Delonte is a RISE senior who thanks to RISE's supporters is applying to colleges, visiting colleges, and will continue to receive support once he enrolls in college. He is a gifted athlete and also a talented student.
"When I was younger our family got evicted every winter. We didn’t always have the clothes to wear
outside the house. We even would wear
the same clothes for school every day for two weeks. Once we became homeless and were living in a
motel for a month, without transportation to school.
My mother had me at a very early age, 16, and I’ve seen her
struggle for a very long time now. All I
want is to help provide for her. Unfortunately,
I don’t know my father. My mother has had
boy friends who I saw were not a good example of a male figure for my life. One time I had to sleep on the train for a
week straight because one of step fathers and I got into an argument and he put
me out while my mother was out of town and didn’t know.
My only outlet for me outside of home is football, which is
a big part of my life but it’s more than just that. Football was always that outlet that that I
could take my anger out in. I started
when I was seven years old. I have had
the same teammates and built a bond with them.
To me they are like my second family.
I am having a good season this year, with three interceptions, one for a
touchdown that won a game for us. When
I’m on the field I think about why I still play, who I’m doing it for, always
thinking about the struggle I see my mom and siblings go through and what they
expect from me. This weighs on me a lot
so much that I cry almost every week about my situation and how I just want to
become more than what I am now.
If I don’t make it in football, during my college years I
want to study statistics or be involved in physical therapy. In school, my favorite subject is math, but
chemistry is very interesting to me because you learn so much about the science
world and important things in your life.
In those two subjects I have gotten good scores and grades throughout
middle school and high school. Those two
subjects are also involved throughout the world, so being proficient in those
subjects will help me in other positive ways.
My mom and siblings have moved to be with my grandmother in
North Carolina. I currently live with my
friend in SE Washington, DC, still in school, doing my best to receive a
scholarship from any D1 school but any school possible. I see better things in my future that no one
seems to believe I can do. I still want
to provide the very best for my mom. She
dropped out in 10th grade while she was having me. I don’t want to follow her path. I just want to make life better for myself
while helping my mother and the rest of my family."