Monique Gaines

My name is Monique Gaines and I graduated from the Midnight Golf Program (MGP) in Detroit, Michigan in 2007. I am a first generation college student now attending the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor for Urban Community Studies/PreMed. After being accepted to MGP in the fall of 2006, I quickly realized that the program offered much more than what its paper advertisement stated. I expected to learn a little about golf but I finished the program with my own quality bag, full set of clubs, knowledge of the game and rules, and proper attire including shoes, invitations, even after my graduation from the program, to play golf during the summer, hours of excellent instruction from PGA instructors that were courteous, challenged and showed genuine interest in me, a safe space after school with multiple adult mentors that supported the students even after program hours, life skills like networking, money management, public speaking, etiquette class, and the importance and practice of writing thank you cards, thoughtfully planned, seven-day golf and college tour (The Road to Success) that not only exposed students to college life but gave us networking practice and the opportunity to play golf in some of the famous Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail courses.

The MGP founder and executive director, Renee Fluker, Vice President of Programs, David Gamlin, and the other board members and mentors are phenomenal and I appreciate all of their positive energy, advice, and the care that they offer despite their long weeks of work and life outside of program hours. They always encouraged us to challenge ourselves and take hold of all opportunities even if we initially lacked self-confidence. This past summer I taught English language and English culture in China to Chinese middle school, disabled, and college students for four weeks. And now I work with the United States Census Bureau in administration and questionnaire assistance despite my initial but brief concerns with my abilities because I hade never been out of the country nor had I ever had a government job.

MGP equipped me with resources, and skills for my final year of high school, and now I continue to enhance all of those skills by contributing to MGP as a college student, and mentoring high school students year-round in Detroit, through GEAR-UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduates Program).
Even though I am a first generation college student, I feel as though MGP enabled me to learn and develop skills that my middle-class peers had access to and to take part in opportunities that would normally not be available to me. Because of the Midnight Golf Program, college has been easier for me to adapt to and now I am a well-rounded individual, student, and citizen.