Name: ______
Date: ______Block: ______
The Pact – Reading Guide Cycle 1
Sam – “Home”
Directions: Write the letter in the blank of the best answer to the questions below.
_____ 1. What skill had Sam’s mother never learned to do?
a. Read
b. Drive a car
c. Cook
d. Speak English
_____ 2. What did Sam’s mother do every day to give back to the community?
a. She picked up trash and swept the streets.
b. She volunteered at a soup kitchen.
c. She worked at a homeless shelter.
d. She provided daycare for unwed mothers.
_____ 3. What was the atmosphere like in Sam’s home when he was growing up?
a. His parents were very loving and supportive of each other.
b. His parents fought often and tension was high.
c. His parents were very distant with one another and rarely spoke.
d. His father was constantly cheating on his mother.
_____ 4. What did Sam’s mother do to support the family when her husband left?
a. Since she had few marketable skills she went on welfare.
b. She got a job as a bank teller.
c. She waited tables.
d. She started her own catering business.
_____ 5. How old was Sam when he was helping his mother take care of the household?
a. Sixteen
b. Fourteen
c. Thirteen
d. Eleven
_____ 6. What event in Sam’s older brother Kenny’s life changed him from being one of the people Sam loved the most to one of the people Sam hated the most?
a. He lost his job.
b. His wife left him.
c. His wife died.
d. His daughter was shot.
_____ 7. Of all of his siblings, with whom was Sam the closest?
a. Roselene
b. Fellease
c. Andre
d. Carlton
_____ 8. Of all of his siblings, who did Sam say was the most stable?
a. Roselene
b. Fellease
c. Andre
d. Carlton
_____ 9. What event in Sam’s childhood typified why his older brother Andre didn’t want Sam hanging out with him?
a. Sam witnessed Andre buying weed off the streets and told their mom.
b. Sam’s foot was crushed when he and Andre tried to fix a concrete bench and Andre was severely punished.
c. Andre wasn’t allowed to go to a concert because he had to watch Sam.
d. Sam fell of a jungle gym and broke his collarbone when Andre was supposed to be watching him.
_____ 10. How would you describe the streets on which Sam grew up during high school?
a. They were peaceful and clean.
b. They were full of drugs and violence.
c. They were site of many hate crimes.
d. They were dirty and poverty-stricken.
_____ 11. Which of the following pastimes did Sam have as a child?
a. Basketball
b. Football
c. Soccer
d. Spongeball
_____ 12. What was one of Sam’s first dreams for his life?
a. To be a rapper
b. To be a businessman
c. To play for the NBA
d. To play major league baseball
_____ 13. How did Sam and his friend Noody respond to seeing a man beaten with a bat by drug dealers?
a. They were both severely traumatized.
b. They cheered the drug dealers on.
c. They tried to help the man.
d. They watched the scene and then went back to playing because it was so familiar to them.
_____ 14. What item did Sam get caught stealing when he was seven?
a. An Icee
b. A snicker’s bar
c. A cassette tape
d. A remote control car
_____ 15. For what was Sam arrested when he was thirteen?
a. Grand theft auto
b. Shoplifting – but a friend set him up.
c. Breaking and entering
d. Assault
_____ 16. What healthy diversion did Reggie provide for the neighborhood kids?
a. He took them to baseball games.
b. He taught them how to play the saxophone.
c. He taught them martial arts.
d. He formed a little league baseball team.
_____ 17. What was Sam’s goal for his education when he first started high school?
a. To graduate high school
b. To graduate college
c. To go to graduate school for business administration
d. To go to med school
_____ 18. What advice did Sam’s sixth grade teacher Ms. Schimmel give him for his seventh grade year?
a. She advised him to study more and stay out of trouble.
b. She advised him to go to summer school to get ahead.
c. She advised him to apply to a magnet program at University High School.
Name: ______
Date: ______Block: ______
The Pact – Reading Guide Cycle 2
Sam – “A Big Break”
Directions: Write the letter in the blank of the best answer to the questions below.
_____ 1. Why did Sam and his friend Frank have a man pull a gun on them when Sam was sixteen?
a. Sam and Frank had witnessed a drug deal.
b. The man was trying to steal Frank’s car.
c. The man asked for $2.00 and Frank said he didn’t have it.
d. The man wanted Sam’s brand new Adidas sneaker.
_____ 2. How did Sam make some extra money when he was in high school?
a. He worked at Wal Mart.
b. He sold crack.
c. He taught drum lessons.
d. He tutored middle school students.
_____ 3. What did Sam do with the cocaine he was given for his seventeenth birthday?
a. He rolled it in a cigarette and smoked it.
b. He told his friend Hock that he was better than that and refused to accept it.
c. He accepted it but said that since he had to go to work the next day he wasn’t going to snort it.
d. He sold it.
_____ 4. What was the money-making scheme Sam and his friends had the summer between his junior and senior year?
a. To rob drug dealers
b. To sell drugs
c. To start a lawn mowing business
d. To rob cars for parts and resell them
_____ 5. What was one of the results of the above money-making scheme?
a. Sam was arrested for armed robbery and sent to a juvenile detention center.
b. Sam was arrested for selling drugs.
c. Sam made enough money to buy a used car.
d. Sam was arrested for grand theft auto.
_____ 6. What was the big break Sam was awarded?
a. A suspended two-year sentence that Sam would not have to serve if he could stay out of trouble
b. A full scholarship to Seton Hall College
c. Because he was willing to testify against his friends, Sam was only put on probation and did not have to spend any time in jail.
- He was recruited to play minor league baseball.
_____ 7. How did the above experience affect the way Sam approached school?
a. He felt like he would never amount to anything and stopped trying to succeed.
b. He seriously considered dropping out of school during his senior year.
c. It had no affect on how he approached school.
d. He was determined to take school more seriously.
_____ 8. How did Sam’s friends from the street react when he told them he was thinking about going to college?
a. They encouraged him to go for it.
b. They laughed at him and called him a nerd.
c. They laughed it off and told him it would never happen.
d. They were in awe that he would be so ambitious.
Name: ______
Date: ______Block: ______
The Pact – Reading Guide Cycle 3
Sam – “Earth Angel”
Directions: Write the letter in the blank of the best answer to the questions below.
_____ 1. Carla, the counselor at Seton Hall, the college to which Sam was admitted was inspired by the author Jawanza Kunjufu. What was the dominant message in Kunjufu’s books?
a. African-Americans should mentor young people who are at risk to drop out of high school and end up on the streets.
b. African-Americans are underrepresented in the medical field.
c. African-Americans should fight for education reform because today’s educational system is unable to reach many minority students.
d. Good doctors are needed to go overseas and volunteer in third-world African countries.
_____ 2. What was unusual about Carla’s interview with Sam?
a. He had George and Rameck drill him with a list of possible questions he could be asked.
b. He interviewed her.
c. He came to the interview dressed as a doctor.
d. He brought along a video bio of himself to leave with Carla.
_____ 3. Who was Sam’s “Earth Angel”?
a. His mother
b. His girlfriend Jeanette
c. Carla Dickson, the admissions counselor at Seton Hall
d. George and Rameck
_____ 4. Who was Sam’s roommate at Seton Hall?
a. Rameck
b. George
c. A guy named Charles who was from Boston
d. He had his own room.
_____ 5. What advice did Carla give Sam when he was discouraged about not fitting in at Seton Hall?
a. She told him to just be himself.
b. She told him to stay focused on his goals and not worry about what other people thought of him.
c. She advised him to confide his apprehensions to George and Rameck.
d. She told him he needed to stay at Seton Hall not only for himself, but also for the kids from inner-cities like Newark who want to be doctors but don’t see it as a possibility.
_____ 6. How did Carla respond to Sam’s telling her about his home life?
a. She was appalled.
b. She told him to thank his blessings to be out of his home environment.
c. She told him he had no reason to be ashamed because the experiences he had had made him the person he was today.
d. She cried and told him he should seek counseling.
_____ 7. What family crisis happened during Sam’s freshman year?
a. His mother died.
b. His father was in a car crash and in critical condition.
c. His brother Kenny was beaten in the head with a blunt object and was not expected to survive.
d. His brother Andre was shot and killed.
_____ 8. Where did Sam, George, and Rameck live during the summer after their freshman year?
a. They returned to Newark.
b. They stayed with Carla.
c. They stayed on campus at Seton Hall.
d. They went in together for an apartment near Seton Hall.
_____ 9. Where did Carla keep the graduation photo that Sam gave her of the three guys?
a. In a frame on her desk
b. Next to her bed at home
c. In her wallet
d. In her Bible
Name: ______
Date: ______Block: ______
The Pact – Reading Guide Cycle 4
Sam – “Access Med”
Directions: Write the letter in the blank of the best answer to the questions below.
_____ 1. What was the good news Rameck and Sam received the summer before their senior year at Seton Hall?
a. They were eligible to receive additional scholarship money.
b. They were the first Seton Hall students to be accepted into a program through Rutgers University designed to help minority students do better their first year of medical school.
c. They had both been accepted into the same medical school.
d. They were both at the top of their class.
_____ 2. Who supported Rameck and Sam as they made the transition to Rutgers, providing any assistance they needed?
a. Carla Dickson
b. George
c. Dr. Linda Hsu, their biology professor
d. Sabu
_____ 3. What was surprising to Rameck and Sam about the demographics of Rutgers’s Livingston campus?
a. They were the only black students.
b. The student body was predominantly black.
c. There was equal representation of minorities and whites.
d. Most every student came from upper-middle class white families.
_____ 4. How did Sam end up getting into a fist fight at a club?
a. He danced with another man’s girl.
b. He insulted someone from another school.
c. He met the guy who got his ex-girlfriend pregnant and attacked him.
d. Someone was talking badly about Rameck and he stood up for him.
_____ 5. How did Sam react to observing his first surgery?
a. He was fascinated by it.
b. He got sick to his stomach.
c. He fell in love with surgery and decided he wanted to specialize in something in that field.
d. He picked up on everything very quickly and was assisting sooner than anticipated.
_____ 6. When was the first time Sam remembers holding a stethoscope?
a. When he was eight years old.
b. When he was twelve years old.
c. When he was eighteen years old.
d. When he was twenty-three and in med school.
_____ 7. What was the most fun job Sam had during the summer between semesters?
a. Working as a counselor for a high school science program
b. Working as a toll collector on the New Jersey Turnpike