A long journey downfield

Update: Yuejay Reeves will attend Bowdoin College next year and play on the football team.

It’s the spring of 2011 when a school counselor gives the chance of a lifetime to 8th grader Yuejay Reeves. Originally from Southeast DC and having lived in Philadelphia caring for his sick grandmother, Yuejay was never able to have an education like what we are familiar with; that is until his counselor introduced him to the ABC House.

For those who may not know, the ABC House, which stands for “A Better Chance,” is a program that doesn’t just exist here in Lower Merion, but in other areas of the country as well. Its initiative is to take a small select group of kids who are recommended by a counselor or teacher from their old school, and to try and give them a better education opportunity in a suburban setting, rather than the inter-city setting many of them are accustomed too.

Those selected to this program live in the local “A Better Chance” House and attend the local school. In Reeves’s case, LM. The day he was accepted was the day his life entirely changed forever, as this new opportunity at LM provided a promising future that never seemed possible in his old neighborhoods.

As far as developing into the football player he is today, Reeves had to overcome some disadvantages that students in LM are not used too. Due to the fact that funding at his previous schools and neighborhoods could at many times be a struggle, the only football opportunity he had growing up was recreational touch and flag football. In fact, it wasn’t even until 8th grade that Reeves played in his first ever organized full contact tackle football game.

Fortunately, due to his dedication and hard work ethic both on and off the field, Reeves, on the brink of his senior season, has the potential to play football in college. Yuejay’s game has risen, as well as his academic performance to the point where playing football at an Ivy League university next year is a potential option. Although he hasn’t received any of- ficial offers just yet, the upcoming school year should be extremely exciting as those start to appear.

“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog,” said Mark Twain, and if the LM football team plans to have success this year, they must live by that. According to Yuejay, while the Bulldogs may not be the biggest team in the Central League, they can certainly play as physical as any of their opponents. It may take a little extra hard work, and it may require going the extra mile, but this team, especially Yuejay, has never feared a challenge.

As his three years at LM, as well as his stay at the ABC House will be coming to an end after this school year, I asked Yuejay what these four years have meant to him, and he told me that they’ve meant everything. All of these opportunities he’s been given in addition to all of the doors that have been opened, all because of an amazing program. His roots originate back to a school that has about a fifty-percent graduation rate, and then if you’re lucky one-tenth of the kids will end up finishing college. Yuejay’s story is a storybook example of a young man overcoming adversity and taking advantage of an oppurtunity given to him. In the areas of Southeast DC and North Philadelphia, nothing is given, every last thing is earned. Many people have little idea of the lifestyle that people from this area are ac- customed to, but Reeves has a firsthand experience. It is a honor to discover the story of a person who has taken advantage of an oppurtunity and created a bright future. It is something that Yuejay himself said is “unheard of” in the neighborhoods he grew up in. That is a story that we all should fully appreciate.

#europe