By Aria Brent
AFRO Staff Writer
abrent@afro.com
Over a decade ago, Josh Stevens started his academic journey at Morgan State University (MSU). On Dec. 15, he received his bachelor’s of science in finance, officially becoming a Morgan State alumnus.
Through financial hardships, family matters and even stage four cancer, Stevens never lost interest in finishing his degree and graduating from the historic institution. The scholar recalled the conversations he had with himself and his family regarding how important it was that he complete his degree.
“I always had in the back of my head that I would go back to school when I had the opportunity,” said Stevens. “My dad and I had a conversation and he encouraged me to go back and finish what I started at the very least, or look into obtaining some sort of degree in another way. At the time, I wasn’t sure what to do. I wanted to go back to school, but I didn’t think I could afford the time or the financial part of it.”
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As Stevens was graduating from Eastern Technical High School in Essex, he was unsure of where to attend college. However he was encouraged by AFRO publisher and CEO, the Rev. Dr. Frances “Toni” Draper to attend her alma mater, Morgan State.
Steven enrolled for the fall 2012 semester and, during his freshman year, he walked onto the football team, lived off campus and kept to himself mostly.
When he first attended Morgan he accomplished some great things on the field, including a conference championship during his last season playing for the Bears. Upon his return to MSU, the former athlete also succeeded, but this time, Stevens flexed his mental muscles by participating in a national academic contest with his department.
“When I came back, it was my second semester back and I was in a finance class. The guy in charge of our capital markets lab came to talk to our class about a competition they were having in Boston in the spring,” Stevens explained. “I got to be a part of the stock pitch competition and we had to pitch a stock to Wellington. We were competing with other HBCUs and we got third place.”
After playing for MSU for three years during his first matriculation, and having a different position coach every year, Stevens grew frustrated with the football program. He also found himself struggling to balance his personal life along with his studies, so he decided to take a break from school.
While away from school, Stevens worked and did what he’s always done—serve his community. Volunteer and faith-based work is a big part of his life and, even through times of difficulty, Stevens continued to make helping his community a priority.
“Josh has grown up serving the community alongside us. It’s not something that we would do occasionally, it’s just kind of how we lived our life,” explained his father, Matt Stevens.
“I think part of his worldview is in his faith (Christianity), but also in serving and helping others. It was as important as anything else. It was also something that he could draw from while he worked through the things at school and work.”
During his time at Morgan, Steven’s peers, teammates and friends would join him for community service. During Steven’s first week at MSU, he met Clarence Swain III. The two were initially just teammates but that has since grown into a brotherhood that has now lasted more than 10 years.
“My dad encouraged me to ask the guys I was working out with and spending time with if any of them want to come be involved, so I did. I asked Swain,” Stevens fondly recalled. “He got another teammate to drop him off and it was like after that, he wanted to be around and be a part of just about anything we’re doing ministry-wise. Through that, he and I became best friends, kind of like brothers.”
In addition to Swain, Stevens found other friends at Morgan who became part of his innermost circle.
Steven’s father spoke on how vital and valued his son’s friends were as life’s challenges began to intensify.
“A big piece of Josh’s story at Morgan was him meeting a handful of really good men and ladies, who became really good friends,” the elder Stevens said. “When he came into the challenging times, our faith, our family and the friendships that he had were a big part of that as well. I don’t know how anybody can make it through something like that without those things in place. His community at Morgan was really strong.”
In September of 2019, Josh Stevens was diagnosed with stage four Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Throughout his battle with cancer, he faced a series of health complications, including the development of a brain tumor. To combat his disease, Stevens went through several rounds of different types of chemotherapy, along with CAR-T cell therapy, a cancer treatment that consists of cells being taken from the body, fused with medicine to fight the cancer and then put back into the body. By 2020, he was able to get the fusion. As of Dec. 16, the Morganite has been in remission for three years.
Although he stands at a towering 6 feet, 4 inches, Josh Steven’s heart still seems to be the biggest part of him. Noting how dedicated he is to Charm City, he’s focused on continuing to serve Baltimore in any way that he can.
“Truth be told, Baltimore is probably my biggest focus in life at this point. I knew coming out of high school that I wanted Baltimore to be where I put my ministry efforts more than anything,” he said. “I really care a lot about the people in Baltimore, and it hurts when I see things like violence rates, carjackings, and all this craziness happening on a regular basis.”
Since graduating, he is now working as a logistics coordinator for Somebody Cares Baltimore, and he’s excited for all the opportunities that await him as he furthers his career with the non-profit organization.
The recent grad shared that the work he’s doing now is preparing him for future business endeavors that will allow him to pursue the intersection of ministry and the business industry.
“I’ve had the ability to oversee not only this warehouse happening, but, in the future, other businesses too,” Josh Stevens shared. “God really spoke to my spirit and gave me some insight and vision on some things that could really help benefit the city. Ever since then, I’ve just been convinced that this is the first step in opening multiple businesses that are invested in ministry and the industry.”
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