“Anthony knew exactly what he was going to do. Nobody else in...

“Anthony knew exactly what he was going to do. Nobody else in our school was talking about being a CEO, or starting a company, but those were his goals. And he was always networking. He’d walk straight into our principal’s office, sit on the couch, and just start talking. I was like: ‘Wow. How does he gain all that confidence?’ Especially coming from where we came from. He was like a brother to me. He pushed me. He’d get mad if I was late for school. He wanted both of us to graduate top ten in our class. He was someone who told me: ‘You’re capable of X, Y, and Z.’ I never had a strong support system, so nobody else was speaking that stuff to me. On the day we graduated, he was so excited for me. He kept shaking my shoulders, screaming: ‘We did it! We did it!’ During college he’d visit me on the weekends. He really helped me through that first year. I’d never been to school with white people before. My whole life I’d been focused on survival. But these kids had studied abroad. They’d taken college placement courses. My whole idea of normal was turned upside down. Of course Anthony fit right in. He could show up anywhere, so I took a lot of inspiration from that. One night he invited me to a party on his campus. But I decided to stay in. The next morning I woke up to a phone call telling me that he’d been stabbed. I logged onto social media and saw posts saying ‘Rest In Peace.’ It was completely random. He’d jumped in to defend a friend. Even the media couldn’t find a way to blame him. Anthony was a good kid, in the wrong place, at the wrong time. It’s been really tough without him. I’ve had to learn to be proud of myself without him in my ear saying: ‘I’m proud of you.” But I’ve thought about him every time I’ve reached a milestone, like when I finally studied abroad in Spain. On the day of my graduation, his college was holding its ceremony at the same time, and Anthony was given an honorary degree. His little nephew accepted it on his behalf. Right as I was finishing my commencement, his sister texted me the pictures. And that’s when the tears came down. Somehow we’d graduated together again. I couldn’t help but scream at the sky: ‘We did it, Ant! We did it!’”