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Former CC 'baller off to Columbia University
MONTEGO BAY, St James - Francois Anderson always planned on going to college, but never in his wildest dreams, he says, he thought he would make it to the Ivy League level.
The former Cornwall College daCosta Cup player and national Under-17 representative planned to follow in the footsteps of two elder brothers and get a college degree through sports, his chosen discipline being football.
He was therefore "very excited" when Leo Chappell, head men's football coach at Columbia University approached him with a view of offering him a scholarship.
"In my wildest dreams, I had no idea I could have a chance to attend an Ivy League school and when the coach approached me I was very excited and it was not hard to say yes," he told the Sunday Observer.
Ivy league schools, among the oldest and most prestigious institutions of tertiary education in the United States do not offer sports scholarships, so Anderson is there on an academic scholarship after scoring 1,750 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) from a maximum 2,400, plus he carried a 5.0 Grade Point Average (GPA) from a maximum 6.0 while attending The Kent School in Connecticut the last two years.
His GPA was good enough to keep him on the Honour Roll at The Kent School, but he said he missed the High Honour Roll by .1 grade.
The Kent School is a prestigious Prep school that he says is designed to prepare its students for University.
He had been approached by several other top schools on the eastern seaboard of the United States, including Kenyon College, Bucknell, Yale, Boston University and Union College.
A quote from Chappel on the Columbia website described Anderson as "A complete player on both sides of the ball".
Anderson told the Sunday Observer that Columbia had more appeal to him, including being located in Manhattan, New York, and also the list of distinguished alumni, including US presidential aspirant Barack Obama.
Anderson said, "being in the United States and listening and watching politics and hearing that Barack Obama went to Columbia that was a big plus as well".
The reaction from his family was overwhelming as well as he said his mother Verna Fine was "elated and over-joyed. She was saying she could not believe that one of her sons could be going to a school of such prestige", he said.
Other relatives, including those living in the United States, were also calling to offer well wishes, and one cousin he said remarked that she now had a reason to visit New York.
Anderson, who left the island recently for New York, will start classes at Columbia on September 2, but was scheduled to join preseason football training on August 20 when he will be one of several new players on the team.
At Columbia he said he was expecting "a very challenging education system and looking forward to what Columbia has to offer in terms of academics".
He said he had done some research and found out that not only is the "core curriculum very challenging, it has caused some controversy among other Ivy League schools as they say Columbia is too tough on its students".
Francois is still undecided what he will major in, but says he will pursue "liberal arts and science for the first two years".
He says he is also looking forward to total integration into school life at Columbia as he was at Kent.
After being "culture shocked" his first month at Kent, he said he managed to get involved in school life and in addition to football and a very packed schedule, he also took part in the diversity and culture club.
Nothing he had experienced before had prepared him for life at Kent, which he described as being "totally different from Jamaica; first of all the atmosphere and everything. There were so many students from different backgrounds and diverse cultures I had a culture shock when I got here as I was the only person there from this background".
Diversity, he said, was the theme at Kent, but the main aim "is to prepare you for college so the education system is very challenging and tougher than anything I was used to", adding they had classes six days a week, Monday to Saturday and "then Sunday it is chapel which is another requirement... we had requirements seven days a week".
The students dressed formally for school, "the academic uniform is dress pants, dress shirts, ties and blazers".
On the field, the midfielder said he did not miss a beat as the competition in the Western New England Prep Schools Soccer Association was "just as challenging as the daCosta Cup", adding that while Kent was not one of the top schools, they were able to hold their own against the likes of Hotchkiss, Avon Old Farms and Loomis Chaffee, who he described as "the big guns".
The highlights of his two years at Kent, he said, was making the All-star team and playing on the wining team on both occasions.
The All-star game, he said, was pivotal in getting him noticed by the college coaches.
The former Cornwall College daCosta Cup player and national Under-17 representative planned to follow in the footsteps of two elder brothers and get a college degree through sports, his chosen discipline being football.
He was therefore "very excited" when Leo Chappell, head men's football coach at Columbia University approached him with a view of offering him a scholarship.
"In my wildest dreams, I had no idea I could have a chance to attend an Ivy League school and when the coach approached me I was very excited and it was not hard to say yes," he told the Sunday Observer.
Ivy league schools, among the oldest and most prestigious institutions of tertiary education in the United States do not offer sports scholarships, so Anderson is there on an academic scholarship after scoring 1,750 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) from a maximum 2,400, plus he carried a 5.0 Grade Point Average (GPA) from a maximum 6.0 while attending The Kent School in Connecticut the last two years.
His GPA was good enough to keep him on the Honour Roll at The Kent School, but he said he missed the High Honour Roll by .1 grade.
The Kent School is a prestigious Prep school that he says is designed to prepare its students for University.
He had been approached by several other top schools on the eastern seaboard of the United States, including Kenyon College, Bucknell, Yale, Boston University and Union College.
A quote from Chappel on the Columbia website described Anderson as "A complete player on both sides of the ball".
Anderson told the Sunday Observer that Columbia had more appeal to him, including being located in Manhattan, New York, and also the list of distinguished alumni, including US presidential aspirant Barack Obama.
Anderson said, "being in the United States and listening and watching politics and hearing that Barack Obama went to Columbia that was a big plus as well".
The reaction from his family was overwhelming as well as he said his mother Verna Fine was "elated and over-joyed. She was saying she could not believe that one of her sons could be going to a school of such prestige", he said.
Other relatives, including those living in the United States, were also calling to offer well wishes, and one cousin he said remarked that she now had a reason to visit New York.
Anderson, who left the island recently for New York, will start classes at Columbia on September 2, but was scheduled to join preseason football training on August 20 when he will be one of several new players on the team.
At Columbia he said he was expecting "a very challenging education system and looking forward to what Columbia has to offer in terms of academics".
He said he had done some research and found out that not only is the "core curriculum very challenging, it has caused some controversy among other Ivy League schools as they say Columbia is too tough on its students".
Francois is still undecided what he will major in, but says he will pursue "liberal arts and science for the first two years".
He says he is also looking forward to total integration into school life at Columbia as he was at Kent.
After being "culture shocked" his first month at Kent, he said he managed to get involved in school life and in addition to football and a very packed schedule, he also took part in the diversity and culture club.
Nothing he had experienced before had prepared him for life at Kent, which he described as being "totally different from Jamaica; first of all the atmosphere and everything. There were so many students from different backgrounds and diverse cultures I had a culture shock when I got here as I was the only person there from this background".
Diversity, he said, was the theme at Kent, but the main aim "is to prepare you for college so the education system is very challenging and tougher than anything I was used to", adding they had classes six days a week, Monday to Saturday and "then Sunday it is chapel which is another requirement... we had requirements seven days a week".
The students dressed formally for school, "the academic uniform is dress pants, dress shirts, ties and blazers".
On the field, the midfielder said he did not miss a beat as the competition in the Western New England Prep Schools Soccer Association was "just as challenging as the daCosta Cup", adding that while Kent was not one of the top schools, they were able to hold their own against the likes of Hotchkiss, Avon Old Farms and Loomis Chaffee, who he described as "the big guns".
The highlights of his two years at Kent, he said, was making the All-star team and playing on the wining team on both occasions.
The All-star game, he said, was pivotal in getting him noticed by the college coaches.
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