As a black man, I felt significant pressure to succeed from my culture but lacked the support, tools and resources needed to help guide me on the road to achievement I so desperately wanted to reach.
Sadly, the consequences of my reality did not go unnoticed. I struggled with keeping my grades up and, as assignments grew harder, my grades eroded to almost nothing. I attempted to reach out to a few friends for advice, only to find out that my predominantly white peers were either excelling with little to no effort or paying someone else to do their assignments for them. This information shocked and stunned me, furthering the divide between black struggle and white privilege.
My last-ditch effort manifested itself as a visit to the Student Support Center. I knew it was time to make a significant change from within if I was ever going to show the world the man I knew I could become.
I talked to an African American man named Jerrod Lockhart, a student support counselor who became my saving grace. Read more here.