Not Another Statistic

Not Another Statistic
DeShawn Parks


I was born and raised in Detroit. I had a pretty good childhood. Growing up, I was always the quiet
kid in school who never got in trouble. I always kept my grades up. My teacher used to always tell
me how intelligent I was, and I was on the honor roll. I was the kid who always smiled, was never sad,
and helped teachers and classmates around school. My life before middle school was perfect. I got
rewards for being a good student. I took part in many school activities, enjoyed going on school field
trips and was one of the principal’s favorite students. Things changed when I got to middle school.
I lost two close relatives to gun violence. That had a heavy impact on me. After that I got into a
number of fights and got expelled. I had some anger management problems.
I transferred to a charter school in Warren. There I found myself having to deal with problems
associated with drugs and safety. I had two fights and was expelled. Then I transferred to a Detroit
public school where I encountered gangs and, once again, safety issues. Anger was still a problem for
me. I had two fights in that school also, and was expelled from there as well.
There was a time where I felt like giving up on school. But I decided to continue because I thought of
my future and my life, I don’t want to be another statistic, another number added to the dropout rates.