An'del Jones-Foster is sorry his undergraduate career at Emory is over, but he has plenty of plans for his future, including a possible master's degree from the public health program.
A premed student, Jones-Foster changed his life goal of becoming a doctor his senior year. He came to grips with the fact that spending time with his future family is more important to him than the number of hours required to be a doctor would allow. He now plans to become a physician's assistant, but is considering the master's program first.
"I want to be able to take my kids for ice cream on Thursday afternoons and go to their baseball games," says Jones-Foster. "I couldn't spend the time I want to with my family if I were a doctor."
Jones-Foster received a Humanitarian Award this year for his active role in his fraternity's philanthropic projects plus AIDS Walk, Hunger Walk and Hands On Atlanta projects. He founded the Shepherd Program, an adopt-a-family program at Emory, and served as a mentor and tutor for public school children.
In the immediate future, Jones-Foster will be working in the University Conferences office for the summer, teaching himself to type and studying for the GRE. He isn't abandoning his philanthropic efforts, however. He will continue his work with the Shepherd Program and would like to see the program adopt one family for the entire year instead of giving to several aid organizations as they have in the past. He believes that personal involvement is the key to success.
"We can't come to college and just think we're accountable to ourselves," said Jones-Foster. "We make a difference in people's lives whether we know it or not because they're looking at us, and we have to do the right thing. You can't wait 'til a kid is 15, 16 or 17 to tell them college is the right thing to do. Tell them you made it to college, and you came from a broken familyI come from a broken family; I spent time in foster homes so you tell them 'you're going to make it because I'm going to help you.' It's all about mentoring starting at a young age and holding ourselves accountable."
-Deb Hammacher