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St. Francis senior balances school, football, and fashion line at once

Springtime is when many high school seniors might start to slack off before graduating and going off to college, but not Kion Ulanga of St. Francis High School.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Springtime is when many high school seniors might start to slack off before graduating and going off to college. 

But not Kion Ulanga of St. Francis High School. 

"It started around the end of March," the student told 2 On Your Side. "It started off as an idea that I later started to introduce to people like my dad, my girlfriend, friends."

He's talking about his new business, a clothing line of matching sweat suits for men and women.

"I ended up starting off with hats with the logo, and then after like a month and a half of that, that's when I branched out to sweat suits and had some success with that," he said. 

The line is called Forever The Greatest.  

"It has a lot of different meanings to it," Kion said. "People think you have to do certain things in life to be great, but you really have to be great by being yourself." 

It's a lesson Kion has learned over his four years playing defensive back for the Red Raiders. 

He's heading to Edinboro University in the fall to continue his football career. 

"A lot of athletes really don't understand having a backup plan," he said. "My parents have done a great job of always explaining to me, yeah you're good at sports, but what else can you bring? What else can you do outside of that? Because sports is going to end someday no matter what." 

So for now his focus off the field is growing is online business, and seeing where it can take him next, while balancing sports and academics. 

"Sometimes it's hard balancing that, but it really hasn't been too hard," he said. "I know the staff and a lot of the teachers around the school know what I'm doing and they support it like wholeheartedly."

    

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