Aijah and Eric Atkins: Do You Remember What Happened Here?

Aijah and Eric Atkins graduated from the University of Notre Dame with Monograms in track and field and basketball, respectively. They are now married with a son, Matthieu. This installment of Signed, the Irish is part of a yearlong celebration in honor of Thompson’s legacy and the extraordinary contributions by our Black student-athletes. This story is told by with alternating narratives from both Aijah (italicized) and Eric.

Every time we walk on campus, I always give Eric a pop quiz.

“Do you remember what happened here? Do you remember what happened here?”

And every time, in an exasperated voice, he replies, “Yes, Aijah.”

So on a cold day one November, when Eric and I walked to the spot near the Joyce Center where he first spoke to me, he turned the tables on me, asking, “Do you remember what this spot is?”

I replied, “Yes, Eric,” in the same tone he was always giving me. 

***

Knowing Aijah, things of sentimental value mean a lot. Things with meaning mean even more.

I wanted to pick a place that meant a lot to both of us and I knew she would remember it.

***

It was so special to me mainly because he doesn’t have the best memory, so the fact that he put this together – “I’m going to do it right here because it was where we shared our first words” –  it made it that much more special.

You could have done it wherever – the lakes, the Grotto, Main Building, Touchdown Jesus  – these places where most people on campus propose. But those don’t have value to our very unique relationship.

You chose that spot, that moment.

***

When I was a sophomore in high school, I got my first letter from Notre Dame, recruiting me to play basketball. I honestly thought Notre Dame was in the Boston area because of the clover and the Celtics. To my surprise, I took my visit and they set me an itinerary for South Bend, Indiana.

But when I arrived on campus, it all felt like the perfect place for me to be.

My dad passed away in high school and one of his favorite movies was Rudy. When I got to campus and was staying in the hotel right across the street from campus. I woke up, I turned on the TV, and Rudy was playing. 

And I thought, “I think this is where I’m meant to be.”

***

I had no idea where Notre Dame was, either, to be honest. 

I’m from Los Angeles and I was being recruited for track. My birthday is March 18, so St. Patrick’s Day is super fun for me, and they really talked that up.

I told my mom, I’m going there, I want to take a trip there. My mom said, “You don’t even know where it is!”

I told her that I didn’t care; I wanted to go. I visited during the cold and I fell in love with the campus and the student-athletes I met… and it felt like home.

My mom was adamant that if I was going to go, I was going to enroll in summer classes. It was a good opportunity to get some credits out of the way, get familiar with campus, and meet some of my teammates.

When I got to campus, I was one of three girls in the entire summer bridge program… and coming from an all-girls high school, I wasn’t used to being around all these boys.

I walked into our student-athlete orientation and there’s nothing but big football players, big hockey players, big baseball players… and in walks Eric and he kinda walked around the room like he knew people.

After that, we were in a lot of classes together – I was the only girl in classes and I was scared to talk to them! I didn’t know how to be around all these guys.

One day, we had a student-athlete meeting to go to, so I was leaving the Joyce after meeting with my coaches. As I’m leaving, Eric is walking in and I put my head down. I don’t know what to say and I’m so nervous. 

He stops and I’m still pretending like I don’t see him.

“Hey, I’m Eric.”

“You’re Aijah, right?”

Then I was like, “I think we have a meeting right now.”

“I’m not going to that.”

And I thought, “He’s so cool and I’m such a nerd.” 

That was the smoothest thing I’d ever seen.

***

Because I went to a school that was pretty diverse, Notre Dame seemed like a bigger version of high school for me.

In the classroom, I struggled with feeling like everyone looked at me as an athlete and that I didn’t have anything else to add, that my input wasn’t as valid.

***

My high school was predominantly Black and Hispanic, so when I met my track teammates, I stuck with Jes Christian because it was what I was used to. We became inseparable and she helped me ease into the Notre Dame culture.

In the classroom, some of the Black, regular students didn’t want to be associated with the Black student-athletes.

So many people, when they’d see a Black student on campus, they’d get asked what sport they played. The regular Black students didn’t want to be associated with or known as athletes, so even you’d have Black students in your classrooms make you feel like, “Oh, I’m kinda here by myself.”

From an academic standpoint, that made it more difficult.

***

I was grateful to have Aijah there and some of my best friends to support me. They always grounded me and made it feel like home.

***

A safety net.

I took an Africana Studies class and I had once had a classmate argue that slavery wasn’t real, that slavery didn’t happen.

As the only Black person in class, I’m sitting there thinking, “What? What just happened?”

My professor ended the class early – and it probably would have been better to not end the class early and have a discussion instead – but it helped to go back to my dorm and have support from friends like Eric and Jessie and have them relate to it.

***

After a long day, Aijah and I would sit outside her dorm – Breen-Phillips – and just talk for hours … those are some of my fondest memories.

***

Because we had parietals, we would spend hours outside – we’d be out there until 2 a.m. just talking about life and where we were from and expectations.

***

We would walk to the Grotto, pray together for whatever we were going through, for our families back home.

And Aijah, she always felt like home; she felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

I would also always wink at her during my games.

***

So embarrassing!

***

She didn’t like it, which means I loved it.

***

I had to start hiding at his games!

Eric was not allowed to go to any of my track meets, ever.

He knew it made me nervous, but one time, he came anyway and I was so mad. I won… but I was so mad that he came. I wasn’t one of those people who liked a lot of people to watch them perform – Eric does. We’re complete opposites in that regard.

Those years fly by quickly. 

I’m so grateful for the network I have for myself, for our son Matthieu, and that community. 

Creating relationships, creating friendships, taking advantage of summer school… it’s the best thing I could have ever done. I took classes, but I also met Eric.

***

There are so many great people on campus – Black, white, it doesn’t really matter, honestly – you can learn so much from them in so many regards. Immerse yourself fully in the Notre Dame community. 

Some of these relationships are ones you’ll have the rest of your life, and they’re important. They’re the ones you’re going to lean on.

A lot of places talk about family, but they don’t truly embody it. But the Notre Dame community does.

***

And now that we have our son, just being able to take him to some of our spots on campus has been really, really great. He’s a product of this Notre Dame relationship.