College Boy

Prologue It was December 1988, two weeks before finals. Troy Potter, a young Black male from inner-city Philadelphia, sat alone in his cold dorm room thinking about the future. His chemistry book was resting open at his desk. He had been stuck on page 306 for the past thirty minutes while staring at the plain white walls in front of him. He was unfocused, feeling unsure of success and afraid of failure. And he had learned a hell of a lot in only a year of study inside one of America's major institutions.It was Troy's dream as a high school basketball star to attend a Division 1 college: national television exposure, state-of-the-art campus facilities, thousands of fans, and a top-rate education. State University, housing thirty-five thousand students, ninety percent of whom were White, afforded him the opportunity.State U was located in the East, inside Marsh County, which held a population of some 750,000 citizens, roughly sixty percent White, thirty percent Black, and ten percent multiethnic. The large, green campus was clean and spacious, the pride of Marsh County.Troy was impressed, and proud of its colorful basketball stadium and the football field with a nine-lane track; the recreational center and the gigantic cafeteria; the sky-rise dormitory buildings; and how the immediate campus took up six square blocks near downtown. Buses escorted students to the dental school, the medical school, the engineering building, and the White fraternity houses.Madison Avenue, a huge, five-lane street (three lanes heading north and two lanes heading south), ran straight through the middle of campus. Henry Road, a scenic and grassy curving road, headed uptown on the far northwest side. Charleston Street, on the far southeast side, headed downtown and had most of the shops, stores, and traffic.Black Americans had raised hell during the fifties and sixties, so that the seventies, eighties, and nineties generations could attend institutions of the caliber of State U. A government-imposed affirmative action clause to create underprivileged-minority scholarships made it possible, despite low academic testing, which is believed to be culturally biased. However, the experiment of having Blacks on predominantly White campus grounds remained an enormous task. And Troy felt its full weight.To all African peopleswho have an undying courageto complete their destinies.Omar Tyree Copyright copy; 2003 by The Urban Griot Chapter One: Day One "Hello, students, my name is Pam Whatley, and I'm your course counselor from now until the time you graduate from State University. You all have been accepted to this university under the condition that you maintain a two-point-oh grade point average as members of C.M.P. C.M.P. stands for 'College Motivation Program.' What this means is that you all are required to take strengthening courses in math, general science, and reading and writing. You also will be required to enter an academic student course, which is a two-part class designed to help needy students in study skills and planning."You students have been placed in this program as a result of low S.A.T. scores, but that does not mean that you're incapable. State University has specifically installed this particular program to help strengthen your academic skills in needed areas. After the completion of your first year's courses in C.M.P., you will have no further requirements from the university and may work in subjects of your major. Now, I would like to meet you all," said the heavyset, cinnamon-skinned woman in a hot-pink skirt suit. She pointed to the tall and slim student seated in the front row. "So you are...'""I be Troy Potter, Ms. Whatley," he answered jokingly. The other freshmen giggled. Ms. Whatley assumed that Troy was a bit overconfident, a headstrong inner-city boy with a chip on his shoulder.[read more]