NASHVILLE — Tennessee State women's tennis player Warona Mdlulwa has been selected to represent the Ohio Valley Conference at the NCAA Fall Student-Athlete Leadership Forum. Mdlulwa, a junior from Spain, will be the OVC's female representative at the prestigious event.

The NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum, created in 1997, has served as a life-changing experience for more than 5,000 student-athletes who have grown personally and professionally as a result of their attendance. Student-athletes selected to attend the forum return to campus with invaluable leadership skills, a refined understanding of the relationship among personal values, core beliefs, and behavioral styles, and the support of a close personal network of like-minded peers to provide continued connection and dialogue after the program concludes. This best-in-class programming experience serves as a transformational opportunity for student-athletes and administrators to build a leadership toolkit and develop vital self-awareness that allows them to realize their potential.

On the tennis court, Mdlulwa was named to the 2024 All-OVC Second Team after finishing the regular season with an 8-11 singles record, including three OVC wins. She joins Dawn Hill as the only other TSU player to earn two All-OVC honors after being named to the second team in 2023. Hill earned All-OVC honors in 1998 and 1999. Mdlulwa also went 4-13 in doubles action this season. Mdlulwa helped guide TSU to OVC Tournament first round wins over Lindenwood in 2023 and 2024.

TSU's Assistant Director of Academic Services, Stella-Marie Akindayomi, praised Mdlulwa's leadership and dedication. "Warona Mdlulwa is a transformational leader bringing her authentic self to every space she enters. She has a winning mindset, taking on every opportunity with assertiveness, intelligence, dedication, and passion while embracing her femininity in competitive environments. Warona is a consistent, proactive, and engaged student-athlete at TSU. This is reflected in her 3.402 cumulative grade point average as an architectural engineering major while competing as an integral part of the TSU Women's Tennis program and their program-best, fourth seed, at the 2023 OVC Women's Tennis Championship Tournament. Her leadership in the classroom, on the court, and in the campus community is evident as she serves as a credible peer resource for navigating academic and social success as an international student, a woman student-athlete, team captain, and a woman majoring in S.T.E.M."

Mdlulwa is driven by her family and is passionate about building homes for people without homes and developing techniques to create more green-friendly buildings. She has applied her knowledge and experience to achieve her goals, including resurfacing the TSU tennis courts and participating in the TSU Department of Architectural and Civil Engineering's summer youth institutes as well as a summer-long concrete battery research program. Her commitment to the engineering field is evident through her memberships in the Society of Women Engineers, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the National Society of Black Engineers.