Breaking Barriers, Building Connections

"I grew up gifted, but in the wrong environment. I was the first to go to college in my family — I had a sports scholarship to play football, and then flunked out and left the school — I was a lost young man. After getting into some trouble one night, a friend saw me and said, 'You’re going to be dead or in jail if you don’t change things.' He was transferring to NCCU and saw my potential; he was my guardian angel. I knew my football dreams were over, but before I went to sleep that night, I decided to go back to college. I was tired of being the youngest one working in the factory, watching older men day in and day out with no purpose, and I couldn’t do that forever. I studied for the SAT, applied to NCCU, then started calling the admissions office every day until I found out I was accepted. I was a 22-year-old freshman living in the dorm because I gave up everything to be there, and I didn’t have much: two bags of clothes and a pair of shoes. When I stepped on campus, my life changed — I saw people with dreams, missions and passions — but I had high anxiety, imposter syndrome, low self-esteem and lots of issues in my suitcase." 

"Early in my time at NCCU, I started getting into trouble again, and I got called into office of the Dean of Students. He didn’t know me personally before that, but he knew who I was on campus, and he realized I had been letting out the anger and pain I had from my past and allowing it to get in the way of my potential — he saw more in me. He had to suspend me because of my actions, but said if I agreed to go to counseling, I could come back when I was healthy. I went home that summer and worked through my issues, and it allowed me to have a new mindset. I tell everyone now if you have these feelings, get some help. If you’re carrying baggage, healing is ahead of you if you do the work. He could’ve thrown me out for good, but he took a chance on me. It taught me a lot — that was the turning point of my life. I knew the chance I had been given, and others saw a gift in me that I didn’t see in myself. When I came back, my brain was clear; I knew how to make the right decisions, I was involved all over campus, my grades sky-rocketed, I began taking pictures as the editor for the student newspaper, Campus ECHO, and I was refreshed and renewed. I became someone even I didn’t recognize, and I was able to graduate in three years. NCCU saved my life, so my mission now is to help others." 

"Now I have my doctoral degree with research in non-cognitive behaviors because the people at NCCU cared and gave me the ability to break through those barriers. I worked in multiple roles in my early career, and then NCCU reached out and asked me to consider this position because I could work with young people coming from similar backgrounds as me, and it became my passion. I call it a lottery DNA — you never know what family or who you’re going to be born into, but that’s not anyone’s fault, so I wanted to help future students understand that no matter where you came from, you don’t have to be that. I learned to have empathy for all situations and backgrounds, and I wanted to help more young men who looked like me realize that what you see in the streets and the traits you grew up with, you don’t have to do that. I see brilliant young men who don’t realize their potential become confident, well-spoken and break generational curses. I get to watch these young men graduate, start careers, become scholars and fathers, and eventually become my friends, and I challenge them to do the same. I’m building a spiderweb so that these young people can take what they learned and spread it to others through these connections that can take you places money never can. Every day, I wake up and say, 'Who am I going to help today?' — I know that the work I’m doing is appreciated, and my work matters."

"The more I work with the Men’s Achievement Center (MAC) and African-American Male Initiative (AAMI), the more I want to build and grow it. This program is one of the first in the nation, and we’ve been able to put it in structure. My goal is to expand this program to all males on campus, if at least the freshman population, which will grow retention and the male population on campus as a whole. One way we’re doing this is through giving them confidence in how they present themselves, both in the way they communicate and how they dress. Each of the 40 young men in the incoming class receives a maroon blazer, and then they receive a gold one when they graduate to represent wealth, health and brotherhood. We’re also growing in other populations, so our Latino students wear gray blazers, and our African Alliance students from Ghana wear green blazers, a symbol of the earth and resources. We want everyone to find a place of belonging, so we’re in the process of launching a study abroad program in partnership with Ghana University for the purpose of building a similar program there. We currently have a 30-day summer program, and eventually, we will be able to offer students a full semester or year exchange program to experience other cultures and broaden their experience. We’ve also partnered with female students on campus to grow healthy relationships. I help bring up these Eagles, and they then become the birds that soar in other places to push the program forward and bring others into the program as we continue to grow."