Cassiel Penalosa is a second-year guard on the Gaels Women's Basketball team. After the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled her first year with the team, Penalosa helped the Gaels capture the U SPORTS Women's Final 8 Basketball Championship Bronze Medal on home court as a rookie this past season. Penalosa sat down with GoGaelsGo.com to talk about her time on the basketball team and winning the bronze medal at nationals, her work with EDII initiatives, and her goals in that field moving forward at Queen's.
 
How was your first year competing basketball team and was it what you expected?
 
Cass Penalosa: It definitely had some twists and turns with the season being postponed, cancelled, and not really knowing what time Nationals would be played, so it was just a guess and check kind of game. But as a 'first year' (competing), the experience was indescribable. You don't really go into your first year being able to experience Nationals, and especially win a bronze medal. So that was very exciting.
 
How special was it to be part of a team that hosted a national championship and won the U SPORTS Women's Final 8 Basketball Championship Bronze Medal?
 
Cass Penalosa: We had the goal of winning Nationals all season, so we practiced and played, preparing for that one specific tournament, knowing that we'd be there. Winning on home court in front of friends and family also just enhanced the experience. Again, surreal is the word I would describe it as.
 
Is there advice you'd give to an incoming rookie having just completed your first year competing and second year of study?
 
Cass Penalosa: I'd say prioritize yourself. Just know that there are specific resources for student-athletes, and specifically pertaining to BIPOC students. There can be a lot of added stress with being an athlete on top of the schoolwork and being at a PWI, so just know that there's specific resources for student-athletes and BIPOC students. And then communicating with mentors or teammates or coaches about how you're feeling.
 
How involved are you in those resources and EDII initiatives at Queen's?
 
Cass Penalosa: This year I really took the time to educate myself. Last year was just trying to get a grip of things, but this year I've educated within the team. As a team, we created our own land acknowledgement, which I think is very special because it played at Nationals. And I think it was personalized in a way that our team connected with it more than the original land acknowledgement that Queen's made. It was very special for other people to hear at our games. 
 
We also did a lot of constructive talks for Black History Month, as a way to celebrate Black History Month. We did weekly cues or prompts, and then we would have team discussions. I think it was a great way to see in a small setting what we can do on a larger scale at Queen's.

Did that bring the team closer together?
 
Cass Penalosa: It definitely did. I think it brought awareness to the fact that, for so long our team has gone with this privilege that was unseen. And it brought to light a lot of issues that our own teammates were facing, and our coaching staff, and how we could make an environment more suitable for everyone rather than the people that it originally was suited for.

What initiatives are you interested in moving forward?
 
Cass Penalosa: I applied for the VP of EDII position with the Varsity Leadership Council (VLC) and I am excited to announce that I got the position. Through the VLC, I'm hoping to accomplish a couple things working in conjunction with the EDII Task Force. Initiatives we were thinking about are mentorship programs, specifically for BIPOC students, between upper-years and first-years, giving them a resource to just rant or communicate, ask questions, and look for advice. I know a lot of upper-years have advice and specific resources they can share, and know the ins and outs of the city and Queen's, which is very important. 
 
Also being able to educate teams on an individual level; talking with coaches about how to create a safe space for all athletes, or even just creating education plans that can suit the needs of their goals of EDII. I think it's a very important thing that all teams talk about EDII and BIPOC related issues or just privileges that go unseen.
 
What do you hope to accomplish in that area during your time at Queen's?
 
Cass Penalosa: Moving forward, I'd like to bring conversations about API, Asian Pacific Islander initiatives. We sometimes forget that Asian initiatives are a thing and Asian hate is real. It's a real issue, especially in Kingston, so just recognizing and then demonstrating that we are learning from our past would be a big one.
 
Overall though, improving the experience of all BIPOC student-athletes would be the main objective over the year, and initiating change that maybe I won't even see (during my time at Queen's), but getting the ball rolling because I feel like it hasn't really gotten anywhere over the past. And this VP of EDII position is quite new, it's being newly introduced, so creating this as a solid permanent position that creates effective change would be nice.
 
Are there API-specific activities or resources that you had in mind that you wanted to share?
 
Cass Penalosa: It has to go through a chain of people before I can say that I'm going to accomplish this. I think a large thing after talking with a lot of the API community was equity and celebration. Even through small things like decorations or Gaels announcements. We celebrate Christmas, but in February it's a big thing, on top of Black History Month, to celebrate Chinese New Year. We have a very large denomination of students and student-athletes who identify as Chinese and come from that background where it's a large and very celebrated tradition. Even being able to show that we support it would be big. Not just saying Happy Chinese New Year, but having decorations out and making it more inclusive in the sense that we understand that this is a large celebration for a portion of our community. We want to make it a more inclusive space by celebrating it. It's a small thing that we can totally change in a short amount of time.