College was Fun! In fact college was so fun my freshman year I literally forgot I was there to learn and prepare for my own future! I was playing football and hanging out. When I did go to class I slept half the time! Oh and the ladies! Let’s just say I had girls on my mind. Then one day my mom called my phone and said she received a letter in the mail from VSU. The letter was a Academic Probation Warning Letter informing me and my family that if I did not improve my academic standing I will be kicked out of school! This was a tremendous wake up call. I couldn’t believe I had been so dumb! Why was I wasting my time? Why was I not realizing and taking advantage of the awesome opportunity and privilege I had to get a great college education and be the first in my family to graduate college? From that moment forward I decided that I was going to take personal responsibility of my own life! I had to choose to take control of my own Future! In order to do this I had to first change the way I was thinking! I decided that I would learn how to “Love Learning!” Did you hear me Student-Athletes?! In order to be Successful in life you have to learn how to “Love Learning!” You have to develop a hunger and burning desire to learn!

Oh so you don’t like that biology class because you are a Mass Communications major and you can’t see any reason why you need to learn about plants? You better learn to “Love Learning!” Oh so you don’t like reading books about History? You better learn to “Love Learning!” Oh so you don’t feel like studying for that exam because you’re satisfied with average and mediocre grades? You better learn to “Love Learning!”

So how do you Develop an appetite for education? Well let me ask you what is your Passion? What do you love doing in your free time? What are your talents? If you didn’t have to work a job and you could do any type of work you choose what would you Do? Learn to develop a sense of purpose for your life! Once you develop a sense of purpose for your own life and you see a Vision of yourself accomplishing a Goal, learning will become easy to you! Instead of going to class and collecting meaningless “data” and “info” you will go to class to gain Knowledge that you can apply in efforts to accomplish your goal!

I started applying the philosophy that I was in control of only two things in my life. That’s my ACTION and my ATTITUDE! No matter what, you can control these two things always! I graduated on time with my B.A. in Mass Communications! I was so excited that I went ahead and enrolled in Graduate school at VSU. While in Grad school I finished up my NCAA athletic eligibility playing football while earning my Masters degree in Sport Management. In 2009 I was selected to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American Team in recognition of my accomplishments as a college scholar-athlete who excels in both Academics and Athletics! Student-Athletes how bad do you want to be successful? Discover your talents and passion and develop a sense of purpose! And Learn to “Love Learning!”

-Domonique Hargrove B.A.,M.S. Founder of Slight Edge Performance Program