Troye Bullock
I love this time of year. As things start fresh, I have the chance to think about the exciting things coming in the New Year, as well as reflect on the ways the people here in D.C. have shaped my path.
As a D.C. native, I grew in the communities that I will be working in this fall. I was lucky enough to receive an athletic scholarship to attend Dematha Catholic High School. There I was able to play ball under a great coach, Elijah Brooks. Coach Brooks influenced and pushed me to always do my best, which ultimately helped me get in Georgetown.
When I got to campus, I decided to be a computer science major with plans to make big money after graduation. But my first class proved harder than I expected, so I dropped the class and my ambition along with it. That attitude quickly landed me on academic probation. When I got the news, I questioned whether Georgetown was the place for me. As reality set in, I knew I had to change if I wanted to stay, and I worked to do better in the classroom. By sophomore year, I had decided to major in sociology because I liked studying people. I had no idea that my major would change my life.
In my sociology classes, I was forced to think about my own background. I looked around at my classmates, friends, professors, and realized none of them had the same experiences as me. None of them had shared a one-bedroom in a low-income community like mine. None of them made weekly visits to their mom in the hospital, trapped there by sickle cell anemia. None of them cared for their younger brothers while their dad was locked up at the federal prison in D.C. None of them grew up like I did, and the people who did were nowhere to be found on O Street.
Around the time I was making these realizations, I got a job at the After School Kids program, working with high school kids who were on house arrest for various reasons. Spending time with them I realized just how much we had in common, with just a few strokes of luck separating us. Those little discrepancies were the difference between me and my students, who never dreamed a school like Georgetown could be in their futures.
Thinking again of my own story, the path forward seemed clear. All students need is support. I almost didn’t make it, but I had support at the school and mentors like Coach Brooks that helped me make it through. I owed them my success, and I’ll never be able to pay them back. But I can absolutely pay it forward.
The way to do that became clear when I ran into a Teach For America recruiter last spring. The more I learned, the more excited I got. This was my chance to dedicate myself full-time to empowering kids and work for a more equitable education system. I applied, got admitted and will now get the chance to continue my work with D.C. students this fall. Wherever I go, I know that as I empower my students to break the cycle, we’ll together become part of a better one. I cannot wait for school to start this fall.
Troye Bullock is a current senior studying sociology at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He is also a leader on the football team and head of a community based learning class.