Hey there! My name is Shawn Pierre and I’m a 19 year-old freshman at Plymouth State University. I’m from a small town in New York called  Spring Valley where there’s trouble waiting for you at every corner. Growing up life was tough. I was raised by a hard working single mother who taught me that “life isn’t easy” and “you have to work hard for anything in life”.

To avoid trouble I used my unbreakable love for basketball to keep myself focused and on the right track. I’ve been playing basketball competitively since the 4th grade and I’m still playing competitively til this day! During my senior year of high school, I was selected to an All-League team and led the league in steals and blocks per game.

Growing up, I never had anyone to look up to. That was until I started to watch NBA televised games during the 2008-09 season. During that season LeBron was at his best and ending up winning his first NBA Most Valuable Player award. I heard some of the things that LeBron had to grow up through as a kid and was able to relate. Hearing that made me become a huge fan of him. Thanks to LeBron, I “strive for greatness” trying to be the best man I could be.