Delaunt Duncan failed every class, every semester last year and was kicked out of Woodlawn High School three times.
On Friday morning, however, a transformed young man walked across the school?s auditorium stage.
During the Woodlawn?s annual 100 Strong Male Role Model induction, Duncan was presented with the student “comeback” award after earning straight A?s on the first term?s interim report card.
“It just brought tears to my eyes,” said his mom, Della Duncan. “He was involved in all the wrong things and with all the wrong people for the past few years. I had lost the boy I knew and didn?t know when he was coming back.”
After deciding over the summer that he didn?t want a GED, but a diploma, Duncan re-enrolled in high school — and the decade-old 100 Strong Male Role Model initiative at Woodlawn. The mentioning program is open to every student. There is a 100 Strong Female Role Model program as well; the idea is to create student role models who can have a positive effect on the culture in the school.
The voluntary program monitors student academic progress, requires participation in community service and asks students to take a half-credit course that develops peer mediation, crisis management, peaceful conflict resolution and anger-management skills.
“This year we?re 100-plus,” said Dean Scott, the course instructor and a faculty adviser in the program. “We also have 50 young ladies this year.”
They giveaway Thanksgiving turkeys, Christmas toys, maintain the school garden and serve as hosts at school events. Students meet weekly with their adult adviser, and those involved in the program the previous year are paired up with newcomers.
“As you go through life, don?t be afraid to talk to other people about what?s going on with you,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings, the featured speaker at the formal dress ceremony. “Pick three or four brothers that are close to you and tell them we can do this together.”
“I was just going to be a statistic and I regret some of the choices I made in the past, but you have to live and learn,” Duncan said to his classmates, teachers and parents. “But the past doesn?t make a person. It?s what you do today. My future will be made up of the choices I make.”
