My name is Omar Conteh and I am from Houston, Texas.  I graduated from Cypress Fairbanks High School in 05′.  Went on to play Running Back at Northwestern University, in the BIG10.  My journey has been interesting.  In the beginning I had no desire to play football, I wanted to play basketball.  I only played football because my boys all said I was too fast not too be a running back. So,  I started  playing in middle school,  and moved to a new location for high school so I could be scouted.  When I moved I didn’t think I’d play again until the coach asked for anybody with experience in the back field.  From there it was a wrap.  I handled my business on and off the field.  I had a lot of love and respect in my area.  Senior year came and it was time for me to make a decision-Which college would I going to go to?  I was recruited by almost everyone and thought about staying close to my family in Texas.  My family is real big on education so when I got letters from Duke, Standford, Harvard, and Northwestern University, along with many other Ivy league schools, I knew I was going to one of them.  I took my visit to Northwestern University and felt like family-instantly.

My football journey was rough.  I came in being the big dog but as soon as I got injured, I wasn’t treated the same.  When I got hurt , I thought I was going to die.  If it wasn’t for my mom I don’t know what would have happened.  I ended up having knee problems the whole time I was at Northwestern.   Getting hurt was a life lesson that I won’t forget because I had plans to go straight to the NFL. You can go through college as a star athlete and never get injured-but then again-injuries happen but shouldn’t be the end of your dreams.  I always thank the Lord for helping me make a decision to go to Northwestern because education is a big part of your life.  Without an education, you have nothing to fall back on.  You need an education because you never know what can happen.   In my case , when I was injured it and that made me focus more on my education just in case I don’t make it to the NFL.  I’ll be done with my studies at  Northwestern this year.  I am a communications studies major and intend to do great things with my life whether football is in the picture or not.

UPDATE: Omar graduated in 2011 from Northwestern’s Master Program and is currently a web analyst specialist for Zacks Investment Research.