Called Here for More
Student Stories
Three students came to OKWU for athletics. They found something they didn't expect.
Ethan Williams
Ethan Williams didn't come to Bartlesville looking for a calling. He came for basketball.
A sophomore from Mesquite, Texas, Ethan is a business accounting major and point guard on the Eagles men's basketball team. He got a text from Coach Hartman one day, drove up to see what this small school in northeast Oklahoma was about, and decided it felt right. He wasn't wrong, but he also couldn't have predicted what OKWU would ask of him.
"Being a student athlete helped me connect more with the community here," Ethan says. "Being surrounded by athletes who also want to grow with God as much as I do, it really helped create a bond we share on the court and off the court."
A Look at Servant Leadership at OKWU
Ethan mentors underclassmen through the PATH program while leading on the court as point guard.
Zach started a team Bible study that grew as players came to faith and wanted to go deeper.
Mia channels the selflessness of team sports into preparation for a career in law, shaped by Christ.
His first year, the coaching staff asked him to redshirt. He put in the work anyway, stayed ready, and eventually had a choice: protect his eligibility, or give it up to help the team in the moment. He chose the team. That decision, small in the grand scheme of basketball, turned out to be a picture of who he is.
“I feel like I have the power to set the tone. Momentum at OKWU is like oil being poured on fire. You can watch it grow.”
Going into the national finals that year, Ethan was nervous. But his teammates kept him steady. "It's good to have a group of people who are ready to support you no matter where you're coming from," he says. "That experience gave me momentum going into this year. I feel like I get to set the tone." As point guard, he means that literally and spiritually. Ethan is also a mentor in the PATH program, where he invests in younger students the same way older ones once invested in him.
He has been playing basketball for 15 years. His mom coached at Nebraska. But the court, he'll tell you, is just the starting point.
Zachary Ray
Zachary Ray came to OKWU as a senior accounting major on a baseball offer. He grew up in the church, got baptized more than once, but by his own admission never took the initiative to lead others.
That changed here. OKWU gave him a team of guys some of whom had never heard the gospel. So Zach started a Bible study. At first it was just him teaching. Then more players started showing up, asking questions, wanting to go deeper.
“What I found here is so much more than the game.”
"I wasn't able to lead a Bible study at any other school," he says. "I know God's calling for me is to preach to others and teach others His ways. Baseball brought me to OKWU. But what I found here is so much more than the game."
Mia Veale
Mia Veale started her path with a rough soccer practice and a quiet conviction. She was a high school player questioning whether she even wanted to compete in college when she felt, unmistakably, that OKWU was where she was supposed to be.
"The Lord said, 'You're going to go to OKWU.' It was very clear," she recalls. "He just opened all the doors." Scholarships and grants made it possible. She plays soccer, studies pre-law, and has found in both a training ground for a bigger life.
"I can focus right now on strengthening my faith so that when I get to the legal field, I can be one who stands out for Christ," she says. "Momentum can start with one play, one person. You can be the one to carry this forward."
Today, Mia’s story continues as the 2025-26 Alumni Scholarship recipient, a reminder that faithful steps often open doors to opportunities we never could have planned ourselves.
Calling Servant Leaders
Three students. Three sports. Three different roads to the same place: a university where the work you do on the field, the court, the pitch, turns out to be practice for something that lasts longer than any season.
None of them planned it this way. But that's usually how a calling works.