Jada Walker
A few weeks back, Jada Walker of the Ooltewah area kept seeing announcements about nine other graduating University of Tennessee seniors being named as prestigious Torchbearers.
The 2021 Baylor School graduate was flattered she had earlier been nominated. She had completed the nomination form, but she was beginning to assume she would not be selected for this unique honor that recognizes academic achievement, service and leadership.
As the situation developed, though, UT did have one more Torchbearer honoree to announce for 2025 – and it was Ms. Walker. As could be expected, she was a little overwhelmed when she was surprised at a chapter meeting of her Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority that she had indeed been selected for what is considered UT’s highest undergraduate honor.
“I got a little teary eyed,” she said. “It happened in front of my sorority sisters, and it was nice to have them and the others that had come to support me.”
Ms. Walker’s recognition is even more significant in that she is the only recipient this year from the Chattanooga area in a Torchbearer class that also includes recent UT men’s basketball star Jahmai Mashack.
The fact that the news for her came late is also not surprising, as her whole UT experience has been one involved in getting a late start in certain ways. And her enrolling at the school almost did not happen due to both her personal wishes and something else she would not wish on anyone.
The personal wish occurred while she was still a student at Baylor, and she actually was leaning toward going to the University of Kentucky or Howard University. “UT was my last choice, but it was the best option for me financially,” said the daughter of Chattanooga firefighter Al Walker and Harrison Elementary teacher Jamika Walker with a laugh during a recent interview at Rembrandt’s coffee shop while in town.
And before that, she was leaning toward something else, but for survival. When the tornadoes ripped through East Brainerd and Ooltewah in April 2020 during her junior year at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, her family’s home was in the path and they were holding onto the walls for survival.
“Our house was destroyed, it was scary,” she said. “We were in the bathroom, and a tree landed on the other side of the wall. We ended up sleeping that night in our car in the garage until the emergency personnel arrived.”
She and her family survived, and the next year she graduated from Baylor after having played volleyball, been a girls’ basketball manager and been involved in community service. The latter was part of the Baylor mission statement that she said she took to heart. It says, “To foster in our students both the ability and the desire to make a positive difference in the world.”
But when she went off to UT as a freshman, some of this was briefly put to the side as she got used to college. Although she admitted her courses at Baylor, where she had attended since the sixth grade, had prepared her well academically for college, she was initially not overly happy at UT.
“I had wanted to transfer after my first semester, but my mentor at the UT Success Academy told me to get involved,” she said.
And did she with a vengeance. She would go on to become president of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and captain of VolCorps Volunteer Team involved in the recruitment process of student athletes. She also uniquely started and served as president of the Melanin Mental Health Alliance, among other volunteer activities.
Ms. Walker explained that the latter began after realizing she and others needed to focus on mental health during the COVID outbreak “I started off as a psychology major and switched to sports management,” she said. “I tend to take on a lot of emotion and I still wanted to be an advocate for mental health. A lot of people in college are facing these issues and not knowing how to ask for help.”
She said the Alliance’s programs would involve creating safe spaces and having conversations and being educated about mental health. For example, one recent program involved suicide prevention training.
She added that the organization is scheduled to continue after she leaves and was searching for new leadership as the semester concluded.
Some of the volunteer work in other areas, on the other hand, has been a little more light hearted and fun. For example, she got to know in passing some of the higher profile student athletes through her VolCorps Volunteer Team work.
She has also enjoyed some student work related to her studies. That included helping with the U.S. Olympic Diving Trials last summer at UT and getting to take part in some of the pre-Super Bowl event management work with other UT students.
“We helped set up sites for guests and received training,” she said of the latter.
While she was reluctant to come to UT, and she even pulled for the Duke men’s basketball team and the Connecticut women’s basketball team growing up, she is now all Vol in love for the school.
As she explained her transformation, “I didn’t arrive on campus and feel at home, and then I got involved and I realized it’s not the place, but the people that made me feel at home.”
And now she will be heading elsewhere from her home of the last four years. After graduating this year with a degree in sports management and a double minor in Spanish and business administration, she is looking at going to graduate school at either Oklahoma or LSU.
“I want to work in athletic administration, but my end goal is to become director of football or basketball operations,” she said.
But she will not soon forget the lessons she learned at UT and hopes to pass along her story of starting in the background but later shining a proverbial torch light for many to follow.
“It showed me the importance of giving more than taking,” she said in summing up her UT experience. “If you go into things with the right mindset, you will reap what you sow.”
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Jada Walker