What From Ghetto to Greatness Means to Me: Tyrahel Coleman
2023 Scholarship Recipient
My name is Tyrahel Coleman and I am an individual who believes that I am on a path from ghetto to greatness because of Christ and the community that I have been blessed with. My father was incarcerated for the majority of my life and my mother is a first generation immigrant. Access to success seemed to be scarce for me and my family due to the limitations that society had placed on us. There were nights where my family was hungry and had no option but to be content. Despite that I have the opportunity to be the first in my family to graduate from college. Therefore, ghetto to greatness to me means being born into a lower part of the socioeconomic status but rising against the odds despite your race,background or gender.
The term “ghetto” derives from the Italian word “gettare” which further translates to “casting” or “enclosed”. From my earliest memories, there was a constant feeling of being casted out or enclosed from greatness in my life. Due to the socioeconomic status I was born into, it seemed impossible to be “great”. My family has had times where we were cast out and did not know where we would live and challenges with education and employment. Although I faced these trials within my life, it did not give me an excuse to give up. These experiences instead helped to build me up for the future so that I may be equipped with what God has in store for me. As the Bible says, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us.”(Romans 8:18).
The word ghetto is used in everyday linguistics within society. As a young adult who lives in the Bronx, I live in what some may call the ghetto. I live in a community where it is normal to see individuals who have no place to sleep but the concrete or inside of train stations. In many parts of the Bronx, I see people on the streets who are not in their right mind or as others would say “drug addicts”. Individuals who once had a family, a normal job, a regular school, using their every dime to spend it on addiction. I have learned, however, that the things that are “ghetto” actually are used by God to help to shape and lead me to “greatness” . These places and experiences are teaching me compassion, how to stay motivated, examples of what I want and do not want and the importance of giving back to one’s community. When I see people who have little pool of resources and help one another, I see greatness in the ghetto. Therefore, the ghetto is not a source of discouragement; rather it is a well of encouragement and motivation. As I take all of these experiences and seize every opportunity granted to me, I take a further step in turning ghetto to greatness.
All of these experiences I have undergone within my life have inspired me to help the community around me. I believe that it is my mission to show the greatness that exists in the community I live in and the people therein. As Jesus Christ has commanded us, I must give back to the world in order to complete my mission here on Earth. To date, I have attempted to do this by working with children in summer camp and the vacation Bible school at my church. This allowed me the opportunity to show these children that your zip code is not a measurement of your worth or gifts. More recently, I worked in a nursing home with the elderly. Although I thought I was helping them, they actually helped me. I met individuals who were suffering from strokes and struggled to continue with their everyday life but never gave up. They showed me that no matter what your life is, you always have more to give or pour out. I also, however, met some of the elderly that felt defeated due to illness or loneliness. I, myself can relate to the same pain that the elderly were facing.
In 2021, I was found in a coma at the University At Buffalo. I was forced to undergo three brain surgeries and recover from a stroke. A stroke that had me fail to walk,talk and move my body correctly. This experience allowed me to not only sympathize with those who were under my care but empathize with them. I felt and continue to feel compelled to show them and all that there is nothing too hard for God. I am a living witness that God can call forth greatness out of the worst of situations. That God can allow you to defy statistics and to amaze the people who count you out. According to statistics, I should be incarcerated because my father was or dead because of the illness that I suffered. Despite it all, I have never been in trouble and have fully recovered. I am like the ghetto. People look at it and count it out. But where they see despair, I see the divine. Where people see garbage, I see greatness. Where some may see a mess, I know there are miracles. Because God has taken me from ghetto to greatness.
In conclusion, if you ask me “what does ghetto to greatness mean to me?”, I will tell you that it means taking advantage of the unpleasant aspects of life to utilize it and develop greatness. The Bible says“...he took what the enemy meant for evil and turned it for my good.”(Gen 50:20). Therefore, turning ghetto to greatness is allowing God to change the circumstances of your life to position you where he wants you to be. I truly believe that you can start from the bottom and go wherever God leads you because no good thing will He withhold from you. I am not ghetto. I am great.
