2022 Outstanding Recent Alumni Award Honoree
Isaac Jean-Paul
As head sprint coach for San Diego State University’s Adaptive Sports Program, Isaac
Jean-Paul is bringing some impressive real-world athletic experience to his role.
After all, he set a new world record in the high jump at the 2017 World Paralympic
Championships.
He also won a bronze medal in the long jump at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games and
is training for the 2024 Summer Olympics, which would make him among just a handful
of athletes to ever compete in both the Olympics and Paralympics. Jean-Paul is also
a published author and an accomplished motivational speaker.
The reason it’s been possible, the umbrella over his successes, he says, is Harper
College.
Jean-Paul ran track in high school but struggled with grades. He looked to Harper
as a place where he could compete while improving his GPA.
“It was amazing,” he says. “Words can’t even describe how impactful Harper was in
my life.”
Jean-Paul holds a bachelor’s degree from Lewis University in Romeoville, where he
was a national high jump champion in 2015. But first, he earned his associate degree
from Harper. He was president of Harper’s Black Student Union and organized events
such as a Kwanza celebration and a reunion for clubs of the former Multicultural Center.
He also participated in a club that discussed Black issues in America.
Those experiences – and the mentorship he received from the club’s advisors, Dr. Travaris
Harris and DuBoi McCarty – moved Jean-Paul to write a book about changing the narrative
of social justice. “The Guardians of Orisha: The Hidden Stones” is the first in Jean-Paul’s
fantasy series, which blends African ancestry and mythology with a superhero story.
Jean-Paul, who has a visual impairment called juvenile retinoschisis, also ran track
at Harper, setting school records in the high jump and long jump. He worked with then-track
coach Renee Zellner, who taught Jean-Paul how to compete with his disability. She
helped him understand how he could jump, even though he couldn’t see where he was
going. To no one’s surprise, Jean-Paul placed at the NJCAA National Championship.
He's quick to point out how Harper broadened his horizons.
“It brought me out of my shell to be a well-rounded person, not (only) an athlete,”
he says. “I owe that to Harper.”
