潘恩大学救了我的命

迪昂特·摩西著

上大学不是我的选择, 从山上出来. 希布伦高中的一名年轻男子.平均绩点25，只会投篮和运球.  My foster dad promised that he would allow me the opportunity to stay with him during my senior year of high school. 我当时的处境是，我母亲家的生活并不是最好的. 我考不及格^th 年级. 我被学校停学和开除了20多次, which placed me in a position where I had the lowest 年级 point average in the district of Howard County, MD.  As I prayed for guidance and wisdom from a God that I believed in but did not know at the time, 一位名叫路德·B的牧师. Felder called my foster dad and asked him did he know of any United Methodist students who would be interested in attending college. 鼓励, 但现实的是，他有一个年轻人住在他的家里, 他回答说, “是的, 我有一个年轻人, 然而, 他的成绩不好." Reverend Felder's response to my guardian changed my life in a way that it would never be the same, “不管怎样，把他带来吧。."

我的监护人开车送我去了十大赌博平台排行榜, 带着梦想和希望，我会找到一种方法，让这个机会为我工作.  难道我没有抓住这个机会吗, I would have found myself in a situation where I would be destined for the street corners where I saw many of my friends arrested and shot. I did not want that for me so 佩因大学 was the only hope that I had to make something of my life. 我永远不会忘记我走进菲尔德牧师办公室的那天, 把我的手举到空中, 并说, “牧师, 无论你叫我做什么，我都会做."  

My current reality was that I probably would not live to see age 25 trying to survive the rough streets of West Baltimore, 如果我搞砸了这次机会.

我在潘恩的第一个学期很郁闷. 这是我人生中第一次, I had taken school serious because I had to and became a scholar; 然而, the current coach was strict and never allowed me to have the opportunity to walk-on to the basketball team because of the kid that I was in high school. 因此, 我向自己保证，一旦我有资格参加NCAA篮球比赛, 我会制作一部精彩的电影, 向其他学校伸出援手, and transfer because I knew I had the talent and was good enough to play on a college team. 这正是我所做的. 我投了一个3.3 年级 point average in that first year and got recruited by a school called Geneva College in Beaver Falls, PA, 他们承诺给我一个繁荣的事业和海外的职业生涯. 然而, as I attended Geneva that following Fall semester and got back out on the court something was missing. The love and encouragement that 佩因大学 had given me to be successful as a young black man in America extended beyond anything that basketball could do for me at that phase in my life. 菲尔德牧师、菲尔德夫人给了我这个社区和大家庭. 杰奎琳·康尼，塞缪尔·沙利文校长，R. 韦恩·伍德森博士. Elias Etinge, and so many others who had poured into me 并说, "Deonte摩西 you can do it. 你来自哪里并不重要, 或者你是如何开始的, you are more than capable of becoming anything you put your mind to if you work for it."  

这些关系对我产生了巨大的影响. The very thing that had defined me and the reason why I had dedicated my life towards change was no longer my identity because of 佩因大学. I quit the Geneva team in total shock to everyone that was a part of that program and returned to 佩因大学.  Upon my return to 佩因大学 and because of the level of belief they instilled in me, I decided to make a difference and encourage others to work hard and be the best versions of themselves that they could be. 

On fire in my spirit with a dream to make a difference, I became an influential student on campus. I graduated from 佩因大学 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English with several accomplishments under my belt: I became a member of a Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, 合并, 两届学生会主席, 篮球队的首发队员和队长, the first student in the history of the college to lead a sports team and the Student Government in an academic year, 在南非担任部长实习生, 莫桑比克.  I also founded a campus ministry that was created to grow freshmen and sophomores' relationships with God through my own journey and experiences that had gotten me to that point in my life. 

目前, I am going into my third year as a graduate student at Duke University-Divinity school and through my matriculation at 佩因大学, God could not be more real in all that He has allowed me to accomplish since I've been here. 自从我来到达勒姆, NC, I became a lot of firsts: the first intern for student ministry in the history for Duke Chapel; the first African American intern for the University of North Carolina's Wesley Fellowship, and currently going into my second year with them; the first African-American resident and caretaker for University Methodist Church and through my role in ministry I have been called into activism, 讲道13次, 领导了5次反对种族不公正的抗议活动, 成立了自己的非营利组织, and hired to help another build community through the teaching of the gospel in low-income areas. With over 46,000 followers and supporters on social media, many are moved and inspired by my story.  我的愿望是，我不会是最后一个，其他学生也会效仿. 是的，上帝是真实的.

潘恩大学带我走到了今天

If 佩因大学 had not taken a chance on me by helping and blessing me with the opportunity to try and make something of my life, 这些神奇的事情都不可能发生.  I would have been somewhere in West Baltimore standing on a street corner until someone killed me or the police took me to jail because that was all I knew.

我当时就说了, 我现在就说, 我将宣扬和分享这些，直到我死去的那一天, 十大赌博平台排行榜救了我的命!  

没有十大赌博平台排行榜, so many students who are overlooked because of mistakes and human judgement would not have been given an opportunity to be something in this world. I love 佩因大学 with all my heart and soul and I will forever be grateful and committed to the advancement of 佩因大学. 

My plan upon completing my degree program at Duke is to move my non-profit back home to Baltimore, MD and make a huge difference in  my  communities by providing resources such as after school programs, 青年团的倡议, 附近的天, 教导福音. 我的目标是竞选巴尔的摩教育学院的职位, 在政府和政界建立良好的声誉, 竞选一个为人民服务的政治职位. 因为上帝保佑我度过了十大赌博平台排行榜, all these things will come to pass for a young man who finished high school with the lowest GPA in the entire school and finished last in his class.