The Pact: Three Young Men Make a Promise and Fulfill a Dream

As teenagers from a rough part of Newark, New Jersey, Sampson Davis, Rameck Hunt, and George Jenkins had nothing special going for them except loving mothers and above-average intelligence. Their first stroke of luck was testing into University High, one of Newark's three magnet high schools, and their second was finding each other. They were busy staying out of trouble (most of the time), and discovering the usual ways to skip class and do as little schoolwork as possible, when a recruitment presentation on Seton Hall University reignited George's childhood dream of becoming a dentist. The college was offering a tempting assistance package for minorities in its Pre-Medical/Pre-Dental Plus Program. George convinced his two friends to go to college with him. Through the rigors of medical and dental school, and a brief detour into performing rap music at local clubs, they supported each other. None of them would be allowed to drop out and be reabsorbed by the Newark streets. Today, Davis and Hunt are doctors, and Jenkins is a dentist; the men's Three Doctors Foundation funds scholarships to give other poor black kids the same opportunities.
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