My name is Jamal Henrique. I am a tall, good-looking young black man living in the city of Bridgewater, Massachusetts. I lead a pretty normal life. I attend the Bridgewater Institute of Technology, a private school located in the town of Bridgewater, Massachusetts. I am a member of the Bridgewater Tech varsity football team. I volunteer at the local hospital and also mentor those who need it. I feel like I am blessed in life and I just want to give back a little, you know. I am a man who counts his blessings. I am the son of very proud and accomplished parents. They made all the difference.
My mother, Helen James Henrique is the President and Founder of the New England Adventist Academy, a private, religiously-themed school located right outside the city of Brockton. My father, Luther Henrique is a Sergeant with the Boston Police Department. My brother Lucas is a Corrections Officer in Plymouth County. We do alright for ourselves. Like everyone else, we had our ups and downs but we always considered ourselves blessed. However, as all black people in America know, racism is alive and well, in covert form. How else could you explain what recently happened to me?
I guess I've been so busy with my own life, I haven't paid too much attention with what's going on in the world. When Bridgewater Tech offered me a full student-athlete scholarship, my world changed. I mean, I was a senior at the New England Adventist Academy when that happened. The New England Adventist Academy is a fine school. Most of the students are either African-American, Cape Verdean or Haiti like myself. The school has eight hundred students and combines rigorous academia with religious education. Recently, they added varsity sports. For young men they offered Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Soccer, Swimming, Football, Wrestling, Volleyball and Lacrosse. For young women they offered Softball, Basketball, Cross Country, Soccer, Swimming, Field Hockey, Volleyball and Lacrosse. We competed in the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association. I was the quarterback of the New England Adventist Academy's first-ever varsity football team. I led them to victories against local athletic powerhouses such as Brockton High School, Cardinal Spellman High School and Boston College. I found myself on the cover of Sports Illustrated once. Not bad for a collegiate young black man, hey?
Before I even graduated from high school, the big colleges and universities out there came looking for me. Georgia Tech. Boston College. Ohio State University. Pennsylvania State. Notre Dame University. I wanted to attend a Division One school with a kick-ass football team. So, I looked long and hard for a good school where I would have the potential to shine. To be honest, the Bridgewater Institute of Technology wasn't even on my radar. Located in the city of Bridgewater, Bridgewater Tech was a fast-growing school which was founded in 1987 by a conglomerate of New England organizations and businesses. Twenty one years later, it was one of the biggest schools in Massachusetts, yet its name didn't carry any special meaning in most people's minds.
The Bridgewater Institute of Technology had a focus on engineering and computing. It also boasted of a thirty-nine-thousand-person student body. Most of the students came from the city of Bridgewater and surrounding towns from all over Massachusetts. I was interested in getting a degree in civil engineering, and next to MIT and Harvard, Bridgewater Tech was considered one of New England's best engineering schools. What really impressed me was the diversity of its campus. Over thirty eight percent of the student body was African-American. Forty percent of the student body was Caucasian and twenty percent were of Latino or Hispanic origin. Demographically speaking, the school was fifty three percent male and forty seven percent female. The school had two campuses, one in Bridgewater and the other in Charlestown. I visited the Bridgewater campus, which I chose because it was closer to home. I was amazed. The place was awesome!
I mean, the entire campus was state of the art. From the classrooms to the cafeterias and the dormitories. I fell in love with the Bridgewater campus when I went with my family for a visit. I was particularly impressed with the Bridgewater Tech Department of Athletics. They had every damn sport you could think of, and then some! Men's varsity sports were Baseball, Basketball, Football, Cross Country, Soccer, Swimming, Volleyball, Lacrosse, Golf, Tennis, Ice Hockey, Alpine Skiing, Archery, Wrestling, Rugby, Rowing, Water Polo, Sailing, Pistol, Gymnastics, Rifle, Fencing and Bowling. Women's varsity sports include Softball, Basketball, Cross Country, Soccer, Swimming, Volleyball, Sailing, Lacrosse, Golf, Tennis, Ice Hockey, Alpine Skiing, Archery, Wrestling, Rugby, Rowing, Water Polo, Gymnastics, Rifle, Equestrian, Fencing and Bowling.
To say that I was impressed would have been an understatement. The Bridgewater Institute of Technology had it all, and then some. Yeah, I knew I was going to like it there. I moved into the dormitories, and met my roommate. His name was Shane Harolds, and he was a young African-American from the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts. He used to play football for Plymouth North High School and won himself an athletic scholarship to Bridgewater Tech. I would have liked to say that we became friends but I'd be lying. We were more than friends, we were brothers. Shane and I had so much in common it was scary. We were both Adventists and both of us came from strong families. Shane was raised by his father Alexander Harolds, a fireman from Plymouth. His mother Alicia died in the early days of the Iraq War. She was a decorated U.S. Army soldier. I felt sad when he told me but Shane assured me that she was in a better place. He told me that part of the reason why he pushed himself so much both on and off the gridiron was to keep his mother's memory alive.