Education
Walter Fortson, former crack cocaine dealer turned honors student receives prestigious scholarship
When Walter Fortson was arrested in 2007 for dealing crack cocaine, he believed a police officer who told him “your life is over.”

When Walter Fortson was arrested in 2007 for dealing crack cocaine, he believed a police officer who told him “your life is over.”
From drug dealer to honor student at Rutgers
Five years later, he is now an honors student at Rutgers University, and learned this week that he won a $30,000 Truman Scholarship, the only New Jersey undergraduate to receive the prestigious recognition. The national award for graduate school costs is given to outstanding students pursuing careers in government or public affairs.
The officer told me, ‘You know your life is over, right?’ I took him at his word,” Fortson said on Friday.
After taking a plea deal, he was sentenced to up to five years in prison with the possibility of parole after 26 months.
“I knew that I had to bear the weight of being a felon and I thought that was something I would never be able to shed,” he said.
Walter Fortson enrolled at Rutgers University
While Fortson was at Mountainview Youth Correctional Facility, he was introduced to Donald Roden, a Rutgers history professor, who in 2005 started the program to help persons incarcerated enroll as students and through which Fortson and 35 other students are currently enrolled.
“He impressed me immediately by his determination and his brilliance,” Roden said of Fortson.
At Rutgers, where he is studying exercise physiology, Fortson helped create and is now the president of the Mountainview Student Organization, through which student volunteers from Princeton University and Rutgers tutor at state correctional facilities.
Prison and particularly the frequent strip searches, Fortson said, “is something I would not wish on my worst enemy.” Fortson said he accepts that he broke the law and had to be punished.
But he said he also felt lucky to get a second chance in life to rehabilitate himself once he was out on parole, and now wants to help other young people in prison find the same opportunities.
----------------------------------------------------------
Connect with Unheard Voices on X, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube
Download the app on Google Play or ITunes.
----------------------------------------------------------
Unheard Voices Magazine is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
Discover more from Unheard Voices Magazine
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
-
News2 weeks ago
Son Discovers Mother Deceased After Devastating St. Louis Tornado : “Our House Is Gone and My Mom Is Gone”
-
News2 weeks ago
Officials declare suicide as cause of death for Georgia twins found on mountain
-
Crime & Justice2 weeks ago
9-year-old hero killed while trying to get younger siblings to safety amid gunfire
-
News21 hours ago
George Floyd’s 11-year-old daughter says she’s being bullied in school
-
Social Justice1 day ago
Community rallies to preserve Knoxville African American cemetery and memorialize Black Veterans buried in unmarked graves
-
Black Excellence4 days ago
Teen goes viral for working at Burger King after graduation, GoFundMe raises more than $100,000
-
In Memoriam4 days ago
Brian McKnight’s son Niko dies at 32 after cancer battle
-
News2 weeks ago
Louisiana couple dies hours apart in separate car crashes, leaves behind 4-year-old son