African American Youth Career and
College Fair:
Taking the Right Steps
College Fair:
Taking the Right Steps
| (L-R) Anthony Ward and Madison College Dean Carlotta Calmese address African American high school students at Madison College on April 27. |
mold and make me who I am today. I have special fond memories of Mr. Isaac Lorie, my third grade teacher at Hersel Elementary
School in Chicago, Illinois. I have very fond memories of Mr. Taylor Vaughn, my junior high social studies teacher. I have exceptional
memories of Margaret Drear who was my girls’ vice-president at San Diego High School. And when I think about my interest and my
passion for wanting to study English and African American Studies at Cal State University in Long Beach, I think a whole lot about Ron
Karenga and Amon Ra, those great African American professors who said that I have a place at Cal State-Long Beach., that I could be
an English major back when folks like me didn’t even think about wanting to write a decent sentence let alone major in English.”
Calmese urged the roughly 200 students in the audience to go back to their schools and find the right person to listen to so that they
move in the right educational direction.
“I am confident that many of you — all of you — have the potential to be successful and to find yourself on a college campus, maybe
Madison College, maybe UW-Madison, maybe Edgewood College in the very short and few years to come,” Calmese said.
Choice is also about taking the right steps. And Anthony Ward, a Madison policeman, knows how important it is to take the right steps
even though everyone and everything around you is encouraging you to take the wrong steps. Ward grew up in St. Louis in a
dysfunctional household.
“I grew up around drug dealing,” Ward said. “My mother is addicted to crack cocaine to this day. I know what it is like. I know what it
is like to have a hard life. But I also know what it is like to make a decision not to follow the steps. Statistics say — I’m glad I have all
of these Brothers sitting in front of me because we know what statistics say about us — that if you make certain decisions, you will
probably drop out. They are true because we are choosing to step away from success and into less. I grew up in a very bad situation. I
had every reason to be a thug. I had every reason to be a drug dealer. Guess what, it was around me. The guys whom my mother
bought drugs from, guess what. They took care of me. ‘Hey, you need some shoes?’ But I never believed that was what I was. And I’m
going to tell you where my steps led me.”
The Bloods and Crypts dominated the neighborhood where Ward grew up when he was in eighth grade. And although he wasn’t a gang
member, Ward’s friends were gang members. Ward’s friend beat up a rival gang member and then Ward got beat up. The violence was
escalating.
“The next day after I got beat up, I’m with my friend walking down the same street. We met a friend who is a little older than us. We’re
walking to his house and he lives right by my middle school. We had to stop at our middle school and talk to our coach because I
played basketball. My friend and I went to holler at the coach. The older guy’s name was Anthony too and he stayed out to wait for us
right out by the fence.
“We went in and said, ‘Coach, we’re going to be here for the game …’ Pop, pop, pop. That’s what we heard. So we ran back out and I
was standing in the doorway of my middle school looking at the fence. And I saw that my friend was on the ground. I had a very
important decision. I could stay where I was at and just say, ‘Man, that’s messed up.’ Or I could take some steps toward him to see if I
could help. And I took steps to where he was. He was on the opposite side of the fence. And when I stepped and got close enough to
him, I realized there was nothing I could do for him. I heard him taking his last breaths. His brains were literally on the ground. And I
thought to myself, ‘Is this what I want? Is this how I want to go out because he wasn’t the first Black man to die like that and he
definitely isn’t the last?’”
This was the beginning of a different direction for Ward. The change didn’t come overnight, but he began to take the right steps toward
success.
“There are some footsteps that will lead you right to prison,” Ward emphasized. “There are some footsteps that will lead you right to
the cemetery. Success gives you opportunities. I don’t know about you, but I like opportunities. I like choices. When I go to the
restaurant, I don’t want them to come up to me and say that they only have hot dogs and ramen noodles. We like Old Town Buffet
because we can go up there and say, ‘So what do I want.’ So success, taking the right steps, gives you options. So when you are a
senior in high school, you are like, ‘What school do I want to go to? Maybe Duke or USC.’ Choices make you feel good. “
Ward told the youth that it is true that you only live once. But instead of being reckless, one needs to make the right choices. And
feeling good is making the right choices and taking the right steps to success.
School in Chicago, Illinois. I have very fond memories of Mr. Taylor Vaughn, my junior high social studies teacher. I have exceptional
memories of Margaret Drear who was my girls’ vice-president at San Diego High School. And when I think about my interest and my
passion for wanting to study English and African American Studies at Cal State University in Long Beach, I think a whole lot about Ron
Karenga and Amon Ra, those great African American professors who said that I have a place at Cal State-Long Beach., that I could be
an English major back when folks like me didn’t even think about wanting to write a decent sentence let alone major in English.”
Calmese urged the roughly 200 students in the audience to go back to their schools and find the right person to listen to so that they
move in the right educational direction.
“I am confident that many of you — all of you — have the potential to be successful and to find yourself on a college campus, maybe
Madison College, maybe UW-Madison, maybe Edgewood College in the very short and few years to come,” Calmese said.
Choice is also about taking the right steps. And Anthony Ward, a Madison policeman, knows how important it is to take the right steps
even though everyone and everything around you is encouraging you to take the wrong steps. Ward grew up in St. Louis in a
dysfunctional household.
“I grew up around drug dealing,” Ward said. “My mother is addicted to crack cocaine to this day. I know what it is like. I know what it
is like to have a hard life. But I also know what it is like to make a decision not to follow the steps. Statistics say — I’m glad I have all
of these Brothers sitting in front of me because we know what statistics say about us — that if you make certain decisions, you will
probably drop out. They are true because we are choosing to step away from success and into less. I grew up in a very bad situation. I
had every reason to be a thug. I had every reason to be a drug dealer. Guess what, it was around me. The guys whom my mother
bought drugs from, guess what. They took care of me. ‘Hey, you need some shoes?’ But I never believed that was what I was. And I’m
going to tell you where my steps led me.”
The Bloods and Crypts dominated the neighborhood where Ward grew up when he was in eighth grade. And although he wasn’t a gang
member, Ward’s friends were gang members. Ward’s friend beat up a rival gang member and then Ward got beat up. The violence was
escalating.
“The next day after I got beat up, I’m with my friend walking down the same street. We met a friend who is a little older than us. We’re
walking to his house and he lives right by my middle school. We had to stop at our middle school and talk to our coach because I
played basketball. My friend and I went to holler at the coach. The older guy’s name was Anthony too and he stayed out to wait for us
right out by the fence.
“We went in and said, ‘Coach, we’re going to be here for the game …’ Pop, pop, pop. That’s what we heard. So we ran back out and I
was standing in the doorway of my middle school looking at the fence. And I saw that my friend was on the ground. I had a very
important decision. I could stay where I was at and just say, ‘Man, that’s messed up.’ Or I could take some steps toward him to see if I
could help. And I took steps to where he was. He was on the opposite side of the fence. And when I stepped and got close enough to
him, I realized there was nothing I could do for him. I heard him taking his last breaths. His brains were literally on the ground. And I
thought to myself, ‘Is this what I want? Is this how I want to go out because he wasn’t the first Black man to die like that and he
definitely isn’t the last?’”
This was the beginning of a different direction for Ward. The change didn’t come overnight, but he began to take the right steps toward
success.
“There are some footsteps that will lead you right to prison,” Ward emphasized. “There are some footsteps that will lead you right to
the cemetery. Success gives you opportunities. I don’t know about you, but I like opportunities. I like choices. When I go to the
restaurant, I don’t want them to come up to me and say that they only have hot dogs and ramen noodles. We like Old Town Buffet
because we can go up there and say, ‘So what do I want.’ So success, taking the right steps, gives you options. So when you are a
senior in high school, you are like, ‘What school do I want to go to? Maybe Duke or USC.’ Choices make you feel good. “
Ward told the youth that it is true that you only live once. But instead of being reckless, one needs to make the right choices. And
feeling good is making the right choices and taking the right steps to success.
By Jonathan Gramling
Life is about choices. One of the choices that
we make is who to listen to. Carlotta
Calmese, dean of Retention and Student
Services, listened to the right voices as she
was growing in California and throughout her
academic career. And by listening to the right
voices, she enjoys waking up every morning
and going to a job that she loves.
“One of the things that has excited me the
most in my 50 years on an educational
campus is that I got to dream,” Calmese said
at the African American Youth Career and
College Fair held April 27 at Madison College-
Truax. “I got to connect with teachers,
counselors, professors and fellow
administrators who helped to shape and
Life is about choices. One of the choices that
we make is who to listen to. Carlotta
Calmese, dean of Retention and Student
Services, listened to the right voices as she
was growing in California and throughout her
academic career. And by listening to the right
voices, she enjoys waking up every morning
and going to a job that she loves.
“One of the things that has excited me the
most in my 50 years on an educational
campus is that I got to dream,” Calmese said
at the African American Youth Career and
College Fair held April 27 at Madison College-
Truax. “I got to connect with teachers,
counselors, professors and fellow
administrators who helped to shape and