Then it was back on the bus, Yale-bound.
When they arrived on campus, the kids gathered at a stone wall along York Road that made Yale seem like a fortress. They dined in an ornate dining hall that Gill compared to a scene from Harry Potter.
The afternoon's tour guide was Gabriel Seidman, Class of 2011. As he walked through the historic campus, he told them that just about everything they like - pizza, hamburgers, Frisbee, intercollegiate sports - was invented at Yale or in New Haven. They paused at Yale's landmarks, including a statue of Nathan Hale, whom Gabriel identified as America's first spy.
The group of young African-American boys dressed in identical T-shirts drew glances from the few students on campus.
A young man asked where they were from. Then: "Have you seen The Wire?"
Jovon spoke up, "We live The Wire. We just have to step outside to see The Wire."
They walked by a young Chinese woman talking on her cell phone.
"Is she speaking another language, or is she just talking fast?" 15-year-old William Murphy asked.
Justin Harris, 15, snapped photos of the campus buildings, saying to his friends, "They're for my mother. She is always complaining, 'You never want to have a good conversation.'"
Near the end of the tour, they passed Grove Street Cemetery, home to many departed Yale luminaries, and Miles remarked that he was touched by the inscription on the gate.
Tavon Anderson, 13, read it aloud: "The dead shall be rised."
Powell's rebuke was immediate. "Boy, what grade are you in?"
Miles added, "You want to do some push-ups?"
"I mean, 'The dead shall be raised.'" Tavon corrected himself.
"It's amazing how push-ups can change the thought process," Miles observed.
Miles, 45, knows well what it's like for these boys. He was raised in West Baltimore by his mother and grandmother. At Hilton Elementary School, he was picking fights. At Catonsville High School, where he was bused from the city every day, he became a father. As a young man, he was selling drugs. He served prison time for narcotics distribution, he says, but was pardoned by then-Gov. Parris N. Glendening.
Turning it around
He changed.
He repaired his relationship with his two older children and is committed to his two young daughters.
He received a bachelor's degree in business management from Coppin and a master's in legal and ethical studies from the University of Baltimore.
