When I think about my education journey, a couple of things happen in middle school, which became my transitional point to take education more seriously.    One thing I learned in middle school is the importance of obtaining an education.  In middle school I was more focus on playing sports and I encounter a harsh reality that jeopardize the one thing I work hard for.   During this time, I was also introduced to African American history.  The exposure to African American history had an impact on my perception on education.   The phrase “ You Must Learn”  became my theme, in my opinion education is needed and to achieve overall success.
I remember my first year of attending middle school. I had one  goal of making the basketball team. I practice all summer to make it on the school basketball team. I made the basketball team, and top it off, I had a starting position on the team.  During the school years, my grades started to slip a bit. One of the rules to play on the team you had to pass all your assigned classes. The Coach advises me to improve my grades or risk being cut from the team. In my mind, the coach cannot cut me from the team; I am one of the best players.  My grades did not improve, and in the first big game of the year, I was cut from the team and could not play pending the improvement of my grades. I was  devastated about this outcome; I went home intending to convince my mother to come to the school to help get back on the team because I felt this was unfair to treat one of the best players in this manner.
When I got home, and explain to my mother the cruel and vicious thing the coach did and how she had to do something about it. My mother asks why you were cut from the team. I took a deep breath and explained my grades has slipped since I join the group. My mother looks at me and recites once again, “I told you to be successful in life, you need education You Must Learn.”  I stood there in total shock at her not taking my side in this matter. My mother and father had a long talk about the status of my grades. What I got the most out of the conversation my father kept saying, “You Must Learn” no matter how good I was in basketball, it will never trump the importance of education,”   I took on a new approach to on my focus of an education.  This was the first dramatic impact on my education journey; the second was my Social Studies class.
The thing that grabs my interest in social studies class was the material was present.  The teacher was an Africa American woman name, Ms. Rains.  On the first day of class, Ms. Rains advise us, she will be implementing African American history in her class and American history.   At the time, Africa American history was not a common subject in the school system. The majority of the students were Africa American, and at the time, our music of choice was Hip Hop.   Ms. Rains was very creative in how she presented black history.  She uses hip-hop to grab our attention. At the time, a musical artist named KRS 1 had just published a song title “You Must Learn.” This song spoke about the imbalance on how black history not being part of the school system.  The song also spoke about famous black people. For example, Benjamin Banneker invented the almanac, Granville Woods, the first African American mechanical and electrical engineer. Lewis Howard Latimer, an African American inventor, is just a few famous people. This was the first time I was exposed to African American history.
