My name is Jamari Jenkins and I’m a student-athlete at the University of Dubuque. I’m a sports marketing and management major and a senior football player here at UD. I grew up in a northern suburb of Chicago named Evanston. I went to high school at Evanston Township High School, where I played mainly football for all four years and then one year of basketball. Growing up, mental health wasn’t something that was heavily talked about and in hindsight, I wish this was different. Mental health was more of a, “Suck it up, you’ll be fine,” mindset, this taught me to not speak about my emotions and to keep things to myself. It wasn’t until I came to UD when I started to understand what it was like to be in good standing with my own mental health. When I think about why I chose the University of Dubuque it would be because I wanted to get the recruiting process over with and wanted to get away from home to be on my own. When I arrived here, I quickly started to figure out how important home was for me and I went into a depressed headspace and had a lonely feeling that I had never felt before and I didn’t know what to do or how to get out of it. This feeling went on for months, the entire first semester truly, it felt like I kept going deeper and deeper into a hole with no way of knowing how to get out. There were nights when I’d be crying my eyes out trying to figure out how to help myself. I was able to fix my mental health and mental toughness by being more open and showing love to not only myself but those around me. I met some great people here at UD during that second semester and became more open and outgoing, which helped me with growing as a man, friend, and loved one. Being able to express myself and my emotions has allowed me to release built-up stress and anxiety that I’ve never been able to release before. Before I said that I chose the University of Dubuque because of the recruitment process and wanting to leave home; after being here for 4 years and meeting so many different people, I’d say that I chose the University of Dubuque to grow as a family member, friend, and loved one. To become a better human in this journey of life and to be able to give back to others later down the road, it is important to open up and learn to love yourself and others.
