Jeff Gurley is a senior from Leawood, Kan. who is majoring in Political Science. He plays linebacker on the Washington University football team. Last year, he earned All-Collegiate Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) second team honors as well as Google Cloud Academic All-District and Academic All-CCIW honors. In our first installment of our Athlete of the Week series, I sat down with Gurley to talk about his future plans, his experience as a Wash. U. student-athlete and what he does off the gridiron.

2017 marks the 100-year anniversary of the East St. Louis race riots, targeted at the African-American citizens of the city, which destroyed hundreds of homes, took hundreds of lives and forced thousands of citizens to flee.

Residents of East St. Louis gathered to discuss their experiences living in a city prone to adversity and how they envision positive change manifesting in their dynamic communities on Thursday night.