TCNJ

25 SPRING 2020 to lean on relationships he formed in the neighborhoods where they lived. During his final high school year in Carteret, Phyllis Mincieli, his guidance counselor, became a foundational force for Repollet. An Italian woman, Mincieli grew close with his family. She'd worked with some of Repollet's relatives before him at school and would often drop by for dinner. So it wasn't exactly surprising when Mincieli went behind Repollet's back to inform his parents that he should enroll at The College of New Jersey. Repollet had already been accepted to his dream school, the Virginia-based historically black institution Hampton University; his peers had signed his yearbook with well wishes like, "Good luck at Hampton!" But the reality was that his family couldn't foot the school's bill. Soon after, Repollet found himself in the office of James Boatwright, the director of what was then Trenton State's Educational Opportunity Fund program. With only a week left before the EOF program began that summer, Boatwright allowed him to bring in his official transcripts and sit for an interview. "He took a chance on me and signed off on my admission to the program," Repollet recalls. During Repollet's time at TCNJ, the EOF program built upon the foundation that Mincieli forged back in Carteret. "I probably wouldn't be here," Repollet says, if it weren't for the program's strong personal and academic support. He gained mentors in Boatwright, who is now retired, and in Joyce Perkins, the program's former associate director who has since passed away. Repollet's lifelong friends are fellow EOF students, including his wife Darlene Spears '94. Repollet posed for photos outside of his office at the Department of Education in Trenton on a rainy February day.

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