Ten select high school athletes from around the Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati area are traveling to Lissone, Italy, Tuesday as part of a study abroad program with Step Higher Academy, a company founded and operated by Holmes High School graduate Isaiah Revels. In Italy, the students will engage in cultural exchange activities, stay with host families, and compete against teams from around the world on March 28 at the Junior International Tournament.
“They will be doing everything the Italian kids do in getting that cultural experience while playing in this basketball tournament,” Revels told LINK nky at Step Higher Academy’s practice on Sunday.
This is the second year Step Higher Academy has done a trip like this. The company has also done other programs to help student athletes in the region, such as the Preseason Tip Off Classic game, which took place at Holmes High School in November and which served as a partial fundraiser for the trip.
Step Higher Academy is an offshoot of Step Higher, which Janelle Hocker, Revels’ mother, and Jessica Perkins founded just over 20 years ago when they took about 40 students from Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati to visit historically Black colleges and universities throughout the country in an effort to inspire aspirations for adult success. Today, Step Higher & Nella’s Place, which operate jointly, administer four group homes for girls in Walnut Hills.
Revels’ company focuses specifically on giving high school athletes the tools they need for success in their adult lives. It provides various professional development services for athletes looking to go pro, including internships, financial literacy training and mentoring services, in addition to trips like the one to Italy when its able to raise enough funding.
Jabari Covington, a senior at Newport High School and recent 9th region tournament MVP, has been involved with Step Higher Academy for two years. He said he’s looking forward to going to Italy and has appreciated what he’s learned from Step Higher Academy so far.
“It’s a really good environment,” Covington said. “He [Revels] helps out a lot, and it costs nothing.”
Covington stated that he wants to go to college after he graduates this year, although he is unsure of where he wants to go or what he wants to study.
DeShaun Jackson, another Newport senior, has been with the program since the fall, and he’s looking forward to seeing what it’s like playing against teams from other nations.
“I love it,” Jackson said of the program. “It’s great. I mean, I get to play with a lot of local kids, and we get to go travel across the country.”
Jackson said that he hoped to study business in college, although he hadn’t picked out a school yet.
Revels plans on video documenting the trip and then screening it locally in June. Exact dates and locations where the screenings will take place have not yet been determined.
“I think it’s good for these kids because, you know, some of these kids might not play basketball again,” Revels said. “Some might; some might not, but they will be able to build lifelong relationships with the families that they stay with, the people that they’re around and the people that they’re interacting with in the tournament, as well.”
The students will stay in Italy for about a week.