Ahren Freeman is a junior forward for the UTRGV Men’s Basketball Team. Freeman is from Jacksonville, Florida, and graduated from Providence School of Jacksonville. He is pursuing a bachelor’s in sociology but plans to keep playing basketball. Freeman previously attended the University of New Orleans, before transferring to Indian Hills Community College and then UTRGV.
Q: Who is one of your role models?
A: “Definitely, my pops. Just the type of man he is, he is really hardworking. He’s dedicated to what he is doing. Whenever he puts his mind to something, he makes sure he gets it done to the best of his ability. He has instilled all those traits in me. I just try to make him happy and make him proud.”
Q: What motivates you?
A: “Being able to wake up every day. I know there’s a lot of people in less fortunate situations than me. Just being around and seeing, especially now in today’s society, what goes on around the world and how people are treating each other. There’s a lot of people less fortunate than I am, so I’m just blessed to be able to open my eyes and wake up every single day.”
Q: What has been your proudest moment?
A: “Proudest moment is probably signing to a D1 school. It’s just knowing that all the hard work you put in, all through the years, high school, middle school, during summers, missing out on parties and stuff, not being able to hang out with friends from school because you’re traveling for a tournament or something. Being able to sign somewhere like Division 1, being a Division 1 athlete, like, 1% of athletes in the country are doing that. … Knowing all the work that I’ve put in throughout the years has paid off; that was definitely a proud moment for me.”
Q: What do you like about UTRGV?
A: “Just the love everybody shows. You walk around, and you don’t even think people recognize you for real, but when you walk around they’ll be like, ‘You’re that kid that goes to UTRGV. We saw you on TV’ or ‘We saw you on this poster.’ The amount of love the people show, for being a pretty decent size area for the whole [Rio Grande] Valley itself. The area–the weather is nice. It reminds me of home, except for when it gets cold. That little cold stretch we had last week, I wasn’t really messing with that. The community, the weather, everything, I like the Valley. It reminds me of home.”
–Compiled by Jose Medina
