The Secret to Success

I don’t’ ever remember a time before this situation that I was eager to be in school. It’s funny how one situation can change your whole perspective. Now, I was eager to get to school in the morning. When I walked out the front door of Lathrup High School that Friday afternoon, school was the last thing on my mind. Other than recess, lunch and track and field, I didn’t care too much for it. I was already pissed off because my parents moved us out of Detroit to the suburbs. One day out of the blue my parents told me that I would not be returning to Detroit Henry Ford High School. They told me I would be attending Southfield Lathrup. I had gone to the neighborhood schools since I was in the first grade, first McKinney, Taft, and then Ford. I couldn’t believe they could be so selfish. What was I supposed to do, just start all over in the 11th grade? Maybe my parents would have been justified; sending me to a new school in my freshmen year, but to do it during my junior year was unacceptable. I had experienced eight years of bonding with friends, and all that went down the drain because my parents wanted to move to the suburbs. Going from a predominately black school to a predominately white school created some unique challenges. There were few black teachers and it was obvious that the white teachers were not accustomed to dealing with black students, especially black males. I was in the principal’s office on a regular basis for either disrupting the class or insubordination. Not to mention the fact that I was having some major academic challenges changing from the Detroit Public School curriculum to Southfields Public School curriculum. Lathrup’s academic pace was ten times faster than Detroit’s. I hardly ever had homework at Henry Ford and rarely had more than one test a week. I had homework on a regular basis at Lathrup and it was nothing for three or more teachers to give tests the same week. I hated everything about Lathrup, the faculty and staff, the academics, and on top of that their athletic program was terrible.

Just three days ago the only reason I wanted to be in school was for the girls, field trips, or a pep rally. Now I couldn’t wait for the doors to open. I needed to get out of the cold and get into a place where I felt safe. But first, I needed a place to lay my head that was in walking distance of my bus route. There was a stop near Melvin’s house, which seemed perfect at first, but I was somewhat leery because my parents knew where Melvin lived and would almost certainly check for me there. “Don’t even think about it,” I said to myself before I could finish my next thought. Have you lost your mind?” I knew it was risky. It would be secluded enough so that no one would know I was there, but close enough to Melvin’s house that if something happened, I could run to his house for help.