Apprentice winner talks strategy with freshmen
Eddie R. Cole Jr.
Editor in Chief
Issue date: 8/28/06 Section: Campus News
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The first Black person to win Trump's coveted apprentice position, the 34-year-old founder and CEO of BCT Partners stepped away from his duties of overseeing the renovation and information technology projects for Trump Entertainment Resorts in Atlantic City, N.J. to visit Big Blue Country.
His speech was titled "From the road less traveled to the road never traveled, as the next generation of trailblazers at Tennessee State University."
Based on Robert Frost's famous 1920 poem, "The road less traveled," Pinkett spoke on the importance of blazing trails in order to achieve distinctive levels of greatness.
"We are all in some way, shape or form blazing new paths," Pinkett said. "This institution has generated people that weren't just successful. They were great."
Pinkett left the class with three key points - don't be materialistic, don't be impatient and don't celebrate mediocrity.
In an interview with The Meter, Pinkett said an Internet article led him to finding his speech topic. After conducting a search about TSU's history on en.wikipedia.org, an online database of user created entries, he said his first thought was "This school produces trailblazers."
He said that an HBCU like TSU is a good platform for Black men to further develop their skill sets.
"We need Black men to step up and assume leadership positions," he said. "But, we need sisters to be leaders also.
"The road is made as one walks. As you walk along the Tennessee State campus, you are blazing a path."•
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