Black History Month

Keith Dawkins, Design Release Engineer and Alumni

Keith Dawkins is a Design Release Engineer for General Motors. He has experience in embedded controls, calibration, and managing programs from design to launch. His hobbies include golf, traveling and exercise. He hopes one day to complete a half-marathon.

To help celebrate Black History Month, we’re pleased to share “My Story, My Voice,” a series of essays written by Schoolcraft College students, faculty, staff and alumni. Please go to schoolcraft.edu/BHM to read the complete collection.

By Keith Dawkins, Design Release Engineer and Alumni

My time at Schoolcraft College ended on a high note. I graduated with a great GPA, won several awards and recognitions, was the Graduation Marshall for my class, and was accepted to U of M’s Electrical Engineering program. My family was proud of me. This was the second chapter of my life after a long battle with cancer, and things were looking up. Graduating from community college was a rare time in my life that I had finished something I had started. It felt good. I was looking optimistically at the future.

My first semester at U of M was challenging. I was enrolled in two of the program’s “weed out” classes: EECS 280 (C++) and EECS 215 (circuits). It was a challenge learning to study differently, not to mention the volume of work, but my classmates and I pushed through. I think we all experienced a paradigm shift in this manner. I began to feel optimistic about the semester when a remnant from the past crept up. I was admitted to the hospital with complications from my previous cancer battle. I was only gone a week, but that’s a lifetime in college studies. I struggled to catch up with my classes and was successful in all but one – EECS 280. I never could regain my footing and subsequently failed the class.

The rest of my time at U of M was met with successes. I earned excellent grades in my classes – even when I retook EECS 280. I was on a roll. Then one day I received the call that we all dread. My mother had passed. The grief was enormous, and I left school to be with my family. After the initial shock of grief, I was comforted by the fact that my mom was so proud to see me finally excelling in life. I was determined to push through and graduate in her honor – which I did in 2015 at the young age of 45.

These days I use what I learned in my schoolwork to develop technologies for electric vehicles. I have had several engineering jobs at General Motors since I graduated, and now I design and launch computer modules for EV SUVs. I am married with three children, and I reside in Farmington Hills. The second chance at life has been both challenging and fulfilling. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Dr. Carmen Wilson, Academic Success Coach

Dr. Carmen Wilson joined Schoolcraft College in 2016, specializing in the disciplines of reading, study skills, and developmental education. She provides individual coaching for students and facilitates group sessions for class visits, TEAS Test Prep, and the Detroit Promise Cohort. Dr. Wilson is the Coordinator for the STARS DEI Leadership Program. Her mantra is, “I am your champion, cheerleader, and accountability partner, helping students soar academically.”

To help celebrate Black History Month, we’re pleased to share “My Story, My Voice,” a series of essays written by Schoolcraft College students, faculty, staff and alumni. Please go to schoolcraft.edu/BHM to read the complete collection.

By Dr. Carmen Wilson, Academic Success Coach

My passion for teaching began at age 6, when, after returning from a day at school I would retreat to my bedroom and line up my dolls across the bed to play teacher, mimicking the instructional style seen earlier in the day. This anecdote, constantly told by my mother, who delighted in relating these events, was her way of showing the pride she felt in my academic accomplishments.

I was raised in a strong, faith-based, Christian family. Our family’s weekly attendance at the Historic Second Baptist Church of Detroit was not negotiable! My father worked two jobs, and my mother stayed at home with my younger brother and I. Their combined support was there for all activities and classes in which we were involved. Fostering my love for reading was done by a weekly walk to the Detroit Public Library Mobile Unit.

A graduate of Michigan State University, my first job was as a Social Studies teacher. I have subsequently filled the professional roles in K12 including teacher, coordinator, academic dean, assistant principal, and principal. My Doctorate in Leadership and Policy Studies provided the segue into higher education. First in my family to attend college, I was blessed to have my parents, son, and closest friends witness me cross the stage at Wayne State University.

My passion has always been to help students achieve academic excellence. My path led me to the field of developmental reading, writing, composition, and academic support. On February 22, 2016, I became a Faculty Facilitator (now Academic Success Coach) at Schoolcraft College. Initially the only African-American female in the Learning Support Services department, I readily identified with the obstacles that beset underrepresented, first-generation populations and worked to create a mentorship program, specifically aimed at helping first-year college students. With the support of Associate Dean Melissa Schultz, the Scholars Taking Off & Rising To Success (STARS) Program was launched during the fall of 2019.

The success of the pilot STARS Program is shown by the anonymous donor, renewing it for the 2021-2022 academic school year. The STARS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Leadership Program is based on four pillars: Academic, Leadership, Service-Learning, and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice. This initiative is designed to provide a wealth of knowledge, a plethora of diverse experiences, promote a catalyst for change at Schoolcraft and the community at-large for two scholars, two mentors, and ten mentees. Indeed, it has been my pleasure and honor to serve as the Coordinator of STARS DEI Leadership Program, a very viable value-added entity at Schoolcraft College. I am excited by the prospect of expanding the program as well as seeing the creative and innovative campus-wide events our STARS scholars will implement.

Thomas “Tommy” DeJesus (Anderson), alumni

Thomas “Tommy” DeJesus (Anderson) has been a community organizer for seven years. A graduate of the University of North Texas in Integrative Studies, he’s currently writing his memoir, which will be released this year.

To help celebrate Black History Month, we’re pleased to share “My Story, My Voice,” a series of essays written by Schoolcraft College students, faculty, staff and alumni. Please go to schoolcraft.edu/BHM to read the complete collection.

By Thomas “Tommy” DeJesus (Anderson), alumni

 “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair” – Mother to Son by Langston Hughes. Truer words have never been spoken. Though I smile outside, my inner thoughts contain memories of a childhood marred by violence and death with a mix of nostalgia.

My parents’ wishes came true as I was born at 11:11 p.m. My mother had already suffered a miscarriage a few years earlier. She was told that the chances of her giving birth were slim. I was born with Meconium Aspiration Syndrome, one of the leading causes of infant mortality. In Detroit – where I was born – the infant mortality rate is so high it rivals the war-torn country of Libya. As an occupational therapist, she was well aware of the odds that Black mothers often faced in dealing with hospitals. Nevertheless, she still persevered, and I was able to pull through without any issues.

I grew up in Farmington Hills. Like Livonia, Farmington Hills represented one of several white flight towns in Metro Detroit during the mid-20^th century. I grew up in a majority Black and Asian neighborhood created through exclusionary zoning in the 1990s. My parents were deep believers of the Christian faith and decided to send me to a Christian school, hoping I’d receive a better education there than a public school. Big mistake.  

Racial epithets and insensitivity flew from the mouths of my “Christian” teachers, classmates, and their parents with impunity. I assumed the treatment I received was normal, so I never complained to my parents. However, my mother saw it and did everything she could to fight it. With her help, the school instituted their first ever Black History Month program my 1^st grade year.

In my 3^rd grade year, she began her own fight with pulmonary hypertension, which ultimately took her life on November 12, 2008. As a result, my father became a single father and the racial torment worsened as we entered the Obama era. Nonetheless, like her during my birth, I persevered.

Over 10 years later, her legacy lives on through me. Today, I continue to serve humanity by promoting Black unity and self-love. “There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson…” – Malcolm X.