Creator of Athlete Nation Visits Bluejay Nation
Launch the media gallery 1 playerby Annie Johnson
Students of Bluejay Nation gathered in the gym on Wednesday, February 21, to hear Hunter Radenslaben speak about his sports media company, Athlete Nation, and learn about ways of spreading positivity on social media.
Radenslaben is a 19-year-old freshman at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, and he is the founder and CEO of Athlete Nation.
Athlete Nation started as a Twitter account filled with inspirational quotes that belonged to a 12-year-old Radenslaben. Through this account, he impacted people’s lives in ways he didn’t realize until he had over 10,000 followers in one month. Although he had been reaching out to others and influencing their lives with positive thoughts, his life had just been flipped upside down. Before entering high school, Radenslaben lost his mother to a long fight with breast cancer. Radenslaben spoke about how his mom always lived her life with purpose. When he found a sticky note in his mother’s desk that she had written, saying, “Help others,” he knew that he wanted to make his purpose in life exactly that.
Athlete Nation has grown to have over 90,000 followers on combined social media platforms and is even being followed by professional athletes. On his accounts, Radenslaben features inspiring stories of athletes because he believes that “Without obstacles to overcome, there would be no stories of overcoming.” Athlete Nation has allowed those stories to reach lives of people far beyond his follower base. Radenslaben and his team have grown, and they hope to continue to grow as they find new ways to inspire and share positivity with others in this growing social media era. Radenslaben told students that life is all about perspective and that it is up to them to decide how they will look at life and what they will do with the circumstances they have been given.
Pierce High School counselor Mary Birch said, “It was very refreshing to hear such a young person, at age 19, presenting such a passionate and inspiring message to strive to make things better. Everyone in the room listened intensively to his message.”
