Story & Photos
By Michael Kinney
Jalen Williams just stood staring. Even when he bent down to take a closer look, the Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star was confused, confounded and stymied all at once.
Williams wasn’t looking at an old video of 6-on-6 high school basketball in Oklahoma. No, he was focused on an educational toy that an eighth-grader was working on.
“I’ve never seen that. Hopefully, there’s a clip in there. I don’t know how to explain it, but he has foil wrapped up in something and is getting it to play out of wires,” Williams explained. “I’m not doing it justice explaining it. But that was pretty cool that. The kid is in eighth grade and he’s figuring out how to do a piano with some tinfoil and some other utensils. So that was pretty cool. He was extremely knowledgeable about it.”
Along with teammate Alex Caruso, Williams was at the Urban League of Greater Oklahoma City in January to tour the facility and visit students enrolled in the program’s winter break classes.
Both players also joined the students of varying ages in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) -related activities. That working with drones and building objects out of blocks that the uninitiated (like myself) might have called Legos.
“I came in here to the STEM program and they were doing way more advanced stuff than I’ve ever done in my life,” Williams said with a laugh. “But they were building, making stuff out of some of the blocks that they had and making it move, which was cool. And then we went to the other classroom and played with some toys that I probably had too much fun playing with. But yeah, just interacting with the kids while they’re on break, and it’s cool to see them apply themselves while they’re not even in school.”

As of the most recent data, about 6.5 million students in the U.S. are enrolled in STEM courses at the K-12 level. According to the Oklahoma State Department of Education, around 25-30 percent of high school students in the state are enrolled in some form of STEM courses.
However, those numbers drop to around 12 to 15 percent when just looking at black students. That is something the Urban League hopes to see turn around.
“STEM is so important for this community is because a lot of the underprivileged, underfunded communities, we don’t get to experience science,” said Dr. Valerie Thompson, the President & CEO of the Urban League of Greater Oklahoma City. “We don’t get to reach out and touch those things that can meet professional scientists at some time or engineers. This gives these kids an opportunity to see things that they may be able to do down the road to really engage them to learn more about math and science.”
According to the U.S. Department of Education, African Americans received just 7.6 percent of all STEM bachelor’s degrees and 4.5 percent of doctorates in STEM. After college, the numbers do not improve with just 9 percent of the STEM workforce coming from African Americans.
So, getting students interested in STEM early on is a priority for the Urban League.
“The Urban League has been in the community for almost 80 years and we pride ourselves on wanting educated kids, living in healthy communities with families who have opportunities for jobs and a roof over their head,” Thompson said. “So really embracing those in need in the community so that African-American children and people of color can thrive.”
It’s hard to imagine a better motivational tool for kids than having a pair of NBA stars show interest in their activities.

“Every day we have our kids from the community that come in for afterschool programming or STEM activities, and today we’ve been very blessed to have some of the Thunder players with us to participate in some of the STEM activities,” said Thompson. “It is another way to get our kids excited about science, engineering, math, and technology.”
However, as Williams pointed out, some of the kids had no idea he even played basketball. Despite standing 6-foot-5 and towering over everyone in the room, one exuberant youth thought he was a dad checking in on his kids.
Yet, even when they knew nothing about his real job, the students were still excited to have Williams and Caruso sit down and play, ask questions about their lives and just take an interest in them.
“They don’t know that I play basketball unless you tell them,” Williams said. “A lot of it is just based on how we carry ourselves and how we interact with everybody else. I try and always keep that in mind when they’re watching you do other things. I feel like they’re like sponges at this age, too, so they kind of pick up on everything. I got called the dad today. They have no idea that I actually play basketball. Or even if they do, they don’t really have that concept yet. It’s kind of cool to branch out and help them with some of the stuff they’re doing and learn what they’re doing through their eyes, and I think that’s a good way to relate with them.”
Williams also sees his visit to the Urban League as an opportunity to show kids from lower-income households that there are more ways to succeed in life than just sports and entertainment. He realizes that may be a difficult conversation coming from someone who plays in the NBA, but it’s one he is willing to have.
“I think when I first brought it up, when I got in the NBA, it felt a little hypocritical,” Williams said. “I am playing basketball, but at the same time, just understanding that not everybody’s situation is the same. It’s pretty incredible that there’s no school going on and they’re able to have the STEM program or be able to just be in school and do other stuff that isn’t even sports-related. It’s a credit to the teachers and everybody else is making it possible behind the scenes. It’s just good to see that you can be other things, and I think it’s good that we’re here to kind of let them know that.”
Instagram: mkinneymedia
X (Twitter): MKinneyMedia
Youtube: Michael Kinney Media
Photos/Prints (SmugMug): Michael Kinney