Kennedy Lamb and Jethro Ssengonzi are
finishing their final semester with uncertainty about the world, but
also a sense of hope. To cope with the challenges of graduating during
the COVID-19 pandemic, they are drawing on resilience built through past
challenges they’ve faced as UMBC scholar-athletes.
On the surface, Lamb ‘20, English, and Ssengonzi ‘20, mechanical
engineering, didn’t have much in common when they arrived on campus.
Lamb brought her academic and softball talents from the town of Mexico,
New York, 35 miles north of Syracuse. Ssengonzi left Cary, North
Carolina, to become a Meyerhoff Scholar and member of the Retriever
swimming and diving team. Both connected early on with mentors who would
support them in their most difficult moments.
Academics “kept me going”
In high school, Lamb was a Syracuse.com three-time First Team
All-League softball player. She was also student council president and a
student member of her local Board of Education. Her drive, leadership,
and commitment to community fit with UMBC’s culture, but she struggled
in her first year on campus. Lamb played in just nine games as a
Retriever freshman and nearly did not return the next fall.
Lamb at NCAA Regionals, May 2019. Photo by Joshua R. Gateley, courtesy of UMBC Athletics.
“Coming from upstate New York to Maryland with no connections, no
family or friends, or really any form of support, was extremely
difficult,” said Lamb. “I suffered from anxiety and depression that
wasn’t diagnosed until my junior year of college. I truly almost pulled
the plug and dropped out on numerous occasions, but I couldn’t give up
on my dream of playing DI softball.”
Lamb credits two mentors in particular for helping her over the hump
during that tumultuous freshman year. Assistant Athletic Director Abbie Day served as her first athletics’ academic advisor. Science writer Sarah Hansen,
M.S. ‘15, biological sciences, a communications manager in UMBC’s
Office of Institutional Advancement, helped guide her toward new
opportunities for her writing.
Kennedy Lamb enters a UMBC Transit bus for an assignment as a UMBC Magazine intern. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.
“In a way, my grades are what kept me going—I always knew I had that
to fall back on,” says Lamb. “I loved all of my classes at UMBC and I
knew the professors wanted me to succeed.”
“I took a great deal of pride in my GPA freshman year—and well, all
of the years—because I knew if athletics was frustrating me, or
something in my personal life wasn’t going quite right, I always had
school to keep me motivated and focused,” she shares. That focus would
pay off.
“I’ve had to adjust”
Ssengonzi came to UMBC after a distinguished swimming career at Green
Hope High School. In addition to being a Meyerhoff Scholar, he quickly
engaged with UMBC’s Grand Challenge Scholars Program. The program, which
began just as he arrived at UMBC, gives students opportunities to work
on multi-disciplinary teams to tackle some of the most pressing issues
facing society today.
Ssengonzi during URCAD 2018 at UMBC. Photo by Leo Buoye ’19.
Ssengonzi’s sophomore year started off strong. Beyond swimming and
coursework, he presented his summer research at the UMBC Undergraduate
Research and Creative Achievement Day in 2018.
Ssengonzi presents his research at URCAD in April 2018. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.
But throughout that 2017-18 year, Ssengonzi struggled as his father,
Robert, was diagnosed with cancer. Robert lost his battle with the
disease in the fall of 2018. Dealing with day to day life at school
while staying engaged with family was difficult.
“The last three years or so have been tough on my family,” Ssengonzi
says. “I’ve had to adjust to many things. Fortunately, I’ve been able to
forge ahead with the help of several people.”
He credits his massive swimming and diving family and his fellow
Meyerhoff Scholars for their support throughout his UMBC journey. He
also thanks mentors Maria Sanchez, professor of the practice in mechanical engineering and COEIT’s director of education and outreach, and adjunct professor Joseph Washington, Ph.D. ‘15, mechanical engineering.
“Most importantly, he cares about people”
Ssengonzi flourished over the past two years. The team selected him
as one of their captains in 2019-20. And despite dealing with a
troublesome quad injury, he posted lifetime bests in all of his swims.
His last moments in the water as a Retriever were spent celebrating the
team’s third consecutive America East championship.
Ssengonzi represents UMBC in competition. Photo by Zoe Pekins.
“Jethro is driven and focused, sensitive and hard-working, and most
importantly, he cares about people,” said head swimming and diving coach
Chad Cradock ‘97, psychology.
Ssengonzi
celebrates a strong swim on the path to UMBC winning the 2019 men’s and
women’s swimming and diving America East championships. Photo by
Colleen Humel, courtesy of Ssengonzi.
During spring break, Ssengonzi returned to North Carolina. He has not
been back to campus since the COVID-19 pandemic struck. But he feels
fortunate to stay connected with Retriever Nation remotely, and is
already looking forward to his next steps.
Ssengonzi will pursue a Ph.D. in civil engineering at nearby North
Carolina State University this fall. There, he will focus on the
restoration and improvement of urban infrastructure. It’s a topic fueled
by his involvement with UMBC’s Grand Challenge Scholars Program.
Path to the championship
Lamb has also enjoyed tremendous growth and success since connecting
with mentors and building her community of support. She was one of nine
students selected to participate in the first UMBC Interdisciplinary
CoLab in summer 2018. Her three-member team worked closely with the UMBC
Sustainability Office and Climate Action Steering Committee. They
created four engaging informational videos on the importance of
environmental sustainability at UMBC.
Under the direction of CoLab founder Carole McCann,
professor and chair of gender, women’s and sexuality studies, Lamb also
launched an independent project. She produced, directed, and filmed the video that UMBC now uses to publicize the CoLab program.
Lamb running near the Albin O. Kunh Library during a video shoot. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.
On the field, Lamb played in a career-high 27 games in 2019. But it
was her steady, veteran leadership that helped the Retrievers to an
improbable run to capture the 2019 America East Championship and compete
in the NCAA Tournament.
There, she also received the America East Elite 18 award. This honor
recognizes the student-athlete with the highest GPA in each America East
championship game.
Lamb
(center, in visor) celebrates the 2019 America East Championship win
with her teammates. Photo by Stephen McLaughlin, America East.
“Kennedy Lamb is one of the hardest working, most caring, dedicated
student-athletes I have had the privilege to work with over the years,”
said head coach Chris Kuhlmeyer. “She is a prime
example to all student-athletes at UMBC and across the nation of what it
takes to live an exemplary life academically, athletically, and
personally.”
Lamb receives America East Elite 18 award. Photo by Stephen McLaughlin, America East.
Like many seniors, the COVID-19 outbreak has delayed Kennedy’s
post-graduation plans. She awaits news about graduate school and
internship opportunities in science writing at leading institutes.
High achievement with strong support
Athletic Director Brian Barrio sees Lamb and Ssengonzi’s experiences
as reflecting something essential about the values of UMBC and UMBC
Athletics. “The magnificent performance of Retriever student-athletes in
the classroom speaks volumes about the values of this department and of
UMBC as a whole,” he says. “I could not be more proud of the young men
and women who put the work in to achieve these GPAs while also competing
for championships on the playing fields.”
This fall, UMBC’s seventeen teams combined for a school-record
grade-point average of 3.19 and 46 student-athletes earned President’s
List honors (4.00 GPA). In addition to Lamb and Ssengonzi, two other
UMBC scholar-athletes were valedictorian candidates for the Class of
2020.
Abbey Farmer. Photo by UMBC Athletics.
Abigail “Abbey” Farmer, who hails from nearby
Crofton, Maryland, is a dual major in health administration and policy
and psychology. Before college, she swam with the Retriever Aquatics
Club. Now, she is graduating in just three years with a 4.0 and as an
active swimmer. She will begin a master’s degree in public policy at
UMBC in the fall. And she’ll continue her swimming career.
Ilia Rattsev is completing his B.S. degree in
bioinformatics and computational biology, along with a minor in computer
science and a certificate of language studies in German. Rattsev came
to UMBC from Moscow, Russia. He recently earned Eastern College Athletic
Conference Swimmer of the Meet honors and the America East Elite 18
Award as the top student athlete at the championships, with a 3.97 GPA.
Rattsev has completed research in the lab of Maricel Kann,
associate professor of biological sciences, where he developed a
passion for cancer research. After graduation, he plans to continue his
career in cancer research. He’s currently weighing graduate school and
lab research options.
UMBC’s
Ilia Rattsev, Jeremy Gates, Jack Carlisle, and Jethro Ssengonzi (l-r)
accept the trophy for the 2020 America East Championship on behalf of
UMBC men’s swimming and diving; Feb. 16, 2020. Photo by Brian Foley for
America East.
Barrio’s mind is always on how to support UMBC’s student-athletes in
reaching their goals, whether that’s in the lab, on the field, or in
their communities. For now, that support reaches students from a
distance, but he’s already thinking ahead to when competition resumes
post-pandemic.
“The next time you come watch our teams compete,” Barrio says, “take a
minute to reflect on how hard these Retrievers are working in all
phases of their lives.”
Featured image: Jethro Ssengonzi (r) with fellow swimmer Diego Morales ’23 (l) at a home meet. Photo by Ian Feldmann ’20, courtesy of UMBC Athletics.
Article written by Steve Levy, associate athletic director for athletic communications.
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Jianwu Wang. Photo courtesy of Wang.