By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA, NOV. 1, 2014 – USF Football teammates have reunited for a very good reason in California.
Former offensive linemen Jason Lehman and Mark Sopcik played together for the Bulls from 2002-03 and now they're working together at Why'd You Stop Me (WYSM), a program based in Long Beach with a mission of reducing acts of violence between the police and the community.
“They tell us they're brought up and taught not to respect police officers. They view them as the enemy, so we're trying to break down those walls,” said Sopcik, who visited USF Athletics this week. “This has materialized as a program where Jason and our team go into schools and police academies and try to bring both sides closer together.”
WYSM was created by Lehman, a Long Beach police officer, who saw a need for the program after being asked to speak to a group of inner-city youths, who were plotting to kill police officers in 2011.
“The main question from these kids was, 'Why do you always stop me?'” Sopcik said. “In a lot of these communities, especially Long Beach, Calif., the police have contact with community members all the time. Some of these kids, they know police officers on a first name basis. That's how often they deal with them.”
Educating both the community and the Long Beach Police Academy has created a better understanding of both parties' situations and Lehman's team was happy to add Sopcik to the equation last winter. Sopcik currently serves as WYSM's director of marketing and business development.
Sopcik moved to New York City after graduating from USF with a Bachelor's of Science degree in Accounting as well as a Master's of Accountancy to start his career with the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. Sopcik then moved on to work for CNH Partners, a hedge fund specializing in event-driven investing, in Greenwich, Conn., before heading to California to help out an old friend.
“When I first moved to California I had it in my head, 'Hey, I'm going to help you for a little while and let this lead to something else,'” Sopcik said. “Then I witnessed the program live for the first time probably two weeks after moving there and realized it was something really special. I haven't even attempted to look for something else.”
Sopcik has seen the success of WYSM continue to grow and he thinks the program is just scratching the surface in its attempt to reduce violence.
“There is always going to be a need for this program unfortunately. It's great that we could come together and do something like this. I think we can get more guys on our side because we don't want to just be Long Beach-based program,” Sopcik said. “We want to speak to other communities and our friends, our Bulls, are everywhere. I think we can connect and be in Tampa. We can be in Miami. We can be in Jacksonville, in Chicago, Dallas and New York. We try to keep the relationships going so we can build this program no matter how long it takes.”
Learn more about the program by heading over to the WYSM website HERE.
