Marcus Hooks, 11th grader at Brien McMahon High School, reports on his visit to Virginia State University

Carver students receive VIP welcome at Virginia State University (VSU)

By Marcus Hooks 11th grader at Brien McMahon High School

Before I even stepped foot on the VSU campus I felt this visit would be a special one.

Two of our chaperones (Carver staff members), Tremain Gilmore and Rhea Gorham, are past VSU students. Ms Novelette also reminded us that former Carver student, Jasmine Brown, a sophomore at VSU, would be our guide.

Jasmine greeted our group and she received plenty of warm embraces from the Carver staff and from some of the students with whom she is familiar. Jasmine was announced to be our personal tour guide by the VSU admissions director.

Jasmine is a petite young lady with a wonderful smile and powerful presence. Jasmine was the most inspirational of all the Carver alumni I’ve met on the tour thus far.

Jasmine shared that she visited Virginia State University years ago, thanks to the Carver college tours. She fell in love with VSU, graduated high school and earned admission, but her dreams of attending were crushed when she could not gather the necessary funds to attend.

Carver staff encouraged Jasmine to enroll into Norwalk Community College to give Carver time to raise the scholarship funds she needed. During her time at NCC, Jasmine earned a spot on the Dean’s list. Carver raised the necessary funds and now here she is conducting a tour of her beloved college. Jasmine is living her dream.

Jasmine shared that she struggled in high school and her GPA suffered. "Whatever you do in high school academically follows you to college. Good grades can mean thousands of dollars in benefits for you," she told us.

Jasmine is a proud member of the Betterment of Brothers and Sisters (BBS) group, which is the largest and most prestigious non-Greek student organization. Established in 1941, BBS serves as a major support to freshman students, inspires a great school spirit and encourages service to the community.

Everyone on our tour appreciated Jasmine’s frank advice and guidance made all the more convincing by her personal triumphant story. She went from a 2.1 GPA to 3.8 upon graduation from high school and she has maintained excellent grades a VSU. Jasmine was recently admitted into the Golden Honor Society.

As the leader of Carver’s Male Steppers I was most intrigued by the step performances by the men of the Alpha Phi Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. Former Norwalk High School football team captain, Daryl Dasent, joined his fraternity brothers (known as “The Beast of the East”) in a magnificent “step welcome” for all of us visiting from his hometown.

Each of the male steppers introduced themselves to our group. They all have maintained a GPA of 3.0 or better during their time at VSU. They created a very positive and festive mood for us all.

As Daryl Dasent shared his Norwalk High School football memories with my friend, Tomar, who is currently a running back for the Norwalk  High School team, we were all beaming with pride. Daryl told us that he likes VSU because he feels that he is a part of a "great collegiate community."

This is my favorite school so far, which is why I asked to write today’s article for the Norwalk Patch. While I eagerly await the schools still to be visited on our tour, I am thinking at the moment that I would very much like to follow in the footsteps of Jasmine and Daryl.