NIA Speaker Recap

Every year, the school welcomes an outside speaker on campus for the Nia Speaker of Color series. Nia, the Swahili word for “purpose,” is an organization that was established by four Head-Royce mothers in 2003 to help uphold the three pillars of the School’s mission: scholarship, diversity, and citizenship. 

This year, Kendra Andrews, an ESPN reporter for the Golden State Warriors, was chosen as the speaker. Andrews, who attended the School from Kindergarten all the way through 12th grade, is the first alumni speaker to be chosen for the event. 

In addition to the NIA event on Friday, February 16th, Andrews spoke to the upper school, middle school, and Black Student Union. 

Working as a reporter for the Warriors, Andrews gets the opportunity to interview some of the most famous athletes in the world, including Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. 

However, before she achieved success in the journalism field, Andrews was a normal highschool kid at the School. Reflecting on Andrews’s time here, Nancy Feidelman, one of Andrew’s previous upper school teachers, says that she was a “curious, open, playful kid” as a freshman back in the fall of 2011.

Feidelman also recalled, “She lived in the current moment of highschoolness. She wasn’t overly concerned about grades.” 

After high school, Andrews attended Gonzaga University, where she earned a degree in journalism. Andrews got her first job working for the National Basketball Association’s Denver Nuggets before moving back to the Bay Area in early 2021 to work for her hometown Warriors. 

Andrews’ inspirational advice at her various speaking events had a great impact on many students at the School. Junior Sienna Howard, who interviewed Andrews for the Nia speaker event and in front of the entire upper school, said, “Kendra Andrews didn’t take a single AP in high school, and I think we often stress a lot like ‘I can’t be successful. I don’t have the grades. I can’t be successful. I’m not taking enough advanced classes’… she’s an example of someone who’s reached immense success…and that wasn’t just based on her school work.” 

As an African American woman in an industry dominated by white men, Andrews is a great role model for everyone, but especially for people who identify with her. 

“Hearing how quickly in her career she got to be at ESPN was very inspiring…it’s always inspiring hearing a story of hard work paying off,” said senior Richie Jones, the co-president of Black Student Union.   

Howard added, “It was really cool hearing from a woman of color about a field I would be interested in going into.”

Jones said that one of the most powerful pieces of advice Andrews told to the Black Student Union was, “It’s very important to establish a community of people who look like you to make sure they understand the problems of someone like you.” 

For example, Jones commented on Kendra’s close relationship with her sister Malika, who also works in the field of sports journalism, by saying how Malika is “not only [Kendra’s] sister, but her co-worker and best friend.”

Howard, who got to spend ample time having conversations with Andrews during her two days on campus, talked about the benefits of the experience, stating, “It was a way for me to get connections with somebody who’s in the sports world and who’s in the journalism world. I’ve been in [expository writing] for three years, so I feel like I’m starting to get more interested in pursuing a career in journalism”

Furthermore, it is particularly inspiring and motivating for students at the School to see a Head-Royce alumni achieve such an illustrious job. 

“It makes it easier for us to envision our path because [the alumni] have literally gone through the same path,” stated Howard.

Jones echoed a similar sentiment, saying, “You can bring [alumni] to a space and have them speak at assembly, but you can also bring them to smaller spaces and have them speak directly like Kendra to expos or to the BSU where they can speak on experiences we can all relate to at a deeper level.”

It is clear that Andrews and other alumni have a great impact on the community since they can shed light on a variety of career paths. Andrews is a great example for all students that straight As and attending an illustrious university are not necessary for achieving great things in life.