step outside of their comfort zone. “It’s important for high school students and incoming freshman to see that there are male leaders of their ethnicity stepping into positions. If you see them doing good, then that makes you want to do good, it’s all a cycle of positive role models.”
“This overall experience has been great!” he states about the competition. “It’s been busy, but it has allowed me to put the people around me before myself.
Now, I’m more hungry to achieve my goals, and to shine the light to become a positive role model in the community.”
“If I can do it, anybody can do it.”
Kahlil B. Martin – Twitter and Instagram: @kahlilbmartin / Facebook: Kahlil B. Martin