"This side of the equator is hot like fire!" the Channel 3 noonday weatherman said in his update. Tuskegee, Alabama was a southern region of the United States where scorching heat of 103 degrees was a common occurrence. The land was labeled "da blazing durty south," and the summer of 1999 was no different. Warm and muggy weather reflected the mood of the students in Coach Ballard's biology class.
When the three o'clock bell rang, Coach's homework assignments fell on deaf ears. The Booker T. Washington High School students dispersed from their sixth period classes, eager to head home.
"Hey, sit back in your seats until I dismiss you!" he yelled, but there was only one shining star that listened, Shayla Thomas.
She wrote the homework notes in her organizer. Then, she collected her belongings and placed them in her book bag. To be the first one to arrive and the last one to leave was a quality her father taught her. Her grades reflected her dedication.
Coach Ballard walked over to her and placed an arm on her shoulder. "I appreciate your hard work in my classroom, young lady. I noticed your assignments are always on time and the answers are well thought out."
She was happy to be recognized by her favorite teacher. "Thanks Coach. I like science a lot, so doing my assignments to the best of my ability comes natural to me."
"Young lady, you are going places," he said, before walking back over to his desk, closing his planner, and zipping up his brief case.
With a smile, she Shayla exited the classroom. Her teacher's sincerity was encouraging and echoed sentiments she knew to be true. She was going places and going to do big things in her life. She knew as long as she kept her GPA high enough, she was taking one step in the right direction.
Making her way to her locker, she made a mental note to get the books she needed for studying. That next day she had semester exams and quizzes. She collected her textbooks for microbiology, literature, and pre-calculus. She thought about the fact that she had only half a year's worth of gruesome high school work left. She was a young woman ready to leave the drudgery of teenage life behind. After graduation, she planned to enroll in Auburn University's psychology program. Happy was too simple of a word to express how she felt about being accepted into the psychology department's "Student Choice" program.
Having collected what she needed from her locker, she walked briskly toward the bus stop. The last thing she wanted to do was miss her yellow limousine ride home.