Great Grads 2025: Kameron Sanders
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As a leader, Kameron Sanders uplifts his fellow students with positivity and caring to create a culture where others feel cared for.
“Although I am a natural introvert, I know how to step up and lead in spaces as well as network,” he said. “Every space I stepped into, I wanted to uplift and enhance those who surrounded me. A compliment or positivity can turn around anyone’s day.”
Sanders said that positivity was a result of having to deal with loss and sadness as he transitioned to college life. 2021 was a difficult year for him after losing eight family members, friends and a pet in short succession. He was also dealing with the challenges of COVID-19 and the social and academic challenges brought on by the pandemic.
“I started recording myself spreading positivity amidst me feeling as if I had lost my world due to those lost family members, friends and pets,” he explained.
More recently, Sanders lost his great-grandmother while campaigning to be Mister JCSU, which he won. With this stress, his duties in the Royal Court, and taking an additional course to graduate on time, Sanders admits to having difficulty saying that he was “really not feeling like he was able to be Kameron Sanders.”
It is these losses that have allowed him to find his purpose, to spread positivity and mental health awareness while tearing down the “invisible walls” that prevent people from speaking about their feelings or going to therapy. He prides himself on being a “voice for the voiceless” as someone people can rely on to advocate for mental health.
Sanders says he is known among his peers for his “mental hugs” as he strives to uplift those around him.
“I learned to live for me and to not please others all the time,” he explained. “That’s a never-ending task. I learned early on that everything I have can be taken away from me, so it’s best to speak kindly about others and realize the blessings I have.”
In addition to serving as the fourteenth Mister JCSU as well as Mister Sophomore and Mister Junior, Sanders was a James B. Duke scholar who will be graduating debt-free.
He will be working as a Consumer Lending Advocate for Wells Fargo after graduating and looking for a place to live in Charlotte. In the future, he hopes to give back by creating his own scholarship for both JCSU and his former school, The Paul Laurence Dunbar Young Men’s Leadership Academy in Fort Worth, TX.