Sneakers to Scrubs helps Chicago's young athletes dream beyond pro sports

CHICAGO - As technology improves, people are living longer. The increasing need for healthcare workers comes at a time when the Chicago area is seeing a severe shortage of workers in the industry. Sneakers to Scrubs is a program that’s working to bridge that gap by steering kids from the court to the classroom. 

"Growing up in Chicago, I played everywhere in all different communities," said Jameel Alausa. "I think one of the things I saw playing in Chicago is everybody wants to make it to the NBA or the NFL. But not a lot of people are thinking about what happens after the ball stops bouncing."

That’s the reality Alausa was faced with after his basketball career ended at Yale University. He said a lot of his teammates were lost when their basketball dreams died without a backup plan. Alausa chose medicine, where he’s currently in medical school at the University of Chicago.

"I didn't have a lot of role models where I can say, okay, this person really excelled athletically and academically. So, I’m really trying to change that narrative that you don't have to put yourself in a box. You can be anything you want. You can be an artist. You can be an architect. You can be multidimensional. So, I what I want these kids and the youth we’re working with to know is to don’t dream too big," Alausa said.

That vision is what led Alausa and a group of other former college athletes turned medical students to start Sneakers to Scrubs. Their mission is to provide underserved students with exposure to medical careers and mentoring. It comes at a time when only 2.6% of physicians are Black men. A statistic that hasn’t changed since 1940. 

"I think the big thing with medicine is it's like killing two birds with one stone," said second-year medical student Lord Hyeamang. "Our demographic, Black people in general, have some of the worst health outcomes. Chicago and many major cities have a big death gap between your white citizens versus the Black citizens. So we want to help diversify the workforce and get these kids interested in medicine. That way they can take care of their own health and their families. Even if they don't all become physicians, at least we might be able to plant the seed on what a health lifestyle looks like for young boys growing up in Chicago." 

Corione Hopkins is a freshman athlete at Crane Medical Prep. Under the mentorship of Sneakers to Scrubs, he’s evaluating his options after high school. 

"It shows me that sports is not the only way that you have to go as a young Black man," said Hopkins.  "You can open yourself up to more things. It showed me that they had the same dreams as me, but not all dreams come true. So, they’re showing us other things that you can do."

Hyeamang played football at the Division One level and eventually made it to the NFL. That’s the exact dream that most of the kids in this program have. However, Hyeamang wants to make sure they’re preparing for plan B. 

"For me to be able to say, 'hey, this is what you're trying to do. I've done it. Here's what it looked like. Here's how hard it is. Here's the pitfalls. Here's some things you can avoid.' My goal, obviously, would be that they're all pre-med, headed towards applying. But big picture, if they're on a good trajectory, whether it's college, some sort of trade school, something just better their life. I'm hoping that regardless of what their career interests are, we've made a positive impact on them, and they can make a positive impact on their community," Hye,amg saod.

That message resonated with Corione Hopkins.

"If football doesn’t work out for me, I want to drive trucks and get my CDL. Sports would help me explore the world. So if I can’t do that, driving trucks can take me everywhere through the country and show me things that I've never seen before," Hopkins said

Over the last year and a half, Sneaker to Scrubs has reached over 2000 kids in the state of Illinois. They’re currently applying for non-profit status so they can impact more students and hopefully convince some of them to pursue a career in medicine. Their first fundraiser is coming up on May 31st. That money will be used to host cardiac screening events for young people and families who don't have access to health care.