52 pages • 1 hour read
George Jenkins, Rameck Hunt, Sampson Davis, Sharon M. DraperWe Beat the Street: How A Friendship Pact Led to Success
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | YA | Published in 2005A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 16-18Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 16 Summary: “It Feels Good, Man. It’s Like Doing Push-Ups With My Brain!”
The summer between high school and college is a challenging one. The trio move into the dorms at Seton Hall and participate in a seven-week program designed to get them fully prepared for the fall coursework. The hours are long, with classes until 5pm each weeknight and mandatory lights out at 10pm. The friends are at times exhilarated and at times exhausted. Carla, however, is always there to offer whatever message they need to hear at the time, whether it is a firm rebuke to work harder and complain less, or a gentle word of encouragement.
In addition to academic work, the seven-week program contains sessions that focus on professional attire and the three friends debate how to dress as doctors in a way that still represents who they are and where they come from. The students are also required to make a speech, one accepting an imaginary award. From that experience, they glean public-speaking skills, as well as a sense of all the work that will go into future accomplishments. The program’s graduation ceremony includes a speech from a notable African-American pulmonologist, who encourages them to work hard and to give back, knowing that their successes can help redress societal inequities.
Chapter 17 Summary: “The Boy’s Neck Bent in an Odd Way and His Body Fell Limp”
Though they feel prepared for coursework at the start of term, getting used to social interactions takes some getting used to. All three friends are used to being in non-Anglo environments. Suddenly, they are in a sea of white faces. Though most of their white peers are friendly enough, being so outnumbered is strange and disconcerting.
When Rameck’s cousins come to visit and their conversations get a little raucous, another student looks affronted and refuses to leave when Rameck tells him to get lost. Rameck becomes more and more upset by his white peer, who will not leave the common space and eventually Rameck becomes violent, knocking the student to the ground. The police show up but to Rameck’s surprise neither the student nor his mother wants to press charges. Rameck is put on probation by the university and grateful that nothing else happens.
The friends decide it is time for them to pay it forward and set up an organization they name Ujima, after the seventh principal of Kwanzaa (collective work and responsibility to the community). The goal of Ujima, they decide, will be to expose youth from groups underrepresented in higher education to the possibilities of college study and life. The friends’ organization pays for several neighboring elementary schools to tour the Seton Hall campus and learn about offered programs and potential career paths. They hope through this outreach to make higher education seem like a possibility to kids who may not be encouraged at home or in their neighborhood to think about college.
Chapter 18 Summary: “Yo, Yo, Yo! Check It Out!”
The friends’ lives take a surprising, brief detour when they decide, after producing a short karaoke video, to try out making it in the world of hip-hop. Rameck, who always loved the stage, is the most enthusiastic and set on trying to make it big. He and George and a friend, P.S., cut a demo tape that they deliver to a studio, but they never hear any word back. They do, however, manage to book several gigs playing clubs, with Sampson acting as the group’sad-hoc agent. They meet and befriend some celebrities, such as Faith Evans and Biggie Smalls. But when Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur are both gunned down, the trio of friends decides that pursuing a rap career is too risky. Rameck is the most reluctant to abandon their hip-hop dreams, but eventually all three friends see that the path to medical careers is before them, and shouldn’t be abandoned.
Chapters 16-18 Analysis
Life changes for the trio of friends when they arrive at Seton Hall. During their preparatory seven-week program, they get adjusted to college life and get extra preparation in coursework. Carla, an advisor, becomes a mentor for all three of them, always knowing when they need either tough love or a gentle word of support. Once the summer ends, and they move into the regular term, the friends work to adjust to their new surroundings. It isn’t easy, and feeling like outsiders prompts Rameck to violence in one instance, violence that almost gets him expelled. Realizing how far they’ve come, they decide to engage in charitable action, understanding how vital it is that kids of their same upbringing be exposed to the opportunity of higher education. While pressure and studying are intense, they let off steam by performing music together and for a while even half-dream of making it big as rappers. In the end, though, they know the medical field is the right path for them, the longer but surer route.
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