Kayla (Scott) Papp and Gerald Williams-Taylor

Men's Basketball 9/28/2022 3:00:00 PM Brendan Billbury, WSUAthletics.com Guest Contributor

Feature Story: From Student-Athlete to Employee

A pair of former Warriors are now making an impact as athletic administrators.

The following feature first appeared in the football game program on Sept. 24, 2022.

Student-athletes never know when their career could be over. Some find their place in professional sports; some make it through college and decide to move on to opportunities outside of sports.

At some point, a student-athletes collegiate career comes to an end, and what they choose to do with their time after graduation is no doubt affected by their experience in school. The hope of any athletic department is to create a culture and atmosphere of belonging so that their student-athletes want to come back and get involved within the department.

Regardless of where they go, most student-athletes leave their alma mater and never look back. It takes a special kind of person to make a lasting impact on the school they graduated from and receive the opportunity to come back as an employee of the athletic department.

The demanding nature of collegiate athletics can leave student-athletes looking forward to life outside of athletics. A lot of people move on from their alma mater and never look back. A select few find their way back. Kayla (Scott) Papp and Gerald Williams-Taylor have done exactly that with Wayne State University athletics.

Kayla (Scott) Papp
Papp was a swimmer for the Warriors from 2010 to 2014. In the time that she was in the pool for Wayne State she was a 17-time All-American, a seven-time national champion, swam on five national champion relay teams and was part of the 2012 Division II NCAA championship team.

Since her time at Wayne State, Kayla has spent time as a graduate assistant coach with Coach Sean Peters' staff, worked one year in human resources at Total Quality Logistics in Cincinnati and coached for two club swim teams in the Metro Detroit area.

In April of 2022, Papp joined the athletic department Assistant Director of Compliance and Student-Athlete Support Coordinator, and four months later was promoted to Assistant Athletic Director.

This is a role that her four years as a Warrior has prepared her for. Her success as a student as well as her undeniable success as an athlete will help her connect with the overwhelming nature of being a student-athlete.

"I had the experience of working with people in the academic support area that I'm currently in now from the perspective of a student-athlete," remarked Papp, "it's really cool now to be able to give that support to our student-athletes."

Being able to understand the ins and outs of the department and the up-hill battle that comes with trying to succeed as a student-athlete is a crucial trait to success in the role Papp finds herself in now.

Getting up early in the morning to get to practice, hurrying to class, finding time to eat somewhere in between? These are all experiences that Papp has had firsthand. These experiences help her relate to current Warriors who look to her for guidance and support.

Although Papp finds herself "on the other side of the curtain," the mission in her mind has stayed the same through the years. Excellence.

"As a student-athlete, I was always striving for excellence and to be the best I could be. Now, as an administrator, excellence is still in my mind. I think 'what can I do to be excellent and bring excellence to the athletic department?'"

Gerald Williams-Taylor
For Gerald Williams-Taylor the resiliency and encouragement of the athletic department at Wayne State is the motivating factor for his work life as the Assistant Athletic Director of Facilities and Operations.

In his role, Williams-Taylor is in charge of the upkeep and scheduling of facilities operations among other day-to-day tasks that come up. Having the experience that he has within the department gives him an advantage and helps him understand how things behind-the-scenes work. Having prior experience within an organization no matter the role someone was in, is invaluable to excelling in a new position.

The ideals and mission of Wayne State University athletics perfectly aligns with his feelings toward the school. Growth and doing the most with what you have are a few of the pillars that the department stands on.

"Wayne State strives to raise the bar. Even when resources may be limited, we try to make the impossible, possible," says Williams-Taylor.

During his time as a Warrior, he appeared in 99 games for the men's basketball program, starting in more than half of those appearances. His teams held a winning percentage of .658 and won the GLIAC Tournament in 2011.

After his time as a player, he spent two seasons as a graduate assistant under coach David Greer. The success he experienced as a student-athlete propelled him into a life beyond basketball. Williams-Taylor spent four years with Courageous, Inc. as a Managing Director. There, he worked toward the betterment of Detroit by strengthening families in the city.

Love and encouragement from the administration and coaches at Wayne State helped to make the decision to come back an easy one. "I wanted to return to spread the love and encouragement that I received as a student-athlete to the current Warriors," commented Williams-Taylor.

Since his time as a student-athlete, the athletic department's footprint has had a major face-lift. For that reason, his role has become more and more demanding. His time as a student-athlete prepared him for a demanding day-to-day position that tests everything about a person.

Stepping on campus as a student is a situation that can overwhelm the vast majority, but the support from administrators and coaches can go a long way towards making college a rewarding experience for everyone. It can even be rewarding enough to lead a former student-athlete to come back to reciprocate those feelings.

The transition from college to life beyond is a tough transition for students to manage. Seeing firsthand the opportunities in front of them is a key to maintaining sanity during this time. Kayla and Gerald have helped give them a blueprint for life outside of Wayne State athletics, even if that blueprint leads them back home.

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