Club steers black boys, men to college

Club steers black boys, men to college

DAYTONA BEACH -- Hosea Crooms Jr. stands when he speaks. He looks his audience in the eye.

He delivers words with the passion of a preacher and the confidence of a lawyer, the latter of which he indeed wants to be -- after a successful football career. The Atlantic High School sophomore talks of going to Florida A&M University or Harvard.

"When I started here in sixth grade, I was rough around the edges, kind of like sandpaper," Crooms said, wearing a blue pinstripe suit, vest and tie on a recent Saturday morning.

Now the 16-year-old quarterback of the champion Brain Bowl team is a rising star who's recruiting other boys to join him at Bethune-Cookman University's Black Male College Explorers Program.

There, boys in sixth through 12th grades meet in a classroom on campus, analyze the news, get tutored on their schoolwork and learn to play the Royal Game -- chess. In addition to meeting on Saturdays during the school year, the program also has a summer component, where students like Hosea get an opportunity to focus on academics and learn more about colleges and universities.

Mentoring programs such as Explorers are a major part of efforts to steer more black men to college. Institutions such as Bethune-Cookman have long sought more male students. B-CU and other schools, including Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville, are rolling out programs designed to help black men in higher education succeed.

Rest at the link provided.