{"id":155033,"date":"2026-03-06T05:29:59","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T05:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/155033\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T05:29:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T05:29:59","slug":"queens-hosts-inaugural-fuel-the-fire-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/155033\/","title":{"rendered":"Queens Hosts Inaugural “Fuel the Fire” Event"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Mar 04, 2026
\n By Queens University Communications\n <\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

On Thursday, February 26, 2026, Queens University of Charlotte Athletics hosted its inaugural \u201cFuel the Fire\u201d event, a landmark celebration dedicated to the empowerment of girls and women in sports. The evening, moderated by Emmy-winning journalist Molly Grantham, brought community leaders and Olympic legend Anna Cockrell together to focus on the themes of resilience, leadership, and the transformative power of choosing to \u201cbet on yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

University President Jesse Cureton opened the event by connecting the evening\u2019s purpose to the university\u2019s history, noting that Queens was founded in 1857 as the Charlotte Female Institute. He emphasized that the university was built on the \u201crevolutionary idea\u201d that women deserve a high-level education and that their voices matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we celebrate women in sports tonight, we aren\u2019t doing something new \u2014 we are fulfilling a promise that this university made nearly 170 years ago,\u201d Cureton said.<\/p>\n

He also shared the importance of being a father to three daughters. \u201cBeing a \u2018Girl Dad\u2019 is about more than just cheering from the sidelines,\u201d he shared, \u201cIt\u2019s about recognizing the unique barriers women face and being a relentless advocate to tear those barriers down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lessons in Resilience: \u201cBet on Yourself\u201d<\/p>\n

Keynote speaker Molly Grantham delivered a powerful address centered on five strategies for personal and professional reinvention. Reflecting on her own career transition, she shared a mantra, \u201cbet on yourself,\u201d passed down from her father.<\/p>\n

\u201cBet on yourself in different ways and go forward in different paths,\u201d said Grantham. \u201cBet on yourself when doors open, walk through them, every single time. These words are stronger than \u2018believe in yourself.\u2019 To bet on yourself has action,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She encouraged attendees to look forward through the \u201cwindshield\u201d rather than focusing on the \u201crearview,\u201d emphasizing that an unexpected end to a chapter doesn\u2019t ruin the journey that preceded it.<\/p>\n

Insight from the Panel<\/p>\n

The event featured a distinguished panel of leaders who shared vulnerable stories of overcoming doubt and rediscovering passion. Two-time Olympian Anna Cockrell spoke candidly about surviving a four-year performance plateau and burnout, explaining that her breakthrough came when she stopped following a \u201cself-imposed script\u201d and embraced self-care as part of her discipline.<\/p>\n

\"Panel<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that what allowed us to have passion is that y\u2019all let us quit,\u201d she told her father, Kieth Cockrell, also on the panel, noting that the freedom to find her own passions never became a mere \u201cobligation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similarly, Girls on the Run founder Molly Barker recalled a moment of intense struggle in the early 2000s when she nearly walked away from her organization. She described hearing a \u201cdivine voice\u201d while on a run that told her, \u201cI\u2019ve got this,\u201d a moment of clarity that sustained her just one week before a life-changing partnership with Kellogg\u2019s materialized.<\/p>\n

Kieth Cockrell, president of Bank of America Charlotte, reflected on his role as an \u201cOlympic Dad\u201d and the life lessons associated with sports that translate into the boardroom. He credited his own leadership style to the way that coaches motivated him, emphasizing that the ability to be coached is a vital professional asset.<\/p>\n

Andrea Smith, a Queens Trustee and former Bank of America executive, echoed this sentiment, asserting that the \u201cdetermination, passion, and resilience\u201d forged in athletics are exactly the high-demand skills sought after in the corporate world.<\/p>\n

Together, the panelists illustrated that the fire ignited in sports provides a lifelong foundation for leadership and success.<\/p>\n

Fueling the Fire for Tomorrow<\/p>\n

Athletic Director Cherie Swarthout closed the evening, expressing her gratitude for the community\u2019s support in making the first \u201cFuel the Fire\u201d event a success.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had this vision of what it could be, and I think it far exceeded our dreams,\u201d Swarthout said.<\/p>\n

The event concluded with a call to action, challenging every attendee to become a person who \u201cfuels the fire\u201d in those around them. Swarthout urged the audience to carry the evening\u2019s momentum into the weight room, the classroom, and the workplace, ensuring that the spark of empowerment ignited at the event continues to burn brightly long after the night\u2019s end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mar 04, 2026 By Queens University Communications On Thursday, February 26, 2026, Queens University of Charlotte Athletics hosted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-155033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}