Franck Kepnang’s aspirations might sound like the daydreams of a fifth grader: play for the NBA, and build robots to help kids in underprivileged communities. But these are no childhood fantasies. Kepnang has spent the last three years as a University of Washington student and Husky men’s basketball center laying the groundwork for this exact moment—when his athletic and academic goals are so close he can taste them.
“It’s been a journey,” Kepnang says, chuckling at the understatement. That journey has taken him from his home in Cameroon to Massachusetts for high school, then out West for college, navigating life on another continent far from family, with multiple season-ending injuries along the way. But with a cheering squad of not only his basketball teammates but also his mother, mentors, physical and mental-health therapists, and an NBA-star scholarship donor, Kepnang feels primed to succeed. “It’s been a roller coaster of battling and overcoming adversity—the highest highs and lowest lows. Every time, I just have to work my way back up.”