Two Black seniors receive high school’s highest honors for the first time in 37 years

Two Jacksonville, Florida high school students are garnering attention for an achievement that has not been accomplished in more than 35 years.

Jeffrey Francis and Darrell Worrell are valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively, of the Jean Ribault High School 2022 graduating class. It marks the first time since 1985 that top honors have gone to people of color, WJXX reports. The two friends have the highest grade point average out of their graduating class of nearly 300.

“In elementary school, my sister graduated 8th in her class, actually from here, Ribault High School. From there, I kind of aspired to be number 1,” said Francis. “I seen that there weren’t many African-American men who were valedictorian. So I wondered how I could inspire other African-American young men if I was valedictorian.”

His goal was to “get rid of a generational curse,” Worrell said, adding, “You know like a lot of my family some of them didn’t graduate.”

He said he put in the work to get the grades and would eventually notice that it was paying off. “Becoming salutatorian kind of more so fell in my lap. I did work hard for it of course, but it definitely was like, ‘oh I’m moving up in ranks’.”

Both teens have a resume that includes a long list of extracurricular activities and an associate degree, according to the report.

Worrell, a first-generation college student, will study finance at Florida State in the fall. Francis will reportedly attend FAMU to study medicine. 

Francis hopes his educational journey so far inspires other Black boys. “You can do anything you set your mind to do,” Francis said. 

“There is nothing wrong with being smart,” Worrell said. 

The two scholars aren’t the only Jean Ribault High School students making headlines.

Senior Mykal Bolden won a scholarship for his essay about witnessing a shooting at his first high school football game and overcoming the resulting trauma, First Coast News reports. 

“During my first high school football game, which was the Raines and Lee football game of my freshman year,” Bolden said. “I witnessed the guy who got killed that night, sadly, sending condolences to his family. I was just really shaken up, really scared to go to a lot of football games. I started participating less with my school. That has changed now.”

According to the report, Bolden received close to $7,000 in scholarship money, which he will use toward a computer science degree. The funds are from a matching grant program between Farah and Farah the Florida Prepaid College Foundation.

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