Junior civil engineering major, Khalid Bakare, helped The College of New Jersey men’s basketball team win the New Jersey Athletic Conference championship this season.
The Lions also advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division III tournament after defeating Johns Hopkins 74-73 in the first round on March 6.
Bakare said the season was one of the most memorable of his college career. He also said winning the NJAC championship was especially meaningful after months of demanding training.
“It meant everything,” Bakare said. “Our preseason training and the training during the season was the hardest I’ve experienced in my three years here. But it was all worth it doing it with my teammates.”
Bakare said the moment after the final buzzer was emotional for the team.
“It was just a surreal feeling on the court after the buzzer sounded,” Bakare said. “Everybody was hugging each other. My parents were there. It was amazing.”
Bakare said his role on the team has grown since his freshman year. “Freshman year I played, but not as much as I do now,” Bakare said. “Now I’m a starter and a team leader.”
Balancing basketball with his civil engineering coursework took adjustment during his first year at TCNJ. “After my fall semester I didn’t have good grades and I had to lock in,” Bakare said.
Bakare said time management helped him find a better balance between athletics and academics.
“I started using Google Calendar and setting times to study before and after practice,” Bakare said. “Once I figured that out, everything became easier.”
Bakare said he chose TCNJ because it offered a strong balance between academics and athletics. He became interested in engineering after doing well in math and physics in school. A guidance counselor encouraged him to explore engineering, and he later decided civil engineering was the best fit.
Outside of basketball and academics, Bakare is involved in NSBE, the National Society of Black Engineers.
“I met a lot of people doing engineering,” Bakare said. “It was a great community for me to join.”
He is also involved in TCNJ JAM, a student-led dance marathon fundraiser that raises money and awareness for children battling cancer through the Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation.
Bakare said he began playing basketball when he was 11 years old, after first playing soccer. He credited his brother, Adetokunbo Bakare, with inspiring him to pursue the sport.
Bakare said being a first-generation college student from a Nigerian family has also shaped his experience.
“I was able to learn from my brother about what I needed to do coming into college,” Bakare said.
Looking ahead, Bakare said he hopes to work for an engineering firm after graduation. “I’d like to do something in water resources or structural engineering.”
Bakare also shared advice for prospective engineering students.
“My advice would be time management,” Bakare said. “Once I got that down, everything became much easier.”
-Katelyn Schwab
