Aiming High – University of Maryland Athletics

One of Abbott’s good friends who opted to kneel for the anthem in high school, Josh Pemberton, still recognizes Abbott’s accomplishments as a student-athlete and maintains a close relationship.

Abbott is currently a freelance writer for The Afro, the oldest Black business in Maryland and the third oldest Black business in America. Recently, Abbott had the opportunity to interview Emeline King, Ford’s first Black female interior car designer, and the New York-based jazz duo, The Baylor Project.

Abbott uses his platform to balance the scales and expand diversity through his writing. Since the track and field season was canceled during the pandemic, Abbott had a lot of spare time, so he decided to dive deeper into his passion for writing.

“I just started writing more as a way to express myself,” he said. “There weren’t a lot of other things to do, so I needed to do something productive with my time.”

Abbott wrote a piece on Cam Newton, one of his favorite quarterbacks of all time. 

“It was a very raw piece and one of my favorite pieces that I’ve written because it’s something that I’m passionate about,” Abbott said.“He put his words into action when discussing the importance of the intersection between sport, race and culture.”