Life Stories....

I was born on October 8th, 1984 at Huntsville Hospital in Huntsville Alabama. I went to private school from kindergarten up until the end of 9th grade. All my fam/friends were in public school, and I missed out on a LOT of stuff. I was always a well-mannered kid while in grade school. I graduated from J.O. Johnson High School in 2002, and enrolled at Alabama A&M University shortly afterward. I originally majored in Psychology....but I quickly changed it to Telecommunications. My first two years of college were filled with too much fun. I had so much fun that it got me into too many close calls. I almost became a father, binge drank on weekends, and had a VERY close brush with death during the spring of 2004. While working at my 2nd Taco Bell, I met a local news anchor who put me onto a job at her TV station in September of 2003, and I've been there working the 4am-Noon shift since then. I've learned so much stuff about TV production, photography, broadcasting, journalism, creative writing, and special event coordinating while there. Working there has been a gift and a curse. It was a special opportunity that I couldn't pass up, but my grades suffered from being awake 20 or more hours a day. I was placed on Academic Suspension by AAMU for the Fall 2004 semester, and would be cleared for re-admission to the university for the Spring 05 semester. I didn't. The plan is to re-enroll this fall, and if all goes well, my work schedule will change by then. A new, and better job with the government, is also possible. Stay Tuned. Fellow HBCUconnect fam...tell your story. How did you get where you are? Where do you want to be headed? It doesn't have to be as long as mine....but tell your story.

hmmm I like this topic...plus I'm bored...so here we go I was born March 15, 1986 in Cleveland Ohio to earl and robin...the first child of their marriage, my father's fourth child. Grew up in the church, became a christian at the age of 11. my sisters Amanda and Samantha came along in 1987 and 1991. I attended elementary school at Clara Westropp Fundamental Education Center, where I made honor roll or merit roll every single quarter...was also in choir and had my first solo in 5th grade. Middle school I went to Whitney Young Middle school, Cleveland's gifted and talented school. I hated it there, but I made the best of it, met my best friend there and went on to high school. Attended high school at John Marshall High, the most diverse school in the entire city. I LOVED it there, I got involved in everything! Didn't take school seriously at first, I skipped classes regularly to be with boys, etc...but that changed when I got in Upward Bound and I got on the right track again. I visited Hampton U my soph year of high school and thought I wanted to be there...senior year I applied to 8 schools (Ohio State, Western Kentucky, Univ of Akron, Baldwin Wallace, Grambling, Tenn State, Hampton, and U of Tenn) and due to my record (graduated in top 20% of my class with scores above district average, several leadership awards and other honors) I got accepted to all eight. Took until June 15 (after graduation!) to decide on a school but I finally decided on Hampton, headed there with a major in Broadcast Journalism. I got to Hampton and due to personal problems I ended up withdrawing. It wasn't a good fit at all, so I ended up back in Cleveland at community college as a part time student, ended up with a 3.0 GPA my first semester (not bad I guess). Now I'm headed to Kent State as a second semester freshman as an undecided major, right now I'm just trying to figure out what God's plan is for me as far as a career goes and what I'm supposed to be doing with my life.

On Tuesday morning of 18th December 1984, a lady went into labor and walked down the street to her mother-in-law's house. The soon to be grandmother wasn't there at the time due a Christmas program and her husband was on the job out of town, so her sister-in-law drove her to Forrest General Hospital. At 10AM, a baby boy was born to Sandra and Ray, their second and last child. At the age of three, the two separated and the boy grew up in Gulfport,MS. There, his long story began... We will move forward to 1997. The boy punched his stepfather and moved to the Burg with his father. The boy went to Hawkins Jr. High and Hattiesburg High, where his genius was slowly awakening itself. In his freshman year, he led his team to victory in the annual history quiz bowl at USM. In his junior year, he went to Boys State and the awakening of his genius. The young man went on his senior year to win awards in Show Choir, theatre, and JROTC, and in addition to that, a perfect score on the State History Exam. The man is now a junior at Southern University and A&M College. He majors in Political Science with aspirations to pursue law/legal studies.