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There seems to be some hint that Ennis was anxious to get his undergraduate degree out of the way. Says Julia Bond, the daughter of civil rights leader Julian Bond and a friend of Ennis' at nearby Spelman College: "I think more than anything Ennis was trying to get the basic part done, so his parents wouldn't have too much to say." He made them proud, making the dean's list on graduation from Morehouse. He headed for graduate school in New York City to become a teacher of children with learning disabilities. Says Jasper: "This was not something his parents or his father forced on him. We both got sent to Dean Rusk School, a lower-income-housing school in Atlanta. And when he was there, he was always talking about how he loved working with the kids. He really loved it." He seemed to thrive on social work. Wearing oversize tennis shoes that made his feet seem gigantic, Ennis would cheerfully come to work at the Covenant Shelter, a way station for drug abusers, even though he was sometimes razzed by residents. ("Where's your daddy? Go see your daddy.") He laughed it off.
There were other careers he might have pursued. At George School, the Quaker prep school Ennis attended in Pennsylvania, he was a good singer and actor. In Atlanta he appeared in a local ad for Fila sportswear. Just before his death, he promised Michelle Hood, a fashion-photographer friend in New York City, that he would pose for her. But she says he never thought of modeling as a serious career, only as a way to make a little extra money for school. Apart from sports cars, he did not have his father's passion for the appurtenances of celebrity. Says Hood: "He was not into being in the spotlight." Julia Bond recalls that as a freshman at Morehouse, Ennis "had a car, but his parents wouldn't let him bring it to the campus, so I ended up driving him up to Lennox [a popular shopping mall in Atlanta] all the time. His parents didn't want him to have it because they didn't want him to be flashy. It was real funny, you know, because people were, like, if you're Bill Cosby's son, how come you don't have a car?"
Ennis' attention turned to his pupils. He was a counselor to many children from all over New York City, but to one young man, he was virtually a father. Ennis Cosby started tutoring Walter Stephen Douglas III three years ago. Says Douglas: "I was 13 and thought I was stupid. Then I was beginning a new school year, and I was sent to meet my new tutor. It was Ennis. We just clicked. Every time I met him, he made me better. Every time I left, I liked him more. My grandmother knew the name and asked him if he was Bill Cosby's son, and he said no. It wasn't until four months later that he said, 'I can't lie to you. I'm his son, but don't tell anybody.'"