Here’s an inspiring story to tell your sons about as we close out 2016. Caylin Moore, a young Black college senior who is a varsity football player and an honor student at Texas Christian University, was among the 32 men and women awarded a 2017 Rhodes Scholarship.
This achievement, impressive for anyone, is downright amazing when you consider his background: the son of a convicted murderer and a sexual assault victim, he grew up with a single mom who struggled to make ends meet. He collected cans and bottles to buy football cleats. He worked as a janitor for extra money while in college. He is majoring in economics, minoring in math and sociology, and has a 3.93 GPA. Next year he will be heading to Oxford University to study public policy and business administration.
In college he started a student group called TCU SPARK–Strong Players Are Reaching Kids. The athletes meet with youth groups near campus and share their stories of what it takes to be a successful student athlete. Moore tells the groups about the power of the perfect pushup: as a child he would work on perfecting his pushups when hungry to distract himself. Not only did this take his mind off of the hunger, it developed his muscles and helped him excel at football. He tells the kids that they need to develop their mindset to persevere through adversity–“the way you do a push-up is the way you function in life”.
More details about Moore’s impressive story can be found here. Share this story with your sons. Being inspired is a good way to start 2017!!
Happy New Year GCP’ers!! Be safe and have fun as you all usher in 2017.
