- My name is Drake Pugh.
I'm from the Bay area of California.
Born in San Mateo, raised in Union City.
The community college that I went to was Chabot College
in Hayward, California.
I ended up applying to Wiley because a friend of mine
had actually told the debate team here at Wiley
about myself considering that I was a national champion
in high school.
And the coach called me offering a scholarship.
After some time thinking I actually had to talk
to my English teacher at Chabot College
because she went to an HBCU.
I told her about the opportunity and she was telling me
that it's something that you really shouldn't pass up.
So I became captain of the Wiley debate team
when I got here the spring of my freshman year.
Actually the main way that the debate team here
at Wiley got restarted was because Denzel Washington
and Oprah decided that they were going to make a movie
called "The Great Debaters."
I'm pretty sure most of y'all have hopefully seen it.
If not, go watch a great movie.
Denzel decided after doing his part
that he was going to donate $1 million
just to start back up the team to get students to come here,
to get scholarships going for the team.
So this way it could continue its tradition of being one
of the best debate teams.
The quality of education here at Wiley is...
it's opened my eyes.
It has helped me realize that regardless where you go
you are in charge of your own education.
Seeing things like some students not going to class
and so many others going and knowing the ones
that are going are the ones who are passing,
are the ones who are trying to make sure
that they better themselves.
They're trying to go somewhere.
They're trying to make sure that they do justice
for not only themselves but everyone who helped them
get here.
The one thing that I would have to make sure
I tell students who think about transferring
from California to an HBCU is that they care.
They honestly care about you. They care about your wellbeing.
They care about you as a student and as a person.
Actually once I graduate from here I'm thinking about going
to pursue a Master's degree in theatre.