His name is Dominic Antoine Jr. — “Pooda” to the people who know him — and he is exactly the kind of young man this city should be talking about.
The 17-year-old senior at Fremont High School in East Oakland is carrying a 4.3 GPA while playing varsity basketball, tutoring underclassmen in math, mentoring peers through the college application process, and dreaming of becoming an orthopedic surgeon. This week he was voted first team all-league in basketball, capping the program’s best season in a decade. He was also Homecoming king in the fall.
None of it happened by accident.
“I know my priorities and I know where I wanna be. I pushed myself to be better and stay on top of my work.”
— Dominic Antoine Jr., Fremont High School, Oakland
Antoine’s schedule this year has been loaded with Advanced Placement courses in biology, English literature, and U.S. History. In previous years he dually enrolled in college-level coursework on top of his high school load. He credits discipline, time management, and the simple habit of showing up — to class, to practice, to his community.
“Getting to class on time. Now you’re there and now you’re ready, you’re in mode,” he explained. “It’s just little simple things like that. And that’s just how you build trust with your teachers.”
Antoine went viral earlier this month when educator and children’s book author Claudia Walker spotted him at the Black College Expo at the Oakland Convention Center and posted a video celebrating his achievements. Two strangers who overheard his GPA started shouting it out to everyone around them. “He just started yelling it. And it was just such a special moment for me,” Antoine said.
The buzz was well-earned. Antoine applied to seven universities — UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, Louisiana State University, Howard University, and Syracuse — as well as some 70 Historically Black Colleges and Universities through the Common Black College Application. So far he has heard from LSU, which offered him admission and a top-tier merit scholarship. He’s still waiting to hear from the rest.
His path toward medicine is deeply personal. As a multi-sport athlete who has had surgery on his finger, torn his meniscus, and spent countless hours in physical therapy, he found himself fascinated by the doctors who treated him. “I feel so relieved after being helped,” he said. “And my dream is to offer that feeling to others.”
His principal, Nidya Baez, calls him “magnificent.” His AAU coach, Derek Smith — who has spent 25 years with the Alameda County Juvenile Probation Department working with young people — says he hasn’t come across many like him. “This kid is different,” Smith said. “He’s going to be a great leader in the world one day.”
At a time when narratives about Oakland’s youth too often focus on what’s going wrong, Dominic Antoine Jr. is a clear-eyed reminder of what’s going right — and what’s possible when a young Black man from East Oakland decides to bet on himself.
We’re betting on him too. Watch his name.
