THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 14, 1996 TAG: 9606140049
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 70 lines
LaTOYA D. CROCKER loves softball.
She has since she started playing at 10. And not that family-picnic kind, either. LaToya's into the competitive, get-your-uniform-dirty, fast-pitch game, where the ball zings in on a line off the hip of a windmilling pitcher.
As LaToya's senior year at Nansemond River High School drew to a close this spring, she hated the idea of closing the door on her softball-playing days. She had lettered in it all four years of high school - she also squeezed in several years of volleyball and basketball - and this season the outfielder was named to the all-district team after batting better than .400.
She was only 18. At the height of her athletic skills. There wasn't any reason she couldn't play in college, either for her school or a club.
And college was where LaToya was headed. She was an honor student, in the top 8 percent of her graduating class with a 3.75 out of 4.0 grade-point average. There was no slacking off her senior year: calculus, physics, honors English, government, sociology, office administration. She even skipped playing basketball this year to concentrate on the tough math and science courses.
Her goal for years was to become a physical therapist, working with sports injuries. That would take four years of college plus two years in graduate school. A lot of hard work.
It also would take a lot of money.
If high school graduation is one of those first steps toward adulthood, then it's also time for adult-like decisions. LaToya knew this all too well.
Her mother was rearing LaToya and her 12-year-old brother alone while working at the Gwaltney meat-packing plant in Smithfield. Financially, things were kind of tight. College would be a serious stretch. Maybe too much of a stretch.
``I didn't want to put that on her,'' LaToya said. ``She'd probably have to take another job.''
Since fall, an Army recruiter had been calling LaToya, as he does many top high school students each year. And since the fall, LaToya had been putting him off. The Army? No sir, she was going to college. She was going to be a physical therapist.
But borrowing money or other financial aid would take forever to repay. The recruiter had described a program - something with lots of initials, like all the Army programs seemed to have - where LaToya could be accepted into college now but attend after a three-year hitch in the service.
She would get paid and could save money for the three years, and she would receive education benefits when she finished. In the meantime, she would travel and gain experience.
But she'd have to go far away. She'd postpone getting started on her career, parties, all that college fun. Her friends tried to dissuade her. One friend's mother warned, ``You're going to go to Bosnia.''
Maybe worse for LaToya was the thought of no more softball.
``That was hard for me, knowing I probably won't be able to play again,'' LaToya said.
She worried over it, hard, for months. Adulthood often requires hard decisions. In April, LaToya enlisted in the Army.
``It's what's best for me,'' she said.
In three years, she'll be at the University of Maryland, taking her freshman classes. But by the end of this month, when many of LaToya's friends will be starting summer jobs, taking early college courses or goofing off at a mall, she'll be an Army private in basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. - the farthest the Suffolk native ever has been from home.
LaToya said she's excited now but figures she'll be more nervous the closer she gets to leaving.
Growing up can be scary. ILLUSTRATION: MICHAEL KESTNER
The Virginian-Pilot by CNB