Four years before James began attending Dartmouth College and eight years before he entered the working world during a pandemic, he was sitting at the AF Brooklyn High freshman orientation when organizers put a number on the board. The number was 8. At first, no one knew what it meant. When the leader explained, based on data they drew from at the time, that only 8 percent of students of color graduated with a college degree—James was shaken. And inspired. James knew he wanted to be a part of the solution. He combined his love for math with his passion for sociology and African-American studies, and became a quantitative social science major so that he could analyze data in areas like education and family life. He studied abroad in Paris—he was there when the French national team won the World Cup—and learned about the African diaspora. He went on to do his senior research project on college drop-out rates, delving into the disparate challenges students from low-income backgrounds face. And he promised himself that he would do something about it, that any mentorship he could give, he would.
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College Coach aF BROOKLYN HIGH '16 Dartmouth college '20
Through his involvement in Basta—an organization whose mission is to create a bridge of opportunity between employers and first-generation college goers of color to increase diversity of the knowledge workforce—he landed his first job after graduation at Donors Choose working on the marketing and partnership management teams. James gravitated to Donors Choose because of the interest in education he cultivated as a student at Achievement First. He recently transitioned to a new role in this sector: he currently serves as college coach for Beyond12. As a side project, he’s writing a sitcom focused on a middle-class Black family, a project he envisions as a modern “Boy Meets World” that centers Black characters. James is just getting started. He didn’t get to walk across the graduation stage because of COVID-19. But, he says, he knows what it means for a Black man from East New York, Brooklyn, to graduate from an Ivy League School, and that is enough. The number 8 did not limit him. And he’s dedicated to ensuring it doesn’t limit others, either.
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