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Pictured above: The MIT student-athletes and staff at the White House: (l to r): Ken Johnson, Jr., Whitney Macon, Sam Engebretson, Derek Rousseau, Jack DeBaugh, Riley Macon, Enoch Ellis, Kenneth Wei, Jackson Bliey, Ariana Przybylowski, Vedang Lad, Todd Linder, Andrew Mah, Matthew Kearney (2022-23 DIII Men's Track & Field Academic All-America Team Member of the Year), Patrick Haumesser, MIT Director of Athletics Dr. G. Anthony Grant, Brittany Bresley, Pablo Arroyo, Henry Hardart, Abby Mauermann, Jacob Hansen, Reid Kovacs.
Ken Johnson, Jr. of MIT participated in College Athlete Day at The White House in June
by Ken Johnson, Jr. — MIT, Director of Communications, Promotions and Marketing
A contingent of student-athlete national champions and staff from MIT were part of College Athlete Day at the White House on June 12. The Biden administration welcomed NCAA national champions from across the country to the White House, celebrating their accomplishments as part of College Athlete Day. The Biden administration invited every national champion from the past academic year, with 52 teams making the trip to the nation's capital.
In the 2022-23 academic year, the MIT men’s cross country and outdoor track and field teams captured the school’s first-ever NCAA team championships, an incredible achievement for one of the nation’s top Division III athletic programs. Little did we know that as part of that, President Joe Biden and family, and Vice President Kamala Harris, would then welcome all of the NCAA national champions from all divisions to the White House in Washington, D.C. as part of
College Athlete Day on June 12.
We first learned of this event in an email sent from the NCAA to all the athletic directors of national champions and our AD, Dr. Anthony Grant, sent me a text about this and asked if I had heard about this event. I had a couple questions and sure enough, he sent me the screenshot of the email and the planning began.
MIT staff at the White House, l to r: Whitney Macon (Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Assistant Coach), Todd Linder (Track and Field Associate Head Coach), Riley Macon (Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Head Coach), Ken Johnson, Jr. (Director of Communications, Promotions and Marketing)
Fortunately, I was sitting with two of our track and field coaches, Riley Macon and Derek Rousseau, and mid-conversation I stopped them and said “umm guys, I need to show you something on my phone.” They began to text our student-athletes, who had left for the semester and were located across the country by that point. Once we sent along the screenshot of the email showing that we indeed weren’t kidding (which some thought!), the planning began.
The student-athletes and coaches were all booked on flights to DC, while a group of four administrators (myself included) were scheduled to be at the CSC and NACDA Conventions in Orlando. That wasn’t going to stop us though as this is potentially a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit the White House with some of our MIT student-athletes. We were very fortunate that Dr. Grant supported us attending this event and it ended up being a truly memorable day.
The day started around 3 a.m. — yes, 3 a.m. — in the lobby of the Marriott World Center in Orlando, and the four of us were off to the airport. In Boston and other locations, the rest of the group was also heading to DC. Doing our best to build up some excitement for the event and to highlight these student-athletes the best I could, I did post on our social media channels a couple days ahead of time to let folks know that we would be at the event. The day of, we filmed a quick video for Instagram with our athletic director in the lobby of the Orlando hotel, and so it began.
Once we landed at Reagan Airport, we had a quick train ride to meet up with the rest of the crew outside the White House. When we arrived at the White House gate, we were one of the first teams there so it was great to catch up with our student-athletes and take everything in.
Just ahead of us in line were the championship teams from Johns Hopkins so I went over and said hello to my friend
Jill Guise (JHU Assistant Director of Athletic Communications) and the conversation quickly turned to talking about how cool the whole event really was. That was something I tried to keep in mind during the day; we were obviously there to do a job but at the same time, you really need to make sure you enjoy the moment because it was pretty awesome! And Jill and I of course needed to take a selfie outside the White House. I mean it’s the
White House.
Ken Johnson, Jr. of MIT with Jill Guise of Johns Hopkins outside the White House.
Prior to the trip, I communicated with
Katie Mucci from NCAA Division III governance as she was collecting all content from the day to publicize for the whole division. I had also communicated with my on-campus communications folks back at MIT to let them know of the content plan for the day and how we planned to highlight these student-athlete. As someone who had never been to that area of DC, it was easy for me to collect content because it was all pretty exciting and new. I found myself taking pictures of a lot of things as we took the 15-minute walk from the train station.
Once we got through security, we were able to stake out a spot right up front near the stage and we waited for the event to begin. One of the White House photographers was super helpful and took some photos of our group using my phone, while a bunch of us were taking selfies with the team. You could just see the excitement on everyone’s faces!
Again, while trying to enjoy the moment, I was able to post the content to our social media and send to the NCAA and then go back to my “oh wow, we are at the White House” moment, haha.
Two of our student-athletes,
Matthew Kearney (cross country) and
Kenneth Wei (track and field) represented our teams on stage while
Kamala Harris, Vice-President of the United States, and NCAA President
Charlie Baker spoke to the group on the White House lawn. We are proud of all our student-athletes, and particularly proud of Matthew, a CSC Academic All-America standout who was voted the Men’s Track & Field/Cross Country Academic All-America Team Member of the Year for Division III for 2023. What a tremendous year for him!
MIT representatives on stage are Kenneth Wei (back row, fourth from right), CSC Men’s Track & Field Academic All-American of the Year Matthew Kearney is in the second row (his face is hidden by the NCAA trophy).
The entire event went by in a flash, but it was one of the coolest events that I’ve ever been part of and capped off what was truly the most incredible year of my 25-year tenure as an SID.
From the White House, we went to grab lunch at a nearby restaurant and then it was back to the airport for the flight back to Orlando.
When I walked back into the Marriott World Center that night, one of my friends asked me how the day was. I could barely even describe how cool and impactful it was, and how fortunate I was to be able to capture so much content to document our experience.
We then headed off-site to the SIDEARM Sports reception (to unwind after that whirlwind trip!) and I certainly had a one-of-a-kind day to tell people about!
NCAA President Charlie Baker addresses the gathering on National College Day at the White House.
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