Odessa Essay, Research Paper

John L. Thornton Jr.

Soc. 250

students/Educational Plans:

Boobie Miles was good football, but haunted by injuries. He was not a very good student. All he wanted to do was go to major university for football and then go into the pro’s. He received a scholarship to Ranger Junior College for football, and flunked out after a year.

Brian Chavez was stereotyped as a dumb jock, but was the number one student in his class. He was a good football player. He went on to Harvard and hoped to go on to law school.

Ivory Christian wanted to be a preacher while in high school, and was the only student to be recruited by a Division I school. He went to Texas Christian University, but dropped out and went to Odessa College.

Jerrod McDougal wanted to play football more then anything. Went to Odessa College for awhile, then dropped out and worked in his father’s oil field.

Mike Winchell was a good student. He went to Baylor for a year and then dropped out. He went to Odessa College for a semester and then transferred to Texas Tech to major in accounting.

Don Billingsley did not care about anything in high school except for football and alcohol. He straightened up his act and went on to East Central University. He played football for awhile there, and was majoring in mass communications.

Eddie Driscoll was a smart kid and went to Oberlin College.

Scott Crutchfield was in the top ten rank at Permian, and went on to Duke.

Shawn Crow was a great running back for Permian and had hopes on going to college.

Julie Gardner went to Swarthmore College and Bridgette Vandeventer went to Odessa College.

II. College Going Rate For Odessa:

According to the people given in the section above, the college going rate for four year colleges for the students at Permian High School was about 72%.

III. College Going Rate For My High School:

The college going rate for my high school, which was a private school, was about 90%.

IV. Town Characteristics:

The town of Odessa was similar to my town in many ways. They are both blue collar working class towns, that are trying to support their kids so they can go on to have a good life. My town is a small town with financially stable families, but does not have anyone with wealth living within the boarders of the town. My town was very supportive of our football team, and politicians would always show up there in order to gain votes. My town is mainly a Republican town just like Odessa’s. As a football player, we were able to get away with more then the rest of the school. We were given breaks on small things such as serving some detentions and be late for class. The school had an entrance exam that every student must pass in order to get in, so there was no need to give football players breaks academically because the entire school was educated. We always had a big crowd at our games. Even people who did not have family that played there would show up to give their support.

V. Family Traits:

My father was a lot like Mike Winchell’s father because he has always encouraged me to follow my dreams and to work hard to achieve my goals. All the kids on my football team were challenged by their parents to do well on the football field. They were very supportive and encouraged us to work hard to become a little bit better then them. My sisters had a hard time staying on the right track in high school, just like the kids at Odessa, but I was fortunate to keep a level head and stay on track just like some from Permian.

VI. Conclusion:

I think these Similarities of Odessa and my town compare for many reasons. They are both small towns filled with blue collar, working class people. They both have high goals for there children and want to see them succeed in life. The kids are similar because of the popularity of football and the dreams that come with playing the game. The towns are filled with hard workers and mixed families, ranging for single parent homes to alcoholic parents, that want to see the kids have brilliant futures.