Newspaper Page Text
INSIDE MOREHOUSE, MAY 2012
Rashad R. Moore
President, Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel
Assistant
HOMETOWN: Brooklyn, N.Y.
MAJOR: Philosophy
AFTER GRADUATION: Pursuing a master of divinity
degree at the Union Theological Seminary
“The Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel has
been home for me. It’s pretty much been my incubator,
aside from coursework and classes and events around campus. I’ve spent most of my
downtime, my time preparing for a class and my time preparing for the ministry these
four years, in the Chapel. The weekly chapel assistant meetings that have been going
on for the last 33 years on a weekly basis have been a very, very big part of my devel
opment. I preached my first sermon here at Morehouse under the direction of Dean
Lawrence E. Carter Sr. and spent time with him at various events, such as during my
junior year in Morocco at a conference.
“When I look back at Morehouse years from now, one thing I will always remem
ber is spending a lot of time under the tutelage of Dean Carter in the Martin Luther
King Jr. International Chapel.”
“One thing that I’ve done while here at Morehouse that
has been significant to me is start the Next Generation
Scholarship Program. I was fortune enough to find
scholarships to cover my tuition, room and board and all of my study abroad opportu
nities, and I wanted to make sure my brothers could do the same.
The Next Generation Scholarship Program is a non-profit that I started my fresh
man year to help students find funding to stay in school. Through different scholarship
workshops and fund raising initiatives, we’ve helped students find more than $35,000
in outside scholarships and raise more than $16,000 from other fundraising initiatives
and corporate sponsors to give to students.”
Kenneth Williams
Founder, Next Generation Scholarship Program
HOMETOWN: Fairfax, Va.
MAJOR: Economics
AFTER GRADUATION: Working for Deloitte Consulting
in Atlanta
Actor Returns to Morehouse for Next Stage of His Life
Preston Brant
Actor
HOMETOWN: Newark, N.J.
MAJOR: Drama
AFTER GRADUATION: Attending the
University of Illinois to pursue a mas
ter’s of fine arts in acting
AFTER EXCELLING in high school,
everyone knew that Preston Brant would
be successful at Morehouse — everyone
except Preston Brant.
“I started here in 1993 as a student
who was afraid of his own greatness,” he
said. Brant’s grades suffered, he changed
his major multiple times and, as he put
it, just wasn’t “in touch with the great
ness” that was inside of him.
He spent a couple of lackluster
years at Morehouse before moving to
Hollywood to pursue his true passion,
acting. He thrived, landing roles in
movies such as “The Blind Side” and
“Remember the Titans” and on television
in “The Bold and the Beautiful,” “Boston
Public” and “Grounded for Life.”
Still, that lack of self-esteem con
tinued to eat at his soul. He turned to
drugs to silence those demons, leading
to homelessness, hopelessness and pain.
Brant had given up on most things in
his life, but somehow, the one thing he
had never given up on was returning to
Morehouse.
“There was one thing, that one voice
that I always heard,” Brant said. “It
was the voice of Morehouse. I held on
to that voice knowing that if there was
going to be a way out, Morehouse was
going to be a huge part of that.”
He wrote a letter to the dean of
Admissions and the rest is history. At 36
years old and dean for years, Brant will
graduate with a 3.5 grade point average
with a degree in theater. He has been
accepted into a prestigious program at
the University of Illinois, where he will
pursue a masters in fine arts. He wants
to open a community theater that focus
es on the therapeutic value of art.
“Morehouse allows me to see the
example of the type of man I need to be,
through the recognition of the Five Wells
that we’ve learned here at Morehouse,”
Brant said. “Eve been able to become a
better man; I’ve been able to see exam
ples of good men; and I know that one
day I will give back in the same way that
Morehouse has given to me.”