Andreas Jeninga/The Hoya Levee Brooks (COL `04) shows off his many sides in this series of photographs. Brooks has been involved in numerous campus groups, but wants to focus more on screenwriting after college.

“My grandma told me I was interested in everything. The truth is I used to do a lot because I didn’t know what I was interested in – now I do a lot because I’m passionate about a lot of things.”

Graduating senior Levee Brooks (COL ’04) describes his four years at Georgetown as a transition. Quickly listing some of the activities to which he was most committed – lacrosse, Black Student Alliance, African American Society – he admits that it was all a learning experience. “I got into things that meant a lot to me and developed who I really was, not who I was supposed to be,” Brooks says.

He did not only want to develop himself, however. In conjunction with the George F. Baker Scholars Program, Brooks initiated GUYS (Georgetown University Young Scholars Program). Describing Georgetown’s academic curriculum as too rigorous, Brooks believes that the university had done a poor job of reaching out to areas right here in the District. “The fact that Georgetown is so hard, it doesn’t make the effort to recruit or develop academia in D.C. And most people here are from private schools.” He also believes that Georgetown students take for granted the step-by-step preparation and instruction most were given during their high school careers.

Brooks wanted to reach out to students in the area who did not have the luxury of guidance counselors constantly helping them with college applications. “All of us had people telling us when to register for the SATs, when to get letters of recommendation, etc.,” he says. “They don’t have any of that.”

When he started tutoring students in the District, building their roadmaps to college, he realized the enormous disparity between the high schools that he and other Georgetown students had attended and the ones several blocks down the road.

“I was dismayed when we asked one student if he had thought about college, and he said he could make more money by getting a job right away instead,” he says. When Brooks realized the student was alluding to selling drugs, he knew GUYS’ cause was justified.

He describes its instruction as a success. “Making the transition from pre-collegiate to collegiate is very difficult,” he explains. “And for a lot of students, the tutoring went really well.”

Brooks’ other passions are numerous. Settling on a topic most meaningful to him, Brooks describes his deep interest in theater. He served as student director for The Piano Lesson, and took classes in film theory and screenwriting.

“I realized more and more that that’s what I wanted to do,” Brooks says. “What’s fascinating is that a story can be written and another person completely envelops the story in a created persona . infusing reality into another and making it real through a completely different person.”

His interest in theater has flourished – he has written two movies, a short story and two short plays. But Brooks hasn’t submitted anything for review. “I am only 22 years old. I still have a lot to learn, and I want to learn a lot before making decisions to do anything,” he says.

Brooks believes that writing, as well as life, is about learning “the rules.” But one can only break the rules if you learn the rules first, which is why he puts such an emphasis on the learning process.

Brooks’ future is unclear, yet clearly focused. “I’m a dreamer stuck in my own world . my own zone,” he says. “Writing and developing stories, making stories come alive – that’s what I want to do.”

He praises Georgetown for being so effective at teaching students how to transition from college to the real world and be successful in corporate industry.

“But success forces you to give up your dreams, give up fantastic dreams to do something to make money,” he says. “Money is great, but I don’t want to give up passion for money.”

He considers himself lucky that he realized his passion early on in life. “I didn’t have to go to Wall Street or law school and make money immediately,” he says.

Brooks, however, understands the huge risk involved with following his dream, and has felt uneasy about it for some time. “Since mid-sophomore year, it started to come to me, and I’ve been in a depressed state because it’s a huge risk.”

The last thing he would want to do is disappoint his family, and he believes that if he takes a risk and fails, it could disappoint them. But on the other hand, he thinks his family would understand in the end. “There’s a certain gratification for parents when a child is doing something good and inspiring,” he says. “If I took a chance and failed, it would disappoint a lot of people. But at the same time, you know what? It’s a sacrifice, and I figured out I want to do it.”

Brooks makes it clear that he is not the type to give up easily. “My teacher gave me a rock my sophomore year of high school to symbolize my patience. I still have it in my backpack.”

Maybe he hasn’t mastered the rules of life yet, but Brooks has bent the rules of the ambitious Georgetown student. And he has the patience, creativity and passion to rewrite them in the future.