Campus Spotlight

Kendra Mamea by Eryn Conyers ’16

“Do you want to go to devo?” asked her teammate — the same teammate who had been begging her to go to student activities all year without any success. But this time Kendra said “yes,” and that one “yes” is all it took.

Kendra Mamea came to York College from Orange County, Calif., where family came before anything else and minding your own business was the number one rule. It was Mamea’s mother who encouraged her to seek college opportunities outside of California.

“I had planned on playing volleyball at a local juco [junior college] but my mom didn’t want me to settle,” said Mamea. “We visited York twice, and on the first visit my mom was sold.” It took a second visit for Mamea to be sure.

Mamea was recruited to play for the Panther volleyball team. When she got to YC her freshman year, she planned to play ball and get an education...and mind her own business.

“I was raised to do what you gotta do, and my purpose was to get an education and leave,” admitted Mamea. “I didn’t feel the need to make friends. I didn’t understand why people kept asking me how I was doing; I thought it was weird.”

It was people like her teammate, Taylor O’Brien, and adopted family, softball coaches Roni and Kenny Miller who showed her that YC truly does care and helped break her out of her comfort zone.

“At first, it was really annoying, but she never gave up and finally I said okay. It’s funny now because at the time I just did it because we were teammates, but now we are like best friends.”

After that first devo, Mamea began to wonder what else she might be missing out on. Since then she has played one year of softball, been a successful member of the PR Squad, participated in a one-act play, and helped plan chapels in York Campus Ministries, led the education club as president as well as served as student government secretary.

But that’s not all, during her sophomore year after a few shoulder injuries, Mamea decided that maybe it was time to give up volleyball. Yet she didn’t want to lose the family that she had found in her team.

“I didn’t want to leave the team and step away from a program that had offered me so much.” It was then that she asked Coach Nething if she could continue as a manager and specifically YCVB’s social media manager.

“When Kendra took over our social media, people noticed. Everyone was asking who’s running volleyball’s Instagram?” shared volleyball Head Coach Crystal Nething.

Here’s the real kicker, Mamea, the girl who once wanted to lay low and keep to herself, threw her name into the ring this fall and was elected by her peers as the Student Government president. She hopes to inspire continued growth on campus.

“My main goal this year is to help make our campus a more inclusive place for all students. This year, we have an incredibly diverse student government. Our members not only reflect ethnic diversity but they also come from various sports teams, performing arts groups, and other groups on campus.”

When looking back at the last three and a half years at YC, Mamea says she sees the importance of taking opportunities. “Transformation is possible when you buy into the experience.”

She is extremely grateful to the people who relentlessly encouraged her to step out. She wants future students to know that when people in the YC community ask the question “How are you?” they really do care and they do want to know.

Mamea will be student teaching next fall and is looking into earning her master’s degree through York College’s graduate assistant program. n

(above) Kendra stepped out of her comfort zone and spoke at a breakout chapel last year on the topic "Stay Solid, Never Fold."

photo by Emily Lutz ’14