D'Rae Wise: Every Moment Matters

Most people just come to college and go about the day by day motions and just gain their education and then leave. Not many focus on their education but also become involved in their university. D’Rae Wise is one of those exceptions.

Wise cries out at the basketball team during a game.

Wise spends his college days focusing on his major in Leadership in Physical Activity while immersing himself into anything he can find on campus. For students who attend Slippery Rock, most know exactly who Wise is. He is the guy who screams at athletic events and he is the guy who sends us facebook notifications, but is there anything wrong with that? According to the general public, there is.

A large majority of the students at SRU cast a distasteful glare at Wise, but for what reason? Because he doesn’t conform to the “typical” college student, because he engages himself in an athletic game, or because he wants to alert other students of other events on campus? What is so wrong with that? He wants you to be involved with him or wants you to show your school spirit. But before you try and tear him down, do you know what he has been through?

Wise was born on June 10^th, 1993 in Pittsburgh, Pa. Unfortunately, Wise spent much life growing up without his father, and for some people that can emotionally break them down. Wise took this as a drive and pushed himself to be something better than what he was. The direction in which he is traveling now is a clear testament to that fact. Also while growing up, Wise battled mild depression and lack of motivation. Something that brought him out his slump was him finding his “why”. Wise responded that his “why” was “to be healthy, live a long life and promote health and fitness.” This led Wise into one of his passions, bodybuilding.

Wise and his bodybuilding role model,
Greg Plitt, at the Arnold Classic.

“Bodybuilding was something I never really looked into till my junior year of high school,” Wise said. “It started from there, I watched YouTube videos on how to work out and soon after found my role model Greg Plitt.” Bodybuilding gave Wise an outlet and something to strive towards. Recently, he placed 2^nd in the closed division and 3^rd in the open physique division at the annual Mr. Ms. SRU Bodybuilding show.

Next to bodybuilding Wise enjoys spending his time working in the Aebersold Recreation Center (ARC). The job gives Wise the opportunity to have hands on involvement with students on campus. The ARC also allows him to further his future planning in life. It exposes him to many different types of people, and in turn helping him to gain more experience.

D'Rae Wise and other SRU students cheer intently at a football game.

When asked about his on campus role model, Wise replied without hesitation, Coach Kevin Reynolds. Reynolds in the head men’s basketball coach here at SRU. He emulates Reynolds because he is a “hard worker and pushes Wise to be a better person.

Reynolds expressed his love for Wise, “his enthusiasm, his energy and he effort is infectious.” He has gotten to know Wise on a different level than most have been able to. Wise has landed himself a large role on the team and become a big part of their success. When Reynolds learned of Wise’s placement in Mr. SRU it became a running joke that, “if he hadn’t eatin’ those baconators from Wendy’s he would have taken first,” Reynolds joked.

Wise stands among a sea of yellow shirts
at the Men's Basketball game against the University of Michigan.

Through Wise’s involvement, he has been able to pave a direction in which he would like to continue throughout the remainder of his life. He takes great pride in the education he has received at SRU and how it has prepared him for the world ahead of him.

D'Rae on Dipity.

Wise has been able to establish a good niche for himself here at SRU, through many student organizations and athletics on campus. He is not one that can be simply understood by simply looking him. You have to sit down and give him some of your time and ask who he is. You would be surprised the story you can learn.

The First Goodbye, But My Last Thank You

It is that time of year again when we start to wish our senior friends a goodbye and good luck on the next steps in their lives.

But this is not one of those letters. This is a thank you letter to you. A thank you for all I have been able to learn from you, a thank you for the great times we have spent together, and a thank you for most importantly being my friend. That, I cannot thank you enough for.

The friendships I have established with some of you that are leaving are so meaningful to me and cherish that. As I recently sat through senior presentations and listened to some of you speak I thought to myself that, my time too is rapidly approaching.

I have not been able to grasp the fact that I too will have to leave this place. It has become my home, our home. It will not be the same without the lot of you.

Despite my sappy words of utter disbelief that you are leaving, I am proud of all of you. You came to school with a basic idea of who you are and what you are going to do and are now leaving with a perfectly constructed vision for your life and future.

You have done your time here at college, you have woken up with the worst hang over headache and pledged to yourself that you will “never drink again”, you have all procrastinated that research paper and busted it out the night before it was due. Remember those days as some of the best days of your life, but also remember that it was just a small sliver of the remainder of the time you have left to live.

Take your accomplishments and failures with you and apply them to the life you are stepping into now. These will now be the best days of your life.

Forget the petty college drama, leave that behind. You have gone through too much to let that bother you now. Those people who called you names or hated you for what you have done mean nothing anymore. You have your future ahead of you and they do not have to be in it.

A new chapter of you life starts now, and there are a lot of blank pages. So grab a pen and start writing, because you have one hell of a story to write!

- Your friend always,

       Alex Mowrey