Saeed Husain
Chief Copy Editor Patrick
Mohorcic ’18 made headlines last December when the Allstate American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) named him Good Works Team® captain for dedication to community service. Mohorcic was honored during a live broadcast of The Home Depot College Football Awards aired on ESPN on Dec. 7, 2017. He was also part of the 2017 Sugar Bowl, where he worked alongside Tim Tebow — who he cites as a role model growing up — and Imagine Dragons.
For this issue, the Voice profiled Mohorcic, chronicling his journey from humble origins to nationwide recognition.
Inclusion through sports has been one of the goals the graduating senior has been passionate about. Throughout high school, he volunteered at a camp for children with disabilities. “Kids with Down Syndrome, Asperger’s and mild forms of ADHD; they came to this camp because they were, you know, ostracized at their school. They were called weird and it’s not fair to them, they’re kids. They wanna play sports, they wanna learn art, they wanna go camping and they weren’t always allowed to because of health reasons, or maybe just bullying,” Mohorcic said.
“That could impact someone’s life, to know what it means to be on a team, to be a part of something bigger than yourself, and the opportunity to make some of the best friends of your life.”
“People use words like, ‘an escape from reality.’ I don’t like that phrase; I don’t think everyone realizes [what that implies]. I think sports has a way of bonding people, of bringing people together around a common cause, especially with athletes in general with the way social media is and the way people follow your day to day life. I mean, you could go on Instagram and follow any athlete you want and see what they do, with their kids or outside football, and when they have millions of followers seeing and doing that, you could really make a difference in sharing about a cause you care about,” he said.
A cause Mohorcic cares about is preventing sexual abuse on campus. The Ohio native was one of the individuals responsible for reinvigorating Men Working for Change, a program house at the College. The organization tackles issues of sexual abuse on campus, focusing on opening broader discussion. For this, the group holds events both independently and in collaboration with other campus groups, like k(no)w.
“Most people think sexual abuse is only a women’s issue, it’s not, it’s a men’s issue as well and we have an equal if not greater responsibility to learn and talk about it,” said Mohorcic.
“A lot of women are pretty well-educated on it, but it’s men [that form the issue]. The men think that it’s a manly thing to talk about a woman in a bad way, to belittle them, to call them a slut or a whore. By doing that, you’re making it [seem]okay to treat them worse and treat them like objects.”
Why Mohorcic feels so strongly about preventing sexual abuse stems from what he found out about it in the College, after learning what his friends and classmates were going through. Towards correcting the issue, he uses an immersive approach.
“The whole important part is to change the narrative. So, you’re in a locker room and someone says something like, ‘Oh this girl was so drunk last night and I was trying to get her home,’ and that’s my cue going, ‘Hey, you shouldn’t do that, you’re taking advantage of her, that’s not consent, because maybe she didn’t wanna do it and you forced her to,’” Mohorcic said.
Reflecting on the current campus climate, one can feel the sobriety Mohorcic imbues. “I thought we were farther along as a campus community since I first started here, but I guess not. It doesn’t mean we stop the fight, it doesn’t mean we don’t try and fix it and make this campus the place that we want it to be,” he said. On administrative efforts and student reactions, he takes a cautionary approach.
“I think people are frustrated because it’s not happening overnight … it’s not an issue that can be cured overnight, and if it is, then something’s being pushed under the rug,” Mohorcic said. “Even if we’re angry that the administration isn’t moving fast enough, or the climate isn’t changing fast enough, if we change even one person, that’s one step closer to the place that we want it to be. And if we continue that good fight, to whatever our issue is, we’re gonna be okay.”
For a parting note, Mohorcic believed that helping others is a significant aspect of leadership.
“At the All State stuff, through everything, the theme was ‘If service is beneath you, then leadership is beyond you,’ and I wholeheartedly agree with that. My whole life, I [have always wanted to] be a leader, I want to be someone people can turn to in times of despair. The best way to be a leader is to serve others, and I think my whole life has been [based] around that motto,” Mohorcic said.