Last week was a whirlwind, I started my journey to becoming Dr. Jeffery Alexander Jr. The journey started at very familiar place for me Cal State Channel Islands (CI). Almost 13 years ago I arrived late Saturday night to campus with a packed Camaro completely unaware of what was ahead of me. I knew absolutely nothing about college life, arriving to campus around 8PM to move in seemed perfectly fine and logical to me. I remember my mom and pops wondering when was I going to leave home and me telling them the school is going nowhere, I’ll get there when I get there. Little did I know my career will guide me to University Housing and I would come to really dislike when students decided to move in after check in hours.

Fast forward to last week and there I was again arriving late once again but this time was not my fault, I had planned to arrive 30 minutes earlier but crazy Santa Barbara and Ventura traffic had me arriving an hour and half later.  As parked in that all familiar Anacapa Village lot I took a quick moment to think about how far I had come.

I thought about the years I had spent on academic probation at CI. I thought about the time I really considered dropping out and just figuring it out like so many of my peers had to do back home. College didn’t fit me and I didn’t fit college. Du-rag, baseball cap to the back, extra extra extra large white t-shirts, sagging jeans and Jordans didn’t fit the college mold. All my years in Los Angeles Unified Schools and my time at Hawthorne High School didn’t prepare me for college level course work. I found myself on academic probation for 2 straight years. It wasn’t until a couple black men saw me drowning and threw me a life raft. (Skipping to the end) Without the support of faculty and staff at CI I wouldn’t have graduated and I am forever grateful for that.

I thought about the failed year at Radford University. Even though I found my true career because of Radford I can never shake the fact I was forced to go home without obtaining that degree. I’ll never forget that I fell short because I wasn’t mentally ready for what Radford through at me. The snow, the culture or the fact that 2,400 miles separated me from everything and everyone that made me. Radford was my fault and that’s hard for me to admit but it’s something I carry with me every day.

Radford is the fuel that fed the flame of obtaining my Master’s degree and it is the fuel that will feed me through this doctoral program. Sitting in that Anacapa Village parking lot, back where it all started means that I’m on the verge of completing something no one in my family has ever done before. It means that no matter what has been thrown my way I will never give up and quit. It means, it doesn’t matter how you start it’s all about how you finish. Let’s get it!