LEXINGTON, Va. — Senior women's basketball player and OIE (Office of Inclusion and Engagement) Ambassador Erin Hughes (Raleigh, N.C./Ravenscroft School) has created and organized a Zoom panel titled R.I.S.E.: The Athlete Experience, that will take place on Sunday, November 1 at 5:00 pm.
 
The panel will consist of current and former W&L student-athletes of color sharing their experiences since joining the W&L community and the importance of representation, inclusion, support and engagement on campus.
 
"As an OIE Ambassador and student-athlete, my goals for the panel are to create a space for fellow student-athletes to openly share their stories, to better understand their perspectives, to support their initiatives on campus and to facilitate an open dialogue for all members of our community," Hughes explained. "I am so excited to hear from the six panelists and to continue having important conversations about diversity and inclusion within the athletic community and W&L at large."
 
The panelists will include assistant football coach Jimmie Johnson, a four-year member of the football and track and field teams, who graduated this past spring, senior men's lacrosse player Kai Nelson (Hagerstown, Md./Mercersburg Academy), junior women's basketball player Erin Addison (Waxhaw, N.C./Weddington), sophomore men's basketball players Richie Manigault (Stewartsville, N.J./Phillipsburg) and Cheick Toure (Silver Spring, Md./Sandy Spring Friends School) and first-year women's track and field athlete Katelyn Gamble (Houston, Texas/The Kinkaid School).
 
Due to the limited space available for the Zoom panel, it is requested that only current faculty, staff and students register at this time. Registration for the event can be found here.