Detroit Free Press: Roberto Clemente senior Marcus Buggs inspires offers of help from readers, college administrators

In a story published Sunday, the Freep writes that Buggs’ life story, originally published Tuesday in the paper, has generated hundreds of emails and phone calls offering assistance.

Buggs, a reserve guard on the Huron High School basketball team, witnessed his father murdered at age 9 and has seen his mother in and out of jail ever since. He cared for his four siblings as they moved between foster care and two grandparents’ homes.

He came to Clemente, an alternative high school in Pittsfield Township that helps students who have struggled at traditional schools, after getting into fights at Clague Middle School in Ann Arbor.

He’s now fielding calls or emails from officials at Western Michigan University, Central Michigan, Saginaw Valley State, University of Detroit-Mercy and others who express an interest in his story and talk up their schools and tuition-assistance programs. He has been conditionally accepted by Wayne State University, the Freep reports.

Buggs said he’s always known he’d go to college but acknowledged being blown away by the outpouring of support.

Clemente prides itself on its graduation rate and in preparing formerly struggling students for college

You can read more about Buggs and Roberto Clemente in these AnnArbor.com articles:

• Roberto Clemente: Focused on closing the achievement gap, one student at a time
• Roberto Clemente alternative school redefines itself: 'We're really about sending kids to college'

Read the Free Press story.