Staff Report
Lt. Rodney D. Bullard has the E.F. Hutton thing down pat, for when Bullard talks, people listen.
The Admissions Advisor for the United States Air Force Academy spoke to Smith students last month about college and preparation for college. Bullard, a native of Atlanta, spoke about how college can open doors to new worlds.
"Every time you make an 'A,' that's money," Bullard said. "The question you have to ask yourself is, do you want to work now and get paid big bucks later or do you want to get paid small bucks now and work and work and work later.
"The bottom line is that college is a business. The business of college is to get you ready for a career. To that college, you are an investment."
Bullard, who was all-state linebacker and an academic all-America at Reedan High School in Decatur, Ga., added that taking an SAT prep class put him in position to obtain a free college education.
"Taking SAT prep is an investment in yourself," he said. "I scored 1100 the first time I took it. That's a pretty good score and I attracted a lot of recruiting attention since I was all-state in football too. But I took an SAT prep class and the next time I got 1310. Now colleges were lining up for my services."
Bullard said he was most interested in Miami of Florida because of its football program. Notre Dame also showed interest. However, he blew out his knee during the last game of his senior season and the major schools backed off.
The service academies -- Air Force, Army and Navy -- stayed hot on Bullard's trail. He visited all three campuses.
"When I went to West Point, it was a dark, depressing day," he said. "I thought I'd throw myself in the (Hudson) River. I liked Annapolis, but I didn't want to be on a ship for five years after a graduated.
"Then I went to Colorado Springs and it was snowing. Strike one. I'm from Atlanta and snow there is pretty rare. But Air Force had a first-rate football program, though it's no Miami, and it had a pre-law program, which was what I wanted to major in. Then they told me that every student there is on scholarship, not just football players, and every student gets paid.
"Finally, I realized going out West would broaden my perspectives. Atlanta is a city where African Americans are the majority, but it's not that way everywhere. The Academy is 18 percent minority and 20 percent female. It was a very new experience for me, but that was definitely a valuable lesson for me."
Bullard told Smith students to apply to college early in their senior years and to learn how to write well.
"Look, this is a skill you cannot get around," Bullard said. "You can be very brilliant, but if you don't know how to communicate, then you are of no value to anybody."
Bullard said the Air Force Academy was a challenge. All students go through a boot camp-like atmosphere in the summer before their freshman years. Also, each student takes part in a major extra-curricular activity, in Bullard's case football, and must hold down a military position. All USAFA students also take far more courses than the average college student. Students at Air Force typically graduate with 185 hours, compared to about 140 elsewhere. And all Air Force students must get a heavy concentration of math and science, even if they plan to major in a humanities.
The USAFA Admissions Advisor plans to become a laywer, and he has set lofty goals for himself
"I envision myself being the first black Chief Justice of the Supreme Court," he said.
He already has had internships with the Supreme Court and the Military Court of Appeals.
Bullard is an embodiment of one of his favorite sayings: "There's nothing worth having in this life that is easy." There's Plebe Summer, getting up at 5 a.m. each day, practicing football three or four hours a day, studying advanced mathematics until the wee hours of the morning, losing weight after football season to make the weight limit for the real Air Force.
"The Academy is not for everybody," he said. "It was a brand-new culture for me, but I didn't have to lose myself by going there. I learned more about myself and the world I live in. Inside I'm still Rodney Bullard."
And a lot of people are listening to his advice.
"You know, I love football," he said. "But football is not the only thing you can do with your life. Take Icky Woods. He was a star fullback for the Cincinnati Bengals, led them to a Super Bowl, invented the Icky Shuffle. But he blew out his knee and he's selling meat door-to-door in Cincinnati now.
"You have to be multi-dimensional. There's life after football."
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