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Desire, persistence bloom into an Ivy League degree
By DEBORAH HIRSCH ST. PETERSBURG -- Elliad Granger was determined not to become a statistic. He easily could have become one. His mother had fled an abusive marriage to raise five children on her own. Bullets would occasionally pelt the house where he grew up in Campbell Park. When he was 17, his older brother was shot in the head in a parking lot dispute and killed. But the 23-year-old had made up his mind to run his own life and became one of the first members of his extended family to graduate from high school, and then just a few weeks ago, college. Not just any college, but the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Columbia University, an Ivy League school. "My brothers and sisters are all very intelligent, but they kind of got involved with the wrong crowd," Granger said. "I made a decision early on that I wasn't going to get involved in that. It was more important for me to achieve my goals even if that meant being an outcast." Pursuing his dreams wasn't always easy, but Granger had extra encouragement from a friend he met through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Pinellas County, part of a national nonprofit program that provides adult mentors for children typically from single-parent families. Granger's mother, Alisa, 52, had all of her children participate in the program at some point. When he was 7, he and his brother, Chris, were paired with Seminole veterinarian Cliff Barnett. "I wanted the boys to have a positive role model in their lives because they needed that," Ms. Granger said. Barnett also grew up in a single-parent home after his father was killed when he was 3. Wanting to help other kids in similar situations, he joined the program in 1985. He was 28 when he began working with the brothers, taking them out to sports games or dinner, even weekend trips as they grew older. "It was a bit of a culture shock, but at the same time it was really exciting," Granger said. "He exposed us to a lot of things we never had a chance to see." Granger said he associated success with Barnett as he watched him become established in the community. "I came from just a poor background as they did, and I worked hard to succeed," Barnett said. "(Elliad) watched me go from driving a 1970 microbus to having a nice convertible, and moving from a condo to a nice house. They basically would be at my place, and they were smart enough to realize that if they went through college, they could have what I had." But knowing what Barnett had accomplished was not enough to keep Chris interested in education. He spent less time with his brother and Barnett after starting high school and found himself in trouble with the law. He died in 1996 at age 20, shot point blank during an argument in a Pinellas Point parking lot. The man who killed him told police he had fired in self-defense and was never convicted. Chris' death sent Ms. Granger deeper into a chronic depression. But Granger used the tragedy as motivation, remembering how Chris had told him to maintain a 3.5 grade-point average in high school and finish college. "When things may have been tough in school, I would think of him," he said. Granger said he also worked hard to honor his mother, who earned a nursing degree while raising the family by herself. "Just seeing her doing that despite the circumstances we were living was a motivation to me," he said. But most of Granger's ambition came from within. Interested in engineering since elementary school, he applied for the Center for Advanced Technologies, a magnet program at Lakewood High School. He was rejected. Still determined to study there, he wrote a letter of appeal, and the school admitted him. During his four years there, he played football, participated in several engineering and honor societies and kept a 3.61 GPA. "He has always been special," his mother said. "He gets in his mind what he wants to do and he moves forward." Sometimes staying out of trouble meant spending a lot of time alone. "But at the same time, people respected me, and I was serious about succeeding," he said. As driven as he was, succeeding was still a struggle at times. He even took a year off from Columbia to ease the academic pressure and help his mother cope with Chris' death. He considered transferring to a less rigorous college but decided to persist at Columbia. "I just felt like I defied so many odds by doing that," he said. "My brother has totally lived up to the statistic of a black male who didn't live to be 21. I'm setting an example for some of my nephews and my younger brothers, just being able to share my experiences with people coming after me so I can make it easier for them." Granger's siblings are still sorting out their lives, but things are shaping up. His youngest brother also graduated from the CAT program this year and will attend Florida State University. His older brother earned a GED and is working toward certification to repair air conditioners. And his sister, living on her own with three children, will start studying psychology at a local college this summer. Granger stayed in touch with Barnett and his wife, Ruth, throughout college. Although the Big Brothers Big Sisters program asks volunteers to work with children only until they are 18, Barnett developed a long-term friendship with Granger over 16 years. "He decided he just wanted to continue being a part of my life, and I am so grateful for that," Granger said.
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From the Times South Pinellas desks Letters |
