VGCC mentoring program takes students to Greensboro, Charlotte
The Male Mentoring Success Initiative (MMSI) at Vance-Granville Community College recently took a group of 18 students on a tour of sites in Greensboro and Charlotte that allowed them to explore careers, four-year universities and cultural activities.
Anthony Pope and Michael Farmer, co-coordinators of the initiative, accompanied the “mentees” on a trip that included touring five institutions of higher learning, visiting the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, taking a behind-the-scenes tour of the Charlotte Hornets organization and attending a game between the Hornets and the reigning NBA Champions, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Some of the students would soon be graduating, and the tour helped them to consider several options to continue their education at the four-year level.
The group first toured the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, before learning about the history of the civil rights movement at the museum in downtown Greensboro. The exhibits and artifacts allowed the mentees an opportunity see the original Woolworth lunch counters where the sit-in movement was initiated by four North Carolina A&T State University students in 1960. Mentee Kendrick Pettiford said that “the lessons I learned taught me how people had to struggle to survive as they held onto their beliefs and that there was a future where everyone could get along regardless of race.” Mentee Joseph Vodjogbe added, “I found the museum to be intriguing, historically educational and emotional. I got to see how bad segregation and racism was in the past.” Next, the students toured N.C. A&T, the largest historically black university in the country, and enjoyed a step show by members of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.
The trip continued for the next two days in Charlotte, where the group toured the campuses of Johnson C. Smith University, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Johnson & Wales University. Finally, students enjoyed the Charlotte Hornets game at the Spectrum Center. Prior to the start of the game, the mentees received behind-the-scenes tour from an account executive for the Hornets organization, who explained to them various business management career opportunities in professional sports. “Although the Cavaliers won by a score of 112 to 105, it was still a good game, and seeing NBA All-Stars Kemba Walker, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, along with the legendary Patrick Ewing, was exciting,” Pope said. Mentee Christopher Pernell, a member of the VGCC Vanguards basketball team, stated that “this was my first NBA game, and it was a great experience.”
Supported by a grant from the North Carolina Community College System, the MMSI at VGCC works to help male students stay in school and on track to graduate or transfer to a four-year university. For more information on the mentoring initiative, contact Anthony Pope at popea@vgcc.edu or (252) 738-3395.
Above: VGCC students tour the campus of UNC-Greensboro.
Above: The VGCC Male Mentoring Success Initiative group poses for a picture at the Spectrum Center, home of the Charlotte Hornets. They included, kneeling from left, students Osvaldo Hernandez of Stem, Christopher Blue of Henderson, Heberito Leos of Warrenton and Travis Williams of Norlina; and standing, from left, students Thomas McCaffity of Warrenton, Christopher Pernell of Raleigh, Francis Scotland of Oxford, Antonio Adams of Raleigh, Miles Brown of Louisburg, Joseph Vodjogbe of Henderson, Niquan Cousins of Raleigh, Kendrick Pettiford of Oxford, Johnathan Williamson of Oxford, Brian Restrepo of Youngsville, William Beck of Raleigh, Hadden Justice of Louisburg, Lawrence Winston of Henderson and Darius Buford of Cary with MMSI co-coordinator Anthony M. Pope; not pictured: co-coordinator Michael Farmer.
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