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Caroline County High School graduate Marcel Anderson is heading to Norfolk State University today |
BY PORTSIA SMITH
Jail or death.
A few years ago, those were the only options Marcel Anderson thought he had in his future.
The 18-year-old Caroline County native was suspended so many times for fighting that he missed more school days than he attended.
As a result, he failed the ninth grade.
Not once.
Not twice.
But three times.
He was headed down a dark path.
But two events--both tragic--helped him turn his life around.
'SHE DIDN'T ANSWER'
Marcel hadn't always been a troubled kid.
He was the youngest of three children, and the first boy born into his large family.
Because of that he grew up spoiled and used to getting his way.
He was close to his mother, and they could talk about anything.
In July 2005, Marcel and his family were getting ready to attend a wedding.
"That morning we called her on her cell phone and she didn't answer," Marcel said about his mother, Iris. "Later on we got the news."
His mother's body was found behind a building on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.
She had been violently murdered. She was 37. Marcel was 14 at the time.
Marcel doesn't know the details of her death.
He's not interested in hearing them, either.
"All I know is it was an incident with the man she was dating and she died at the hands of him," he said.
Jamal Pleasants of Henrico County was convicted of her murder and sentenced to 30 years.
"I just wanted to harm him," Marcel said. He developed an explosive temper. Anything would set him off. That's why he got into so many fights once he started high school that fall.
"I lost my mother, so I didn't have that person that cared for me. So I didn't care about anything," he said. "I felt alone. The only thing that came around me was trouble."
'COULD HAVE BEEN ME'
Marcel could have moved in with his father in Richmond, but he didn't want to.
He felt closer to his mother in Caroline, where he had lived most of his life.
Marcel's aunt, Faye Tillman, took him and his two older sisters in. Tillman also has two children of her own.
They lived in a three-bedroom house on Riva Ridge Road in the Dawn area of Caroline.
In the past, that area was troubled by crime, drugs and death. It developed a bad reputation that it hasn't shaken.
"It's better now, but people only remember the bad stuff," Marcel said. "They just bad-mouth the community instead of trying to improve it."
A feud between young people in Dawn and Bowling Green has existed for years.
That was evident in November 2007 at a Sweet 16 party that Marcel attended.
He said he was having a good time until the end of the night, when several fights broke out as he was leaving the building.
He wasn't involved until someone came out of nowhere and punched him.
Then he started fighting back.
People were trying to break it up, but it kept going until a gunshot sounded.
Everyone scattered.
He saw that his cousin, 16-year-old Raquel Hunter, had been shot.
Marcel called 911 as he helplessly watched his cousin die.
That same cold feeling of anger and frustration swept over him as it had when his mother died.
LaShawn Monroe, 24, of Bowling Green is serving 50 years in prison for Hunter's death and an unrelated, separate murder in the county.
Marcel had had enough.
"Another ceremony. Eventually you get tired of it," he said. "It could have been me. It could have been anybody."
After failing the ninth grade three times, Marcel enrolled in the alternative-education program at the original Walker-Grant School in Fredericksburg.
He passed 13 classes that year, so he would be able to attend Caroline High as a senior the following year.
"My entire group of friends said we were gonna straighten up and stop fighting," he said. "We didn't want to be stuck with a small-time job or not doing anything, so we set goals."
If not for that, he said, he'd be in jail or in the ground.
'I'M GOING TO COLLEGE'
At Caroline High, Marcel took up sports. He played football in the fall and ran track in the spring--something he said kept him out of trouble.
He stopped going to parties. He got his schoolwork done.
And he had some help along the way.
Cornelius Black, who teaches architectural drafting and technical drawing at the high school, played a big role in Marcel's decision to go to college.
"He saw the potential in me and helped me see it," Marcel said. "He watched me in my sporting events and he was there for me."
In February, Marcel said, he accepted Christ and has been under the spiritual leadership of the Rev. Duane Fields, who helped him get through Hunter's death and plans to help him write a book.
"The people in my church use my story as a testimony to show that nothing in life is easy, but it's possible," Marcel said.
He has also created a bond with Xavier Richardson, president of the Mary Washington Hospital Foundation, who mentors young people.
"Instead of having negativity, I'm creating a more positive atmosphere for my life," Marcel said. "That's the difference between me then and now."
Marcel graduated from Caroline High in June.
Today, Marcel is on his way to Norfolk State University, where he plans to major in architecture or engineering.
He says his mother would be proud.
Portsia Smith: 540/374-5419
Email: psmith@fredericksburg.com
