“The most expensive thing I’m the world is trust. It can take years to earn and just a matter of seconds to lose.” , are the powerful words of Tupac Shakur.
Jose “Ricky “ Matthews has quite the story to tell and the story begins in the gritty streets of Brooklyn, New York, where he was raised.
Take heed as Ricky describes his experience growing up in Brooklyn “I lived in one of the worst neighborhoods in Brooklyn ;where Blacks and Hispanics are constantly getting arrested. Positivity is only found in school and sports
He said.
I was constantly on guard”. Ricky said “ I was raised by three beautiful black independent women. “ Matthew’s mother kept him active with football, karate and art. He said “ she kept me in the house until I 14”. He would go on to say that in his teens he would get arrested for “dumb stuff “
:Matthews pictured above posing in the courtyard of Mitchell Hall
Upon graduating from high school Matthews attended a prep school in Georgia but it didn’t work the way that he hoped it would. After returning home to Brooklyn before being connected with South Carolina State University through a family member who worked there. Matthews now 23 years old recalls his experience coming to SC State he said “ it was new to me, I found myself being around people who reminded me of the people I hung out with in Brooklyn,and I knew that I wanted to be better than I was so I had to make a change. Everything began with 101 black men “.
The 101 black men is an organization on the campus of SC State that aims to mold young black men into leaders. It is through the 101 black men that Ricky met his mentor Dr. Rashad Anderson, who is the organizer of the 101 black men. Matthew’s relationship with Dr. Anderson would later lead him to join another campus organization as he would be apart of the Phi Mu Alpha music fraternity ,an organization that Dr. Anderson is also a member of. He said “ I’m a city boy adapting to a country school. I’m trying to be better than who I was and to become the leader I was meant to be “.
: Jose pictured above during an event for Phi Mu Alpha
Jose is now in his Junior year at SC State and is majoring in Mass communications, he plans on being a sports broadcaster while also chasing his dream of playing in the National Football league. Ricky’s hobbies include playing football, working out, running track, and listening to music. On the topic of his hobbies he said “ I’m the type of guy that enjoys things that people take for granted. Anything, the little things in life matter. Sometimes I enjoy being alone .” Ricky described himself as a nonjudgmental, laidback, ambitious, down to earth person.
In his words he said “ I stay to myself but I’m a people person. “
Ricky would go on to say that he doesn’t like to fail and that while he doesn’t consider himself to be the smartest person, what may lack in smarts he makes up for with effort and he will never give up.
With that mentality in mind I doubt anything or anyone can stop Ricky Matthews from being a success, because he’s come to far to allow for anything less than to be a success.
: Matthews all smiles as he poses infront of Mitchell Hall.
Pinterest is the social media outlet that allows users to create a page consisting of pictures. it is often referred to as the online scrapbook. Pinterest was created in 2010 by Ben Silbermann , who worked for google as an online advertiser . After leaving Google Silbermann teamed up with a Paul Sciarra to produce iPhone applications. the two would later produce Tote but the application failed to gain notoriety. The two former Yale graduates would soon hit the jackpot as they would create the board based social media platform that would later be known as Pinterest.
