Class President Reflects
An alto sax player in the Monticello Hurricanes symphonic band and former jazz band, senior class president, a member of the track team, a wrestler and a football player for the Monticello Hurricanes, Akiren Walker, known as A.K. to everyone, is happy to have spent his school years in the Jasper County Charter Schools (JCCS) system.
Football was good to him. Or, maybe he was good to football. In 10th grade he received 2nd Team All-Region Defensive Lineman honors and in 11th and 12th grade, received 1st Team Defensive Lineman All-Region honors.
“I was looking forward to getting my diploma,” A.K. told me. “It’s like finally I had an accomplishment you’ve been working for your whole life. All those stressful nights doing school work and I can look back and say, I did that,” he said.
“We’ve been promised a graduation,” he added, and even not knowing when, he is happy knowing that he and his fellow seniors will eventually be able to celebrate and proudly get their hard earned diploma.
Starting JCCS in the first grade, A.K. lives in Monticello with his mom, Altheia Parham, and stepfather, Eric Parham. An older sister, Alkeilie Ross, a member of the United States Navy, is stationed in South Korea and his little sister, Ava Walker, lives in Macon with A.K.’s father Lionel Walker and stepmother Patrice Walker.
From an early age he played recreation department football, switching to playing for the Canes in eighth grade at Jasper County Middle School. A shoulder injury sidelined him in the ninth grade, and though it did end his disc throwing spot on the track team, it did not stop him from getting back on the football field as soon as he healed.
He is most disappointed that he will not be able to perform in his first ever theater performance in the musical Sister Act. Tapped to play the role of Eddie, a police officer who ends up helping the lead Delores Van Cartier hide from the mob, the role requires singing. “According to them (friends and others) I can sing,” he said. His mom, in the background while I was interviewing A.K. on the phone, yelled, “he can sing!” sharing that A.K. sings in the St. James A.M.E. church choir, and that, yes, he can sing.
A role he knew he had to do but was nervous about was speaking at graduation.
Like many who are anxious at the thought of public speaking, he shared he had been nervous about having to give a speech at graduation. “I’ll have to brave through it,” he said. Dressed in a suit, giving a speech to his class when he was running for school president, he shared, “I was doing great and I had to look up at the crowd and it all hit me at once. When the magnitude of speaking in public hit him, “I started shaking and tripping on my words,” he said. His speech must have worked. He was elected senior class president.
Yet another role he enjoyed is being mentor to a second grader. “I miss going and playing basketball, hanging out at the library and playing computer games with him,” he said.
“I like to travel,”A.K. told me. Thanks to a work conference for his stepmother’s job, a physician and Chief Medical Officer at Navicent Health in Macon, A.K., his dad, stepmother and younger sister, were able to go to Japan. “I fell in love with Ramen and Japan has spoiled me to sushi,”he shared.
He also likes to write. “Dramatic writing is my favorite class.”He especially loves Mr. Luke McFarland, his dramatic writing teacher, telling me, “he’s really a dope teacher. He’s great.”
“I like all my senior memories even though many of the memories of senior class have been cut short,”he said. “And, no matter what people think, senioritis is real and it his hard. You got to make the most of what you got. That’s my motto,” he said. To make the best of this situation, he’s catching up on sleep he’s lost.” He’s also practicing his graduation speech.
After high school includes a move to Macon for college for A.K. He plans on finishing cleaning out his grandmother’s house for a place to live so that he can attend Middle Georgia College to major in Information Technology. His hope for a career is to be a video game developer to build his own games. “I like the coding part of it.”
His interest in part is spurred on by another favorite teacher, Mrs. Johnnie Sue Moore, who has introduced him to web design and photo shop.
It will be hard for A.K. to leave home. “Monticello is a cool little community,” he shared. “It’s not bad, you know everybody, everybody knows you. I made a lot of fun out of my small life in Monticello. I don’t like leaving, but when I finally leave, I’ll be okay.”
“Any words of wisdom for the rest of us, before you leave?” I asked him. He quickly replied, “When things get stressful, don’t quit. Keep going.” Seems like pretty good wisdom for all of us right now.