Cornell U. Scholars Leave Lasting Legacy Through Student-Athlete Community

Abraham Ailemen and Ogbonna “OGB” Ugwu-Uche came to Cornell as Posse Scholars. Along the way, they discovered a shared desire to create the kind of community that would prepare student-athletes not only to succeed on campus, but to lead after graduation.

What began as a shared dream has grown into a very real student-athlete community that now reaches nearly every varsity athletic team at Cornell University.

“Posse gave me a place of comfort,” says OGB. “That in turn allowed me to be comfortable with discomfort—to walk into new rooms, build relationships with people from different backgrounds and embrace opportunities without being afraid to do so alone.”

For Abraham, that sense of belonging became a responsibility.

“Posse genuinely inspired me to create meaningful spaces for others and to approach my responsibility to pay forward the privileges I have received with intentionality,” says Abraham.

That inspiration became Men of Color in Athletics (MOCA), a student-athlete-led community the pair launched in 2024 after recognizing that many men of color in athletics were not always leaving college with the same professional networks and mentorship opportunities as some of their peers.

Inspired by Cornell’s Women of Color in Athletics (WOCA), Abraham and OGB built MOCA around two guiding principles: community service and socio-professional development. Their goal was to create a space where men of color could invest in themselves, one another and the broader Cornell community.

The organization quickly expanded beyond the football and track and field teams where Abraham and OGB competed. Today, MOCA has built relationships with nearly all 37 varsity athletic teams at Cornell, connecting student-athletes through mentorship, professional development, community service and relationships with alumni.

After graduating this spring, Abraham will join West Monroe as a healthcare consultant while preparing to pursue an MD-MBA. OGB, now a rising senior studying physics with a concentration in computer science, plans to pursue a career in market-making.

As they prepare to make the most of these new opportunities, both Abraham and OGB move forward knowing they’ve added to the richness of opportunity available to Cornell’s student-athletes.

“The demands of being a student-athlete often leave little room to build connections beyond your own team,” says OGB. “MOCA is that unique space where those relationships, and the many benefits that come with them, can happen.”