This year The Omniscient will follow three seniors, Montè Smith, Diane Thompson and Pedro Becquer-Ramos, on their journeys through senior year as they prepare to graduate and attend college.
Montè Smith
After wanting to play football in college and working four years to try and achieve this dream, Smith suffered a major setback with a college-bound athlete’s worst nightmare: injury.
Smith’s injury happened at the beginning of the school year during a scrimmage at Pine Crest High School.
“I got tackled and it was raining. My foot got stuck in the ground and the dude came in and hit me right in the knee,” Smith said.
When Smith went to the hospital they told him he had a torn ACL, which would have ended his season. Immediately after his surgery, he found out he actually had a torn meniscus, and Smith returned to the field Oct. 5 after missing the first seven games.
Smith still hopes to get a scholarship at one of his top three college choices: Campbell, Wingate or Gardner Webb.
“Once [the colleges] found out about my injury, they said I still could get a scholarship. I just need to play well in these last couple of games,” he said. “I know I’m going to do well; I have faith in God.”
However, there is always a possibility that when he returns to the field he will re-injure his knee. If that happens, Smith says it will be the end of his football career. Smith also worries he is not the same player he was just three short months ago.
“I lost a lot of muscle definition in my right leg. I’m a lot slower than I was before,” he said. “It has affected it big time because now it’s a lot of pressure put on my shoulders. I’ve got to do this, I’ve got to do that to receive a scholarship.”
Life without football seemed to last an eternity to Smith.
“It hurts because I see all my friends out there playing who I have played with for the previous three years of my high school career,” he said. “I worked so hard during the off-season and then I go out there and get hurt. It kind of sucked. It made me a stronger person though.”
Smith’s mother went to college but his father did not, so it was important to Montè and his family that he would attend. Smith knew his injury affected his family more than they let on.
“They all tell me it’s not the end of the world, but my mom was banking on me getting a scholarship, so when they told me that I wasn’t playing for the rest of the season, she started crying,” Smith said. “She was thinking, ‘How are we going to get him into a school?’ because we can’t afford it unless I’m on a scholarship.”
Diane Thompson
Between being student body president, taking AP and honors courses and being an active member of DECA, Thompson still found time to write her essays to apply for college. She hopes to attend one of her top college choices next fall.
“I have never [been focused on just] one college my entire life. I have just made it where in school I just apply myself as much as possible, so when I decided, I’d be able to go,” she said. “I’m looking at UNC and Virginia Tech, and then I have reach schools like Duke, Wake Forest and Princeton, just to see if I get in, but I don’t think I will. That’s just to see.”
Thompson says her top choice in state is UNC-Chapel Hill, but she would much rather go out of state to Virginia Tech.
“I really want to go to Virginia Tech just because my mom went there and the environment is so good,” Thompson said. “I think that by going to as many places as possible I’ll be able to experience as much as possible. I like out of state a lot because it is getting out experiencing the world, but I always plan to come back here.”
Unlike many students, Thompson knows exactly what she wants to do after high school.
“I want to go to a four-year college and double major in marketing and political science. Then I want to get a master’s degree somehow, while making money. I really want to found a non-profit organization for high school students,” she said.
Thompson feels her applications are strong enough that she will be accepted into one of her choice schools. However, there is always the possibility of being rejected.
“I’m nervous about being declined, saying no, but since I don’t have a set school that I want to go to, I would probably get over it really quickly,” she said. “I’m nervous about losing the connections with the people I have at high school right now. I’m not really nervous about college.”
Thomspon says her parents really stressed the importance of college to her and her siblings so that they could get every opportunity in life they could.
“They never really gave me an option of going to college; they just told me I had to,” she said.
Pedro Becquer-Ramos
“The first thing that motivates me is becoming an educated person. Becoming someone who doesn’t believe all of the misleading things that media tell us. The second thing that motivates me is improving the environment, like solar and water quality,” Becquer-Ramos said. “My parents motivate me because they didn’t go to college, but they still are living good lives. They worked hard and have prospered and have made a name for themselves. I want to take that a step further.”
Becquer-Ramos will be a first generation college student. During his time at Northwood, he says he has grown as a student.
“Freshman year, I didn’t get involved in too many activities; I think I could describe myself as the average high school student. I liked studying but I put other things in front of it,” he said. “Beginning my sophomore year, I put education first; I made it a priority. I got into better habits—studying habits and physical habits.”
Becquer-Ramos applied and was nominated for the Morehead-Cain scholarship at UNC-Chapel Hill. The Morehead-Cain is a four-year merit scholarship that includes full tuition, student fees, housing, meals, supplies and other miscellaneous needs. Everything would be funded fully.
“Since I’m not a very good writer, I’m a little nervous that I didn’t get my message across in the application. I’m a little nervous I didn’t communicate effectively to the people who will read my scholarship,” he said. “I have gotten involved more in the community and at school, but I don’t know if it is comparable to the achievements of the people I’m going up against for that scholarship. Although I haven’t achieved as much as other people have, I’m certain that I’m better in some aspects of that scholarship than others.”
Becquer-Ramos says if he gets that scholarship he will attend UNC next fall. He is also looking at NC State and UNC-Greensboro, but his top choice is UNC.
“They are top notch schools in the state and country. I just really like the atmosphere of those universities,” he said.
Becquer-Ramos says financial concerns are not a problem in his family but he hopes to do as much as possible for his parents when it comes to paying for college.
“I don’t want my parents to pay for college,” he said. “I don’t want them to pay full tuition at all. I want to be responsible for the money my parents have to pay for my college. I know they’re not going to have trouble paying for it, but I don’t want them to.”
When thinking about college, many feel nervous, frightened and intimidated. Many also don’t want to leave their home and friends. But Becquer-Ramos has a different approach to what lies ahead for him.
“I’m hopeful and excited to see what college is going to bring me,” he said. “I’m not scared or anything; I’m looking forward to it. I’ll definitely miss my parents and friends, but I’m looking forward to making new ones.
–By Ally DeJong
