Making the Grade:

John Nixon

John Nixon is a senior at Woodward High School this year and like other high school seniors he is looking forward to going to college. And while he’ll get there, it’s not the way he thought he would.

Nixon was a linebacker for the Woodward football team and it looked as if he was well on his way to getting a scholarship offer from one of the many scouts that peppered the stands on Friday nights.

“I talked to a few of them and it looked like I might get some offers” said Nixon.

Then after a game midway through the season he started having back spasms. Ultimately they would intensify and lead to the end of his year. Soon the scouts stopped coming and Nixon saw his dream of going to college start to fade. He had thought that football would be his ticket to college so he focused his energies on getting faster and stronger on the field and neglected his grades. Nixon wasn’t failing any classes but the D’s that he was carrying in a lot of them were not going to look good when he applied to college and his coach, B.T. Sherman made sure that he knew it.

“Coach pulled me aside and told me that I needed to get my grades up” said Nixon. “He said that those grades would be my ticket to college now because I didn’t get to show out this year in football like I wanted.”

Nixon started spending less time in the gym and more time with his nose in his books and brought his grades up to the point where he is now carrying A’s and B’s.

“He just decided that he was going to make something of his senior year” said Nixon’s English teacher Jerry Stein. “He’s always been a neat kid and it’s been my pleasure to have him in my class. I’m really proud of what he’s done.”

Besides all of the work that he has put in to resurrect his grades Nixon credits his family, God, B.T. Sherman, Mr. Stein and all of the other teachers at Woodward who never gave up on him. He still plans on playing football at whatever college he ends up going to, but that won’t be his only source of pride anymore.

“It’s like a competition to me” said Nixon about the A’s and B’s on his grade card. “It’s like a showoff now. It feels good.”

                                                                                     James Bradford

        Contributor