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THE YEAR OF THE UNDERDOG
MAN OF THE YEAR
and critiques radical movements under
white supremacy. I also participate in con
versations with people who challenge me in
tellectually and surround myself with friends
and mentors who are invested in the critical
investigation of life.
SR: How have you overcome self-doubt re
garding your intellect?
JM: There is a necessary level of self-doubt
that keeps you pressing for the next level. I
realize that I will never know it all and that
helps to keep me vulnerable in my fight to
learn.
SR: What have you done to create balance
between academics and social activities?
JM: I am not sure I have created balance.
The academic is social and the social is aca
demic. I make no binary distinction between
the two. I allow them to exist in harmony,
overlap and inform one another.
SR: What are your post-graduate aspira
tions?
JM: Pursue a Ph.D program with a concen
tration in African-American Studies or an
area of study involving women, gender and
sexuality. I am a writer by trade, so I want to
continue writing; and eventually, I want to
become a tenured professor at Morehouse
College.
Keith Matter
Senior/Philosophy Major
Winston Salem, NC
SR: What does it mean to be an intellectual?
KM: My personal definition of an intellectual
is someone who has an insatiable thirst for
knowledge—new knowledge.
SR: What things do you do to grow and chal
lenge your intellectual capabilities?
KM: I am a debate team captain here at
Morehouse College, and the debate team
forms an intellectual community. The tour
naments we participate in involve a wide
range of topics, so it incentivizes me to
learn and know more. Aside from partici
pating with the debate team, I also listen
to podcasts, read various texts, listen to the
words of my grandparents and so on. I do
not limit myself to one medium of knowl
edge but seek to have as many data inputs
as possible.
SR: How have you overcome self-doubt re
garding your intellect?
KM: I have/dealt with the “imposter syn
drome" before, which caused me to doubt
my accomplishments and my intelligence.
Specifically, it caused me to question my
ability to debate and thinking I was not as
good as I ought to be. Talking with my par
ents, coaches, team members and alum has
helped. I also approach life with a cup-half-
full perspective, which allows me to deal
with self-doubt in a positive way.
SR: What have you done to create balance
between academics and social activities?
KM: Interacting with the debate team mem
bers and my Mellon Mays Fellows has helped
me create balance because they uniquely
understand what it takes to balance school
and a social life, given that we all have
share involvement in similar activities. My
girlfriend has also helped bring balance to
my life. My humanity comes before my in
tellectual ism, so I take care of self first so I
can maintain a healthy balance academical
ly and socially.
SR: What are your post-graduate aspirations:
KM: Long-term, either law school, education
policy or a Ph.D program with a philosophy
focus. I don’t believe I have experienced
enough in life to definitively know yet, so
I want to explore more first. Short-term, I
plan to be an educator for Teach For Ameri
ca here in Atlanta for a two year term.
Je’ion Alexander
Senior/History Major
Chesapeake, VA
SR: What does it mean to be an intellectual?
JA: Thinking out the box. It means to use
one’s intellect as a weapon against igno
rance and oppression.
SR: What things do you do to grow and chal
lenge your intellectual capabilities?
JA: I take time to read and write. I also have
conversations with friends who challenge
me to question things. The topics discussed
at Crown Forum help to grow and challenge
me intellectually as well.
SR: How have you overcome self-doubt re
garding your intellect?
JA: Maintaining faith and self-confidence
and knowing that I may not have all the an
swers but I can learn to find the answers I
need. Also, being in a position as the history
club president to inspire and lead others has
helped me overcome self-doubt.
SR: What have you done to create balance
between academics and social activities?
JA: Academically, I do what’s possible and
necessary. I take breaks from academics |I
to manage stress, and spend my free time 1
outdoors, hanging with friends or attending
various events on and off campus.
SR: What are your post-graduate aspira- 4
tions?
JA: I want to teach history at an HBCU or I
even a PWI. Wherever \ teach, I want it to be j
a place where I am comfortable educating j
and accepted. Additionally, I want to create ]
a publishing company that publishes schol- j
ars representing multiple areas of academic j
disciplines.
Jordan Mosby
Junior/Sociology Major
Largo, MD
SR: What does it mean to be an intellectual? |
JM: To be an intellectual means
to think. I think it’s often
correlated with pro
fessors and aca
demic scholars;
but to me, it
just means
to think. I 1
think you
use your in
tellect when
you’re
to think
something, some
idea and it’s depth.
Applying the things you
know, and your personal expe
rience to the idea in front of you, that’s
using your intellect. 4
SR: What things do you do to grow and chal- J
lenge your intellectual capabilities?
JM: School. Morehouse is challenging myil
intellect right now and it goes beyond thel
classroom. Majoring in Sociology, I’m ableij
to discover things about the social world ll
and see them in action as soon as I leave |
the classroom. Most things I learn are read-;!
ily applicable. I think application is the ul-l
timate test of your intellect. Being able toil
use the things you learn, see, hear and ex-i
perience to generate some action or thought
process in you that allows you to have ani|
impact. Trying to use the things I learn and if
experience to become a better person is howfi]
I challenge my intellectual capabilities.
SR: How have you overcome self-doubt re-1
garding your intellect?
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