Over 400 students and more than 30 faculty members competed in the second annual 3v3 memorial basketball tournament, Jam for Janey, on April 10. The tournament honors Wake Forest student and avid club basketball player Janey Thompson, who unexpectedly passed away last April.
The first tournament, put on just weeks after Janey’s death, raised $30,294 for a physics scholarship in Janey’s name. This year’s goal was to raise $100,000 to officially enact the scholarship. The $136,368.15 raised this year solidified the scholarship for an incoming Wake Forest freshman this fall.
For the presidents of Jam for Janey, this event goes far beyond basketball.
“This is our passion project on campus.…It’s our baby, is what we always say, it’s what our lasting memory of Wake Forest will be,” junior and Co-President Maddie Shannon said.
Shannon works as co-president alongside fellow juniors Sadie Gorley, Wilson Todd, Caroline Rice and Kyleigh Panther. The group has been planning this year’s tournament for the entire year, creating a spreadsheet of improvements they could make just hours after last year’s tournament concluded.
Janey’s love for basketball and true friendship defined her days at Wake Forest, and being able to combine all of her loves was the main intent of this tournament.
— Shani Schwartz
The five made time to gather for bi-weekly FaceTimes to begin planning while abroad this past fall, despite the time differences they faced between the U.S., Europe and Australia.
Janey’s love for basketball and true friendship defined her days at Wake Forest, and being able to combine all of her loves was the main intent of this tournament. The tournament is guided by Janey’s motto, “find your best ever,” which is being the best version of yourself every day.
Now, Janey’s closest friends and co-presidents of the tournament use this motto as their motivation.
“By us remembering to live our best ever is kind of a momentum to remember to live like Janey, live intentionally, live honestly, live passionately and give it your 100% always,” Shannon said.
Jam for Janey helps people do just that. The tournament, filled with laughter, competitiveness and love for one another, brings light to Janey’s memory and will allow it to live on for generations. In addition to the physics scholarship that will be awarded in Janey’s name, the ultimate vision for Jam for Janey is to be a part of the large-scale campus-wide traditions, even years after everyone who personally knew Janey has graduated.
Looking towards the future, the exec team wants this event to last forever.
“We hope 20 years down the line we can come back to Wake Forest for the anniversary of our event,” Shannon said.
For freshman Hank Thompson, Jam for Janey was the first time he could truly grasp the impact his sister had on so much of the campus community. Faculty from the music, physics and health and exercise science departments, all departments Janey was involved with, came out to play and support the tournament, as did hundreds of Janey’s friends and family members from Wake Forest and other schools.
“I didn’t truly understand how many people knew and loved her at this school until [Jam for Janey] really,” Thompson said. “It was really special and I got to meet so many people who knew her.”
Thompson worked as a part of the marketing committee and helped out everywhere he could with the planning of the tournament, as well as competing in the tournament himself.
“[The tournament is] something that represents everything Janey cared about in her life, all her friends, her family, her hobbies, everything, and we get to showcase that,” Thompson said. He hopes the tournament will “help everyone who didn’t quite know Janey to see the person she was.”
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