A college shutdown leaves 2 RHS athletes stranded

Seniors Eli Mitchell and Leon Mitchell-Williams restart their recruiting process after Iowa Wesleyan closes

LAYLA FOUCHE Sports Editor

When it was announced on Tuesday, March 28 that Iowa Wesleyan University, a school 169 miles away from St. Louis, would close its doors on May 31, 2023 due to budgetary issues, it set off a chain reaction that ultimately changed the future of seniors

Eli Mitchell and Leon Mitchell-Williams.

Board of Trustees Chair Robert Miller and University President Christine Plunkett sent an email to current, incoming, and admitted students informing them of the closure of Iowa Wesleyan University. Their reasons for closing were listed as“increased operating costs due to inflationary pressures, changing enrollment trends, a significant drop in philanthropic giving, and the rejection of a proposal for federal Covid funding by Governor Reynolds”.

Joshua Miller is the Admissions Counselor of Iowa Wesleyan. After the email from the chair of the Board of Trustees and President of the university, Miller made sure to provide support to those affected through a follow up email.

“I will still be available to help. We have teach out agreements with CulverStockton College, Upper Iowa University, William Penn University, and University of Dubuque. If you wish to show one of those schools (or other schools) your academic award letter please feel free to do so,” Miller said.

In the midst of this tragedy they are experiencing, the university has failed to mention anything about incoming students who have already committed to the upcoming school year.

Mitchell and MitchellWilliams were both offered and had accepted full scholarships from Iowa Wesleyan to play football next year.

Since then, they’ve had their signing day at Ritenour High and publicity from all corners. Now that the university is permanently closing, they no longer have scholarships and need a place to go.

“I have to try and find somewhere else to go now. I didn’t really apply to many schools after that, so it’s been a difficult challenge for me right now,” Mitchell said. “I feel overwhelmed. I was kind of mad at first, but then I realized that God has probably got something bigger for me.”

Head Varsity football coach Yarmon Kirksey said that this is not the first time that something like this has happened to his football players.

“This happened a few years ago; LindenwoodBelleville did the same thing. They closed down at the end of the school year due to a lack of funds, so this is my second go-around with this. I had some players who were actually on the LindenwoodBelleville’s roster. They had to find other schools to go to when they closed down,” Kirksey said.

Being in the head coach position, Kirksey has not hesitated to come to the aid of the two seniors.

“So what I’ve been doing lately is I’ve been sending out their transcripts and senior highlight videos to all of the schools who were interested in them before they decided to go to Iowa Wesleyan. Today, they’re on a visit at Lincoln University. That’s one of the schools that showed interest in those guys before they decided on Iowa Wesleyan. We’re just going back and doing the same process we did before they committed to Iowa Wesleyan,” Kirksey said.