Howard King is living proof that poor decisions do not have to permanently affect a student’s future.
Facing the Parade Ground from the steps of the Union, King wears a backward-turned baseball cap, jeans and a T-shirt. He has the relaxed look of any young college student.
He does not look like the slacker he once was or the world-traveler he now is.
King, an English senior, graduated from a South Carolina high school with a 1.83 GPA. He attributed his below-average grades to a lack of direction.
“My options were limited,” he said.
After spending time at a community college, King found direction after his first year at LSU when he took a trip to the West African nation of Ghana.
King went to Ghana with an organization called Cross-Cultural Solutions. He described his trip as a “mini-Peace Corp stint.”
Cross-Cultural Solutions is a non-profit organization that accepts volunteers to go to countries such as Ghana, Brazil and China to work on projects designed by locals, according to its Web site, www.crossculturalsolutions.org.
In Ghana, King taught elementary school in the town of Anloga for six weeks. He said the children he taught ranged in age from “diapers to 7 years.”
The main need of the children of Deddidi – the school and day care center where King worked – is education, King said.
King also helped make improvements to facilities by joining locals in cleaning and painting.
Pointing at one of the photos from his trip, King said a wall that appears white was red before he helped clean it.
“[It was red] because they had killed so many mosquitoes by smashing them against the wall,” he said.
The Ghana trip changed King’s life by altering the way he viewed people in other nations.
“That’s where it’s at – changing perspectives on the world,” he said.
King said many Americans view Africans in a negative light.
“It’s not a continent of lions, AIDS and poverty,” he said. “It’s a continent of beautiful people.”
King’s life-altering experience was one he will not forget. He now takes the initiative to help educate Americans about life outside their own nation.
He formed a student organization called Africa Initiative to take other students to Ghana during the semester break and again during the summer. King wants other University students to experience the same life changes he did.
King has lined up enthusiastic professors who are willing to go with him and other students on the overseas trip. He and other Africa Initiative members have raised about half of the $20,000 needed for the trip.
“Right now we’re at $9,600,” he said.
King has approached Student Government President Allen Richey, the LSU Foundation and various University administrators seeking funds.
Joyce Jackson, a geography and anthropology associate professor, will go on the trip. She is confident the funds will be raised.
“Lack of funds can be limiting, and we may not have as many students because of that limitation,” she said. “We are already working as a team to acquire funding, and I have faith that it will happen.”
Meghan Turner, an economics senior, has been working closely with King to get Africa Initiative started.
King described Turner as the “left brain” of the team while he is the “right brain.” King said he is more idealistic while Turner focuses on realistic issues such as the lack of funding.
Turner agreed with King’s observation.
“Money is money,” she said. “The business world we live in is what we have to use to accomplish this thing.”
Both King and Turner hope that though the Ghanian people will benefit from a visit from U.S. college students, the students themselves will be even more rewarded.
“The most rewarding thought is that it’s not going to be just us or just them receiving benefits,” Turner said. “It’s gonna have so much impact on us.”
King said he feels as though American students will do more giving after they return home.
“The way we’re going to give back is speaking about our experience,” he said.
King said spreading the word about the people of Africa does not have to be done through formal speeches.
“It can be done having a beer,” he said. “For that 30 seconds or few minutes, that person was thinking about Africa.”
Looking back at his unsuccessful high school career and his current life, King has high hopes for anyone involved with Africa Initiative’s trip to Ghana.
“If it’s able to change where I was four years ago, it could change just about anyone,” he said.