Goal Setter: How to Win at College

By Dr. Rashad Vance

Looking back, my life at school wasn't quite easy for me. Sometimes I hated school, but I was so determined to wrestle at the division I level, that I worked as hard as I could in order to accomplish that goal. I hardly ever focused on my problems; For the most part, I focused on exerting myself in ways that set me aside and away from the rest. Upon earning my masters and doctoral degree, I had to work just as hard, if not, way harder than I had before. During this process, I had an epiphany. If I put forth the effort into excelling and keeping my mind focused on achieving my goals, then I could and would accomplish anything I've ever dreamt of.

This book talks about how wrestling at the division 1 level prepared me to earn my doctorate degree and equipped me for success despite having to face many ongoing challenges. Today, I am an educator for the Baltimore City Public Schools System (BCPSS) and a mixed martial arts champion. Furthermore, I run multiple small businesses while I teach fitness and mixed martial arts lessons in my community; In addition to performing sports administration duties for Baltimore City Recreation and Parks. Early in life, I developed a work ethic and learned discipline coupled with delayed gratification. This has prepared me to get through school as a collegiate athlete and to also make hard sacrifices which allowed me to earn my doctorate degree.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781645448907

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Goal Setter

How to Win at College

Dr. Rashad Vance

Copyright © 2021 Dr. Rashad Vance

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2021

ISBN 978-1-64544-889-1 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-64544-890-7 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Robb Street Challenges

Winston Middle

Mervo

College

Graduate School

Doctorate Degree Challenges

Introduction

Being a Baltimore City native, sometimes I wonder where I would be without scholastic sports. Would I be as successful today? Would I be as engaged in wellness to the degree at which I am? I believe if I had not engaged in scholastic sports, I would have never attended college, wrestled at the division I collegiate level, and/or completed my doctorate degree. After middle school, I attended a vocational-technical (vo-tech) high school and majored in auto mechanics. I was extremely talented in areas outside of my trade, such as art, band, and sports. Even though I attended a trade school with no initial plans for going to college, I graduated from high school with plans on furthering my education and getting a degree in athletics. Setting goals to be a good division 1 wrestler coupled with the strong core values that my family instilled in me, gave me the mindset to focus on my academics, and to shy away from trouble.

I had a good family; however, I still faced some challenges in school. Although I did not start wrestling until eleventh grade, which was and still is uncommon for any collegiate wrestler at the division I level. This led me to spend extra practice hours developing and improving my skills. Shortly before finishing my Bachelor of Science degree, I was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of twenty-two. While it appeared that things came easy for me to others in my class, I had to study extremely hard to get and stay where I needed to be. Being as though I am a kinesthetic learner, sometimes I used a combination of books and inanimate objects to study and grasp needed material. Furthermore, I worked my way through school. Sometimes I worked two part-time jobs while I was playing collegiate sports. Again, my family was extremely supportive. My mother and aunt both played very pivotal roles in my educational standing. As my aunt occasionally transported me to college on top of her busy schedule, my mother was the driving force in my ear that I needed to succeed. If there was anyone specific that I needed to talk to regarding resources, she always pointed me in the right direction. Back to my aunt, since she was a lawyer, she would revise many of my assignments along with critiquing me and my cousins’ grammar and dialect. I realized that many kids that I went to school with did not have the same kind of guidance and support as I did, which made me appreciate them even more. I did have older men in my life along the way, but the men in my family were men of manual labor that earned enough money to raise their families. So to them it didn’t matter if I decided to go to college or not. But the overachiever in me didn’t allow me to settle for less, or to even get comfortable because I wanted to wrestle at the division one level which required me to attend college.

While others my age sold and used drugs, my surroundings and the circumstances of our livelihoods led us to get into a series of fights due to neighboring rivalries and territorialism. During some of my middle school and high school years, several of my teachers were full time substitutes and were not certified teachers, which caused myself and other classmates to fall below grade level. Never-the-less, I wanted more out of life than what I had experienced. Therefore, I began to set goals for myself and thoroughly devised a plan to achieve them all in entirety. Most of my childhood friends did not go to college which further set me aside from them as we grew older. Many of my childhood peers did not have the resources to advance into higher education. A few of them were murdered, and some of them were and are in and out of prison. This pattern did not exclude all of my childhood friends that came from families with good resources, even a few of them succumbed to the world of fights, drugs, and revolving prison doors.

Robb Street Challenges

I was born in New Orleans Louisiana to my Robert & Lizette Vance, my father, an average height, dark skin muscular man who was drafted and went to Vietnam from Junior College. For dad who grew up during the Civil Right/ Vietnam era attended newly desegrated schools for Elementary, Junior High, and High seeing different things from his immediate neighborhood and surroundings desired more in life. My father also decided to attend, City College; one of the most prestigious high schools alongside our former mayor Kurt Smoke. Attending City College High School and working parttime during his school years kept my father out of a lot of trouble that he would have indulged in elsewhere.

My mom was a strong, sweet, very spiritual woman who prayed regularly and always trusted in God. Church was a natural regime for her, a Sunday was never missed. She was very well kept, she made sure that we understood the basic fundamentals of Life. Whether it was the importance of housework, homework, schoolwork, or even just self representation. By her being a stay at home mom, she was active in a plethora of areas in my life. As she served on the PTA board, she was active and paid attention to details that others may deem as miniscule. These miniscule details added to the foundation very well.

While in New Orleans my Mom gave birth to my brother Ramsey, and myself. My parents’ original plans did not workout. My mom relocated back to Baltimore, before giving birth to my younger sister Tia almost ready to give up on her marriage. In order to save his marriage and remain a strong father figure, my father left New Orleans shortly after and came back to Baltimore to restore his marriage and help raise his family. My parents’ marriage had some turbulent moments, but they agreed not to give up during the difficult times. In