ORANGE PARK \u2013 It was as if Joyan Mack hit the pause button when he started telling his story of his challenges at Orange Park High.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom, if you’re hearing [or reading] this, I love you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Hit the play button again.<\/p>\n
Mack clearly had some challenges, but he remained undaunted in his quest to finish, no, make that excel, during his senior year.<\/p>\n
His mother, teachers, counselors, administrators and community refused to let him fail. They provided him with the tools and the blueprint, and he did the hard work to build a strong educational foundation to be approved for federal financial aid and admission to Florida State College at Jacksonville next year.<\/p>\n
Months ago, none of that seemed possible. But the vivacious senior wasn\u2019t allowed to fail.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo start off, we got an eviction notice. We were kind of homeless,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s a new kind of pressure. What\u2019s going to happen now? But my mom told me not to worry. She\u2019s got us. She told me to focus on school. She said to make that my main motivation and no dilly-dallying. She wanted me to do my work and graduate and she would handle the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think my main goal was just to make her proud, and I feel like I’ve pretty much done a great job with that,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen she said that, I was like, \u2018Yes, ma’am,\u2019 because I know, I understood that.\u00a0I trusted her 100%, and I still do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joyan, his mom and his twin sisters were taken in by friends. That solved one problem, and it left him with another: keeping up with his schoolwork.<\/p>\n
It seemed like he was a half-step behind some of his classmates. He didn\u2019t lack ability. He just needed a little extra time to understand and complete his work.<\/p>\n
He often sought after school tutoring, so his teachers sometimes were more lenient with their due dates. If a report was due on Tuesday, they might have let him turn it in on Wednesday morning because he had asked the extra question or was getting help after school.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cThe teachers were very friendly, of course,\u201d Joyan said. \u201cSometimes when I missed the due date,\u00a0they helped me out.\u00a0They also give me a little extension, like a smidge.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey really wanted to help me graduate.\u00a0They want really everyone to graduate.\u201d<\/p>\n
If he was trying, they would be willing to work with him.<\/p>\n
One Social Studies teacher, Glenn Turner, saw something deeper in Joyan\u2019s determination. The student was driven by more than just completing high school. He had a greater purpose to be much more than a high school graduate.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy teacher, Mr. Turner, he had some contacts with FSCJ,\u201d Joyan said. \u201cHe met some good people to talk with so they can help me map out a future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joyan isn\u2019t sure which career direction he wants to pursue. He can take core classes his first year at FSCJ while he makes up his mind. For once, he had options based on his terms \u2013 all because his families at home and at school refused to let him fail.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone at Orange Park, they get behind you,\u201d Joyan said. \u201cThey won’t let you fall through the cracks. They will not.\u00a0Principal [Ivin] Gunder, you know,\u00a0he always makes our day better. He gives us fist bumps. He\u2019s just there for us if we ever need him.\u00a0That goes for almost all of our teachers.\u201d<\/p>\n
And a loving mother.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORANGE PARK \u2013 It was as if Joyan Mack hit the pause button when he started telling his…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":812325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,15024,15015,15023,15026,3188,15016,723,15021,7310,15020,15022,7648,15018,15017,15025,15019,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-812324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-america","tag-argyle","tag-clay-county","tag-doctors-inlet","tag-eagle-harbor","tag-fl","tag-fleming-island","tag-florida","tag-green-cove-springs","tag-jacksonville","tag-keystone-heights","tag-lake-asbury","tag-margaret","tag-middleburg","tag-orange-park","tag-pace-island","tag-penney-farms","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116612935788858023","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}