Meet Our RP Leads Scholars: Rais Battle
Rais Battle is a graduate of El Cerrito High School who currently attends the University of California, Riverside. Rais plans to major in Business Administration.
Q: Tell us a little bit about yourself. Is there anything in particular that motivates you as you go through college and prepare yourself for a career?
A: I’m currently at college in UC Riverside studying business administration. My biggest motivation is my family. I am disciplined and a hard worker, the more I go through life I can become more educated and secure greater opportunities.
Q: When did you first realize that you were college-bound?
A: The moment I realized I was college-bound was actually after the first quarter at college, thinking I could keep my old high school study habits. After a difficult start I sat down with myself and told myself I need to apply myself to these textbooks and take advantage of resources and the grades went up instantly. I need to apply myself to these things daily. It’s all about applying yourself to the situation and coming out a better person.
Q: How has Richmond Promise played a role in your education?
A: Richmond Promise has played a big role. I feel like Richmond Promise got me in a good mindset with the scholarship and workshops. Attending the workshops, there was a part on budgeting and financing so I knew what to expect going into college.
Q: Why did you choose to apply for RP Leads, and what are you hoping to take from the experience?
A: It’s a very unique program that lasts through all of my college years; it has a lot of longevity and the program can see me grow over the years as a young man. The program has a cohort of my age group and building community, as well as having Miguel, Chris, and Leo supporting us along the way.
Q: What do you want to contribute to Richmond and/or the world?
A: The thing I want to contribute is resources. Just looking at what Richmond Promise and YouthWorks does in helping youths with jobs and internships, the greatest thing to have is resources. A lot of people don’t even know Richmond, so I want to bring something back to the community. The main takeaway is I want to give back resources and lessons like budgeting and financing or life lessons and give back to the community with things like food drives. Richmond is its own city with great things, by uplifting ourselves we celebrate qualities of our own.
Q: How has your current college experience gone, and what has been the best part?
A: After a rocky start it went well. Coming in first, making friends and meeting new people was difficult but after my academic comeback my trajectory was up and friends were rolling in. Then I started taking advantage of campus resources as well which helped me with taking advantage of things like professor’s office hours.
Q: What challenges have you overcome to get to where you are today?
A: Naturally I am a quiet person so I had trouble with asking for help and speaking my voice, so I would say that is a personal challenge–to raise my hand in a lecture hall of 300 people thinking it was a dumb question. That was one of the things that held me back and it took me to be vulnerable knowing it is not a weakness but a strength which got me to open up and talk to professors.
Q: What advice would you give to a first-year Richmond Promise Scholar who is just heading off to a new college or CTE program?
A: The best advice is to be open minded, there is more to the world than the Bay Area. All I knew was the Bay until I went to UC Riverside. The best thing is to be flexible and open minded, but keep your head up as well. Through trials and tribulations keep your head high. Remain open minded and mentally strong.
Q: What are you looking forward to doing after finishing school?
A: I definitely know it is entering the workforce but my exact path is still unknown. I would like to have a side entrepreneurial vision.
