Throughout the spring semester, we are honoring our senior student-athletes with a "Senior Salute" series. Today's featured senior is Najee Hardaway, an Africana studies and elementary education major from Cleveland, Ohio. Hardaway is a member of the men's basketball team.
Q: Why did you choose to attend The College of Wooster?
A: I decided to attend The College of Wooster because it checked off the three most important qualities I wanted out of a school:
1) It is highly accredited academically and has a low student-professor ratio.
2) The basketball program is very respected nationwide and holds a tradition of winning.
3) Wooster's proximity to home is the perfect distance for me.
Q: What does being a Fighting Scot student-athlete mean to you?
A: To me, it means family. From my own experience with the men's basketball team, and what I've observed with other teams on campus, being an athlete here cultivates a very strong bond between teammates. Being at practice, team lifts, study sessions, social gatherings, living together, etc., makes you really close with one another. I appreciate the relationships I've made with all my teammates over the years, I can't ask for a better group of people to lace 'em up with.
Q: What are some of your favorite memories as a student at The College of Wooster?
A: Some of my favorite memories include winning the 2020 North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament, hosting the first two rounds of the 2019 and 2020NCAA Div. III Championships, connecting with people, making lifelong friendships, and completing Independent Study.
Q: What is the best part about being a student-athlete at The College of Wooster?
A: Competing in the sport I love at a high level, working together with my teammates to accomplish goals, and the support from the campus and local community.
Q: What else were you involved with on campus besides your sport?
A: I am involved with the Black Students Associationwhere I was vice president for a year and have been president for two.
Q: Which College of Wooster faculty or staff member has made the greatest impact on you and why?
A: Dr. Takiyah Amin, who is no longer with the College, was my I.S. advisor and made a lasting impact on me academically and personally. I am very grateful to have worked with her and for all she did for me in two short years.
Q: What other people or resources impacted your Wooster experience in a positive way and how did these people and resources set you up to be successful at Wooster?
A: The whole men's basketball coaching staff starting with Coach Steve Moore and Coach Doug Cline. From the beginning, they held my teammates and I to high standards on and off the court. I believe this helped instill a lot of good qualities in me, and I'm grateful for what they've done for me.
Q: Tell us a bit about your Independent Study project?
A: My I.S. was on the phenomenon of the School-to-Prison Pipeline and its causes. I then conducted research on former and current interventions to stop the phenomenon, followed up with my own researched-guided ideas to intervene, and eventually shut off the School-to-Prison Pipeline completely.
Q: Tell us a bit about something cool you did as a student at The College of Wooster?
A: The men's basketball 2022 fall break trip to France immediately comes to mind. Getting to travel, explore, and play the sport you love halfway across the world with my teammates was an experience of a lifetime.
Q: Reflecting back on your time at Wooster, what advice would you give your first-year (freshman) self?
A: I'd tell myself to appreciate everything a little more in the moment - the highs, the lows, the people, and the lessons learned. It's all part of the experience that is itself life and the specific path that my first-year self will venture on.
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