Senior baseball player Elijah Dobson works hard to uphold the name of his school and his family through his acts. Dobson is a second-generation Dorsey student. His father is the head coach of the Dons baseball team.
“Baseball is just in our bloodline, just like Dorsey as well,” Dobson said. “It just means you want to add on, do something new, just to improve and add something to the Dorsey and Dobson name.”
In his early childhood years, his father trained him in baseball. Those lessons developed a passion in Dobson.
“As soon as I could walk, he gave me a bat,” Dobson said. “There’s pictures of me all over the house with bats, gloves, baseballs and everything like that.”
The summer prior to his junior year, Dobson worked ardently on being a better hitter by frequenting batting cages, taking in lessons from his father and watching YouTube videos. His strong work ethic and determination paid off once baseball season came around.
“My first year of varsity, I made all-team for League and I was one of the more successful hitters on my team,” Dobson said. “I produced a lot during offense, that was more of my strong suit.”
That season, the Dons had a 10-0 record in the Coliseum League. Dobson cherishes the time he spent with the team and seeing their progress.
Dobson had a 3.4 GPA and took AP Literature as a senior, his favorite class is math. If students in the class struggle with math problems, he would be the one to assist them.
“I’m a math type person, I like numbers,” Dobson said. “Math is a class where I’ll get problems and breeze through them.”
While being dedicated to baseball and his school work, Dobson took part in student groups and programs. He is a peer mentor of Prime Time Games, where he engages with students with special needs as they learn how to play sports.
Dobson is also involved with the Black Student Union and Young Black Scholars program, along with working with the 100 Black Men and the Brotherhood Crusade.
“For the Brotherhood Crusade, I had the opportunity to be an ambassador for the Taste of Soul event,” he said.
With his film class, he helped create a silent film. Dobson also took a business law class, which catered to his desire to get into business, entertainment, and talent management. He noted how some pro athletes are unable to decipher the legal jargon in contracts and end up losing their money.
“Just to go to school and learn about different types of contracts just so an athlete won’t be scammed or anything like that,” Dobson said. “That inspired me to choose that career path.”
His college counselor exposed Dobson to the Fox mentor program, which allowed him to have a mentor from FOX studios.
“The past summer, I did an internship at an interior design studio in West Hollywood,” he said. “I met a lot of designers for interior design. I met a lot of people who created their own brands and a lot of people who just design houses.”
Dobson’s advice to the youth is to get homework done as soon as possible and not to chase after distractions.
“Use your free time wisely, business before pleasure,” he said. “Procrastination is the biggest killer.”
