Final Draft - Shaniqua Rudd 2nd Period

Where I wanna Be



“Now Asia, you need to decide. Remember that your family is behind you, no matter what decision you make, but you wouldn’t want to be the one to end your family legacy.” Those were the words of my mother. We were having our daily family dinner when my mother and I started to discuss my future. It was February of 2008 and my family was already cracking down on me about college matters. My name is Asia Johnson I’m a senior at Central Valley High School. I come from a wealthy family in a small town in Georgia. My father is the owner of a popular law firm in College Park and my mother works beside him. You see, my family is thought very highly of, so it is in their best interest that I become just as successful. I maintain a 3.8 GPA and take college courses outside of school. I am salutatorian and captain of the Cheerleading squad. I am also a member of the Honors Society, The Young National Black Lawyers Association, and a member of the Young Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. I know it sounds like a lot, but it is easy to maintain when you know there are consequences if you don’t keep up with these kinds of things. But, let me give you a brief history of my parents. My father attended Morehouse College and graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Criminal Justice, then went on to complete Law School at Harvard. My father was a member of the Alpha Kappa Psi fraternity, so that put him in an easy position to land his job at the firm, alongside with his college degree. My mother attended Spellman University and also graduated with a Bachelors Degree in law, but she completed law school at Howard University. She was also a member of a Greek family, the AKA’s. Now, you would probably better understand why it is important for me to become the epitome of a Johnson.

In the fall, I completed my undergraduate applications for Hampton University, Howard University, Florida A&M, Clark Atlanta, and Spellman University. Because I applied early action, I received most of my acceptance notifications around December. I was accepted to all and received a great number of scholarships. All of the universities I applied to gave me something good to offer. But of course, I was only left with one choice. My mother was putting a lot of pressure on me to attend Spellman, but that was not where I wanted to be. After my mother said that to me at the dinner table, I couldn’t sleep at all that night. The next morning, I headed off to school on the usual 7:10 neighborhood cheese bus. I always sat in the seat on the right side, third row, next to the window. The first 5 rows were taken by mostly all girls including my two best friends Ashley and Stacy. “Did you remember that this weekend was the college trip?” said Ashley. “Who could forget? We are going to have a blast I can’t wait to even step foot on a college campus!” replied Stacy, anxiously. But for some reason, I wasn’t that excited. Ashley noticed my facial expression. “What’s wrong Asia, aren’t you excited?” “It’s not as exciting when you know your parents are deciding everything for you” I replied. “Aww come on! You can’t let them get you down. College is going to be the most important part of your life. They cannot decide for you! You’re coming on this trip and you’re going to have fun!” exclaimed Stacy. You see, Stacy was the outgoing one. If she wanted something, she wouldn’t let anyone stand in her way. She was the one who got me through every obstacle I ever had to face by myself. “You’re right girl. We’re going to go to this tour and have fun”. Friday morning came and everyone had to meet at the front lawn of our school. We were going to be touring for a whole week, visiting different schools. As we boarded the bus, I knew this trip was going to be something to remember forever.

Everyone loaded the bus with the look of excitement on their faces. After Stacy gave me words of comfort, I didn’t feel so bad about going on the trip after all. Our counselor boarded the bus with tons of paperwork in her hand. “Okay seniors, this is going to be a long ride so please try to respect the adults on the bus. No cursing, you may eat but throw your trash away in your own bags! Keep the volume low and please no profanity. This is going to be a long drive to Virginia.” I was excited about the trip but dreaded the long drive. Ashley, who was sitting in front of me, turned around and sighed. “You guys, this is going to be our last year together. I can’t believe this all came so fast”. “I know, pretty soon we’re going to have to be in the real world alone”, I replied. “In a way...I am scared to face things alone. But I have been told what to do all my life and I am ready to make my own decisions.” “Well how come you never talked to your parents about what you want to do. You always discuss things with us, but do your parents know how you feel?” questioned Ashley. I couldn’t even find the right words to answer her. I simply replied “I just don’t have the courage to.”

Everyone on the bus was doing anything to keep themselves occupied. Some of the guys were debating on which rappers were better than others and the hottest video vixens. Some girls were discussing what they brought on the trip to wear. Then most others were talking about the latest gossip at our school. Hours passed and we took a pit stop in Carolina. Everyone went to eat, used the restroom and say outside. Shortly after that we were back on the bus and everyone was sleep including the counselor. Finally I awoke to the sounds of various voices, and I wondered what everyone was so excited about. I looked out the window and seen the signs “HAMPTON UNIVERSITY-MAIN CAMPUS”. This was the first time I had ever visited a college campus besides the campuses the mother took me to see. It was a good feel to finally get away from hot Georgia. Once everyone loaded off the bus and dragged their luggage on the sidewalk. Everyone who walked around the campus looked so diverse. Everyone dressed different, had different hairstyles, and sounded different. First we toured the different buildings. For every different major, there was a huge building that held the classes for that particular major. The Business building contained wall street journal headers across the walls. There were stocks running across the screens. In the cafeteria there were sandwiches called “The Marketing Special” and drinks called the “Finance Fingle”. In the arts department there were pictures of famous dancers such as Alvin Ailey and Michael Jackson, and famous postings of writings from authors such as Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, and Toni Morrison. Next we headed across campus to the student center. The student center looked like a huge living room where all the kids sat and ate and watched TV. There were about 40 students on the couch watching reruns of Stomp the Yard on On Demand. Some students had books in their hands while others had finger foods pointing out scenes from the movie as if they never saw it before. Following that we went into the bookstore and everyone brought Hampton hoodies and shirts. I brought a small shirt that said “Hampton Girl”, but put it in Ashley’s bag to keep until we got to school on Monday.

Later on during the campus tour, we visited the Greek House of Hampton University. The sororities and fraternities were performing a special segment just for us. I stared at the walls with all Greek lettering and pictures of each Greek department. It was now time for the show to begin. First up were the Que Dogs. I was surprised that most of the guys, who usually have short attention span, were into the steps. They were all very precise with their barks and active movements. It made you want to jump on the stage and join along. The crowd was going wild. Following the Que Dogs was a performance by the Delta Sigma Thetas. The stage was all black and flashed with red lights. Soon you heard the screams of the fellow Deltas in the crowd. This was the first time I ever seen a sorority do a show, besides the AKA’s. The girls on the stage yelled with all their heart their Greek history. Their swift movements and color coordination’s were together. I couldn’t help but stare at the expression on all the girls faces. They looked like an actual sisterhood. They smiled at each other and gave each other a nod as if to say “ok...ready” when starting a new step. They were new, they were hip, and they were everything I wanted to be. After the show, I went up to one of the girls and greeted myself. “Hi, my name is Asia Johnson. I’m visiting this weekend and I really enjoyed your show.” “Hey how are you? Are you enjoying yourself? We put together this show just for you guys. If you want, I can tell you more about our sorority?” replied the girl. I looked to Ashley and Ashley gave me the thumbs up. “By the way my name is Maya” replied the young Delta. Maya took me along with her to greet some more of the other sisters of the sorority and explained to me the things that they do and the process of pledging. I never found myself so wrapped up and interested in something like this before. From here on out, I knew I wanted to be a Delta. I never got to see what was out there, but then I knew my heart was at Hampton.

The whole ride back I couldn’t get my mind off of Hampton. When I got home, I reported what I learned about Hampton to my mother. “That was a nice trip, but you know you are not going!” “But why not?” “Because I said so Asia!! You are not to go against the family and become something you know nothing about!” “But Mom!” I exclaimed. “But nothing, now go upstairs and get ready for school tomorrow”. I cried myself to sleep all that night. I couldn’t believe that my mom wouldn’t let me get a say in my future. For the next couple of weeks I did things on my own. I used the little bit of money I saved from fundraising to pay for housing to Hampton. I sent the check from my school counselor so my parents wouldn’t know. Weeks went by and I kept everything a secret from my mother. I stopped going to my sorority get together, but continued to strive in school. About 4 weeks later I got a confirmation letter in the mail with my undergraduate information regarding my position as a student. Apparently, my mother saw the letter before I did and was furious that I chose the school to go to without her. “Asia what the hell is this?” she started angrily. “What do you mean” I answered. She interrupted me. “You know what I don’t want to hear it; you don’t know what u have gotten yourself into. I tell you one thing your definitely on border line. I called your coach today; I hear u haven’t been going to sorority practice lately?” “Mom I’m just not interested in being an AKA. I only did it because you wanted me to. When I visit Hampton I seen the Deltas perform and” “Deltas? So you quit just to plan to go to Hampton and stomp around for some whore sorority? you know what Asia I am calling the office of admissions and ending this right now” “Mom you cannot do that!” I said with tears in my eyes. “Oh yes I can. I have the authority to do so, being the person that I am and you damn sure must have forgotten I am your mother”. “Let me tell you something, if you think your going to live in this house and make decisions behind my back and betray me you got another thing coming little girl. I won’t allow my daughter to ship off and go to Virginia to turn into some sleezbag stepping for a group with no respect”. After my mother recited her argument I couldn’t even look her in her face. I couldn’t control my cries as I wept trying to speak at the same time. “Mom how could you say those things to me? I just wanted to make my own choice.” “Asia, I am so disappointed in you. I only wanted the best for you and this is how you go about things.” I couldn’t understand why she was so angry. My mother has never talked to me in that tone, nor said those kinds of things to me. I was hurt. I went to go talk to my father. “Asia, I think there is something that you need to know.” I knew I had to sit down for this one. I sat down and my father explained to me that Hampton was my mother’s dream school, but she didn’t get in. She was very disappointed and couldn’t understand why she wasn’t accepted. Now everything became clear to me.

Later that night I knocked on my mother’s door. “Mom may I come in?” “Yes. Asia”. “Mom, daddy told me about what happened to you with Hampton.” My mom’s face looked furious. “But wait mom before you get mad I just want you to know I am very sorry for your past. I know it hurt you very bad, but you can’t decide where I am going just because you had a bad experience. I want to go to college and know that what ever happens is because I made the decision. I don’t want to go on to college wondering what would’ve or could’ve happened.” My mother sighed with a tear down her face. “Asia”, she said, “I just wanted you to go where I went and follow in my footsteps. I was so proud of myself that I became successful at Spellman, that I wanted to show Hampton what they missed out on for not accepting me.” I could tell that this was a topic that my mother didn’t often speak of. My mother and I talked all night about everything we’ve been missing out on and what I wanted to do when I got older. After that night, my mother listened to what I had to say and supported me in all my decisions. By the time graduation came my mom was flaunting around my full scholarship to Hampton to all of her friends. I graduated with honors and my AKA flag. After my mother and I talked, I decided I was going to finish what I started. This is what made my mother and I as close as we are today. Of course I followed the Johnson family tuition, graduating with a degree in Criminal Justice. On May 13th 2012, I walked down the isle with my degree in my hand waving it around. Except this time, I was wearing the proud colors of red and white on my cap and gown.