Dylan's going to college

Dreams don't always come true but sometimes, if you fight tooth and nail and struggle through the obstacles and challenges, they can be made into reality.

By now, many people around the world know the story of Dylan Chidick, the 17-year-old who was once homeless but was accepted to 18 universities in the United States.

Chidick currently lives in New Jersey, takes college psychology and sociology courses and is on his way to his first choice school to study corporate law. With the help of a full scholarship he intends to challenge himself over the next four years of school and beyond into the world of contracts and negotiations. He is an example of what a person can do if they do not give up, work hard, and are willing to accept help.

Sunday Newsday recently spoke to Chidick via telephone where he explained that his career goal is to be a corporate lawyer. He said he originally wanted to be a prosecuting attorney but he interned at a law firm and realised it was not for him.

“I like working with contracts, negotiations, merging companies, and I want to help companies start from the ground up and be their legal aid... I’m probably going to minor in business and learn about the laws of business and how it differentiates from regular law. When I looked into it, I really liked how it challenged my mind and I want to have a career where I’m challenged every day. I want to continue learning the older I get and I think this career path would help me.”

He said the joy of being challenged started when he was a young boy living in Point Fortin. He explained when he was one year old his mother, Khadine Phillip, left TT to live in the US. He lived with his father and his family until Phillip sent for him at age seven.

During that time, almost every day, his grandmother would gave him riddles and mind games to solve and they always intrigued him. His family also set high academic standards for him and he realised receiving 100 per cent in tests made him feel good so he kept working.

However, there was one time his grades took a turn for the worse. At one point Phillip, Chidick, and his younger twin brothers who were born with aortic stenosis disorder, a narrowing of the aortic valve opening, had to move from their home in Brooklyn to New Jersey. His mother later fell ill, lost her job and their apartment, and from May to August 2017 the family lived in a homeless shelter.

Chidick said that time of his life was very stressful, especially when they stayed at the homeless shelter. He said he was not able to focus because he was worried someone would hurt his family or that someone would steal their belongings from their room.

Even after the non-profit organisation, Women Rising, helped them get housing funded by a state organisation, he felt unsettled. “They come and check up on us and if they find anything wrong with the home or we are not keeping it the way they want it, it could be taken away so we’re still homeless in a sense although we’re not on the streets,” he said.

At the time, he was taking several free college preparation classes at school and his grades suffered. His teachers were concerned and eventually he told them his situation. “At first my grades took a hit. It dropped really low because I wasn’t explaining my situation to anyone, but when I opened up to my school and told them what was happening, my family and my school worked together to create a plan so I could make up for the work I missed and get back to the academic level I am at now.”

He said seeing his mother make herself vulnerable by asking for help motivated him to inform his school and continue working hard despite his family’s situation. He had a goal he wanted to achieve and knew it would take a lot of work so he buckled down and focussed because he wanted to be successful and never wanted to be homeless again.

When 20 universities came calling

Chidick applied to 20 universities and was accepted to 18. His last acceptance was the one he had been waiting for, the College of New Jersey. He explained he went there on a college trip in his second year of high school and was immediately drawn to the campus, the school spirit of the students, the sports teams, and the excellent programme for his major, political science. In addition, every year he attended the New Jersey student convention where he met other motivated youths with plans for their lives. He felt he would fit in well.

When he was accepted, he could not have been happier or more excited. But there was still the problem of paying for it all.

Fortunately, the media attention his story got opened opportunities for Chidick and he received a full scholarship called the Promise Award, which covers his tuition, books, meals, and dorms for his first two years of college. For the last two years, it will provide a partial scholarship with the amount of money provided depending on his grades. Meanwhile, a non-profit organisation called Give Something Back has agreed to work with officials at the Promise Award to supplement his last two years.

“I was surprised. Just the week before I heard the news I was crying because I didn’t know how I was going to pay for it. I thought I would have had to go to a community college. Not that there’s anything wrong with that but I always wanted to go to the state college. Now I will end up not having to take out any loans or paying any money. It just felt like having so much weight lifted off my shoulders.”

The media coverage also got him a lot of attention in his every day life. He said people would often approach him in the street and ask if he was the guy from the news. He said all the attention was overwhelming at first and it “really pushed” his social skills, but he was happy it was due to something positive rather than negative.

It all started when Phillip, who worked with Women Rising, boasted to her co-workers about the number of colleges that accepted her son – 14 at the time. This led to the family receiving the organisation’s Family of the Year award and the organisation reaching out to the local media for coverage. He was interviewed by CBS NY and the story did so well that other local and national news organisations picked up on it, causing a nation-wide stir.

Another positive of the attention was the affect it had on his 11-year-old brothers, who have started taking their school work more seriously. “They used to copy everything I do ... now they want to one-up me. They are saying, ‘Oh, you got into 18 schools, we’re going to get into 20 schools.’ So I feel it’s affecting them positively because they are paying more attention in school. It’s healthy competition for them.”

Family ties in Trinidad

He said the twins as well as his half-siblings in Trinidad are happy for, and supportive, of him. The twins, he said, would sometimes boast about him in school but he does not mind because it means they have a good role model to look up to in their own house.

“I always knew I had to be a good example for them but now this is making it easier for me. Now I have this thing about me they could use to say, ‘If my brother could do it I could do it too no matter the obstacles.’ It made it easier for me to become a role model for them. It takes some pressure off knowing I already did something positive they could look at.”

Chidick hopes his father, Dexter Chidick, will be able to get a US visa so he could attend his high school graduation.

He said Dexter and other family members still lived in TT so he used to return every “summer” until he was 11. He said there were cows where he lived in Point Fortin and he missed waking up and seeing the animals. He also missed the sunshine, which he said was somehow different from the sunshine in the US, just like the feeling of walking barefooted outside.

“I really miss the community as well. They were always so supportive of each other. I used to go to school in Cap-de-Ville and I remember this time I had to travel from Cap-de-Ville to Point, and from Point to Warden Road and if I was a dollar short they would say, ‘Oh it’s okay. It’s fine. You don’t need to pay.’ That basically exemplifies what Trinidad is. As Trinidadians we care for each other, we take care of one another. You don’t really get that in America because everyone’s just trying to survive.”

He was surprised and appreciative of all the support and positivity sent his way since his story came to light. He also thanked his mother for initiating it all and helping him on his way to his dreams.