Medgar Evers basketball standout Mikala Casimir had her whole life planned out — or at least the next four years — but that all came to a halt when her future school, Dowling College, announced the it was closing. Officials at the Long Island college ultimately decided the school would remain open, but Casimir was determined to find a more stable basketball home.
“I found out literally a week before they said the school was closing,” Casimir said. “So I’m basically panicking. I literally had just committed to this school.”
Casimir approached Medgar Evers coach Mike Toro about her next move, and the two did their best to come up with a plan.
Toro told the senior not to worry — that it would all be alright in the end — but Casimir was still terrified.
“I had no idea what to do,” she said. “I wanted to go to Dowling. It was close to home, they had a major I wanted, and I liked the coach. So now I’m like, ‘How am I going to go to college?’ The other schools I had been accepted in, the applications were way past due. I figured I probably wouldn’t get another scholarship.”
Casimir did her best to stay positive in the days that followed — then things took a turn for the better, and she received an offer from Wilmington University. Casimir and her mother visited the school on June 6, and she signed her commitment letter the next day.
“I met with one of the players and the entire coaching staff,” said Casimir, who averaged just over 10 points a game last season. “It was a really good experience. They made my mom and I feel very comfortable, and that’s what I really liked.”
Wilmington isn’t Dowling — it’s farther away from home, and it doesn’t offer Casmir’s preferred applied mathematics major. But Casimir is anxious to spread her wings — both on the court and in the classroom — and she plans to study computer and network security with a minor in mathematics.
“My biggest hope is that the school won’t close now,” she joked. “But I really just want the overall college experience. That’s important to me.”
Casimir is trying to take everything a day at a time now. She’s been through the emotional wringer in the last month, but through it all, she’s simply thankful.
“When I went to Wilmington, the coaching staff was just very understanding and apologetic about what happened to me,” Casimir said. “I want to get out the best experience that I can, academically, athletically, and just to grow as a person. It’s college. It’s a really big step for me.”
