If there’s one overarching theme of Christmas, it’s the message of hope and redemption. One Missouri PE teacher is a living example of this, beating the odds of his upbringing and confirming that people can indeed change.
34-year-old Darrion Cockrell, a physical education teacher at Crestwood Elementary school in St. Louis has been named Missouri’s 2020 Teacher of the Year, the state’s top honor for public school educators.
What makes this feat even more impressive is the fact that Darrion was once a gang member, joining the Six-deuce-87 Kitchen Crip gang at the age of 10. But because of the influence of his own P.E. teachers and a few other key individuals who recognized Darrion’s potential, he worked hard and changed the trajectory of his life.
While giving his acceptance speech for his Teacher of the Year award (Cockrell is the first male to be honored with the award since 2015), Darrion revealed some of the challenges he experienced during his childhood.
By the age of 16, his drug-addicted mother already had two children and would go on to have four more. His drug-dealer father was murdered when Darrion was just four years old. Bouncing between his grandmother’s care and various foster homes, Darrion’s unstable young life made him a prime candidate for the gang lifestyle.
While living in a foster center for boys in his hometown, he came under the influence of a worker named Ken. Darrion credits Ken with stepping in as a father figure and being the first positive male black role model he had in his life. He said Ken taught him that it’s ok to be tough, but it’s equally important to be compassionate.
On the verge of being transferred out of his local foster center and sent to a boarding school for troubled youth, Darrion’s life began to taken a turn for the better in middle school.
“My counselor and principal and a few teachers actually went to court and fought for me to stay,” he shared with GMA. “My middle school teacher picked me up every day [at the foster center] and drove me to school. She pretty much was my mom for six months.”
While he never enjoyed school, he did like his P.E. classes and teachers and eventually began to shine on the football field. He caught the eye of his 7th grade football coach, who took him in and provided Darrion with much needed love, guidance, and support. Under his coach’s influence, Darrion went on to not only graduate high school, but was also accepted to and graduated with his Bachelors from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
He knew he wanted to use his education and the platform of a teacher to help influence other children who came from backgrounds similar to his own.
Darrion Cockrell, or “Mr. DC” to his students and fellow teachers, is now in his sixth year of teaching physical education to children K-5th grade. In addition to his Teacher of the Year win, Cockrell was honored with a 2020 Box Tops for Education Twilight Award, which presents deserving teachers and their schools with supplies, donations, and other forms of support.
Of the incredible level of influence Darrion has managed to forge with his students, Crestview principal Dr. Charity Schluter credits Cockrell’s own challenging upbringing with his ability to relate to so many of Crestview’s students.
“Educators were able to influence him and to help him along his journey and now he is incredible at building relationships,” she said. “I think the reason he’s so effective is he is so genuine. He is real. And kids, especially elementary kids, are really good at differentiating between, ‘Do you really care about me or are you just saying it?'”
The boy born into poverty, crime, and drugs, is now a proud husband, father, and educator. “I was just tired of just not having anything, tired of not having that support, not having that love and I was tired of seeing people … dying and being robbed and killed and on drugs. I didn’t want that to be a part of my life,” Cockrell said of how he found motivation to change his path. “I was going to do anything and everything I could possible to make sure that I at least changed the trajectory of my life and then have the impact to do that for other people.”
Meet Darrion Cockrell in the video below:
COMMENTS POLICY: We have no tolerance for messages of violence, racism, vulgarity, obscenity or other such discourteous behavior. Thank you for contributing to a respectful and useful online dialogue.