WASHINGTON — At this time of year, there are always stories of outstanding high school students: kids who have won awards and are ready to graduate as they look forward to bright futures.
For 19-year-old Brandon Whitby, that trip from high school freshman to successful graduate wasn’t a direct route. There were some worrying detours – and a painful loss — along the way.
Brandon entered 9th grade as an eager student; he liked science, was pretty serious about school and found friends easily at Suitland High School. But before long he was cutting classes. Eventually, his absences were so excessive it looked like he might not make it to graduation.
What led the motivated student to become a habitual truant?
Brandon, a pleasant and polite young man who answers questions with the occasional “Yes ma’am,” stops to consider the question. Then he explains, “I just lost interest in school. I started to pursue other things. I didn’t really care that much about academics.”
What he doesn’t say until later in the conversation is that the downward trend started when his mother was diagnosed with lung cancer.
Looking back, Brandon says the academic slide started when he began hanging around with other students who would cut classes from time to time. But he’s quick to say the responsibility for his choices were his, emphasizing that his friends weren’t to blame.
“They weren’t bad people — and they’re not bad people now. It’s just that I couldn’t moderate what I was doing. I chose to be completely absent as opposed to going to class every now and then. I just lost track of my priorities.”
Brandon’s mother, Michelle, died in August 2014. He says his academic turnaround didn’t follow immediately after his mother’s death. It would take a while.
The teenager says it was a talk with his uncle and grandfather that started his journey back to success in school. They’d had these talks about his absences before, and Brandon’s behavior didn’t change.
But this time, before the start of the 2015-2016 school year, Brandon says, it was different.
His uncle and grandfather told him, “This is your last shot — you have to understand what’s going to happen if you blow this.” This time, he says, the message took.
Brandon says something else was at work — losing his mother to cancer. He decided he would go back to school and succeed.
“I did dedicate this year to her,” he says, softly. “I didn’t want to disappoint her.”
But there was one formidable obstacle to getting back to school: his truancy record. Finding a school that would take him and work with him to get ready to graduate became a priority, and Brandon’s uncle says that school was Croom Vocational High School in Cheltenham. It’s an alternative high school for 11th and 12th graders where the emphasis is on career training, but where preparation for college as well as a career is part of the program.
His uncle, Michael Johnson, credits Brandon with making the effort to get back to school and back on track.
“To see him turn around this year — I just thank God. I always knew he had it in him.”
But Brandon had a lot of work to do, and his uncle watched carefully, worrying that the teenager might not be able to get all the high school credits he would need to graduate, or that he would backslide.
“When the January semester started, I knew he was for real. I’m not surprised by his achievements. I just thank God he was able to do it,” said Johnson.
Brandon says there was another force at work in his transformation: a favorite teacher, Mr. Grant.
“Definitely my favorite teacher — I learned a lot in his class.” Brandon suggests there were life lessons as well. “He just helped me understand a lot of things.”
Brandon is understated in talking about the effort it took to get his grades up and to finish his academic career with a 4.0 grade-point average and multiple awards. But his science teacher, Stephen Grant, is not shy about singing his student’s praises.
“He’s just wonderful to have in a classroom. He’s motivated; he does his work; it’s on time — he doesn’t question; he doesn’t argue — and I couldn’t ask for anything more,” said Grant. “He is unique. I would say in 40 years of education, he’s probably one of my top 15 to 20 kids.”
Principal William Henderson sat in on the interview with Brandon and explained that it was apparent soon after Brandon started at Croom that he would do well.
“We showed him that we would be a support system for him and for his family. The rest was just Brandon. He’s the model student,” said Henderson.
Brandon’s waiting to hear from several colleges where he’s applied, and his uncle says no matter where he chooses to attend school, Brandon’s already accomplished a great deal.
Beaming, Johnson says, “He’s made me more proud than he will ever know.”
