Santies Howard

SANTIESSANTIES HOWARDHOWARD

Road to College

I started college in 2015, shortly after graduating high school in 2014. I took one year off to raise myself some money to be comfortable by myself in another state. I worked for Kroger in Lexington, KY where I moved right after high school graduation with my sister and her five kids.

When I departed for college, I was excited, but the year before, I experienced adulthood when I was 18/19 years of age. I was just about used to living with others, being as I had moved with my sister. I would later attend school for my first year of college in Fort Dodge, Iowa; a fairly quiet town.

The area was also known for the students at the local community college, Iowa Central. I also had about 6 of my closest friends/teammates there with me that I already knew. My OG, sister and grandma dropped me off. They bought me a TV, clothes, food, and a lot of condoms, plus more.

My roommates ended up not coming, so I had a room with two beds and two refrigerators. I was set. For the rest of the day, we just wandered around campus.

The next day was my first day of class.

First Quarter

Now practicing was always fun, but it’s also always a challenge. I was an incoming freshman at the time. There was also a lot of guys that was already more experienced in the sport. Luckily in my position I was one of the top in my graduating class. I was selected to practice with game rosters. It was also tough, but my teammates were with me, helping me along the way. I got better, adding speed and power.

Later in the semester, and half way through the football season, we were doing good but I was struggling with my school work. It was about the 3rd week of October when everything started to hit the fan. I started to fall off in class. I started to show up late to most classes, but everything on the football field was in order. So me being one of many Black players on the team, I took the advantage of talking to him. His name was Coach Hag, a cool, young, black successful man in everything he achieved. Plus he was an alumni of the school. Later after practice I pulled him to the side and I poured my heart out.

He first thought I was trying to earn his trust by using sympathy, so after my basic chat most people call it a testimony. I was told to change into my street wear and return to his office to further discuss the situation. I came upon him and it was dinner time, and I was just about to leave thinking, “Hag forgot about me” but just as I was about to leave my name was called, “Howard, come in.”

As I entered I was instantly hit with a body shock because Jermaine, one of the campus “Top Flight” Security officers was also sitting there, and I’ll bet any money you have when you read this Jman, which he is preferred to be called, hated me. Let’s just say I was always the class clown everywhere; that’s just how my vibes be, ya know? But back to the story, Jman offered the chair next to him in front of the coaches desk as I sat. I was hit with a single mug from Jman, but lesson 405 for me, “Never judge a book by its cover,” as I sat down.

Coach explained to me that he always talked to the Jman, and respectfully brought my situation to him. In the midst of our, what felt like, 4 hour conversation, I learned that Jman was from the same part of Chicago as me. I knew he was from there, but never expected him to know what I know about the hood. Chicago is big, but everyone has a story and his was much similar to mine. I was given the “I see a leader in you” acknowledgement, but yet I was not here for what many more people in the past told me.

I wanted guidance; I wanted help choosing a path deeper in the conversation. I was surprised by what Coach and Jman was saying. They made it known this was real, and how I was going about it was wrong. It was sort of like a wake up call. I learnt that now I had to step up, but I was confident enough in these two, mostly because they had struggled too.

I was ready to choose a new path.