Junior Bailey Barnett has made choices that have dramatically improved and impacted his life in positive ways, especially when compared to his first two years of high school.  As if he was out to prove that it’s never too late to make a change, Barnett realized that it was time for a new start, and he made the change at the beginning of this year.

For the first two years of high school, Barnett did not care about school and showed no effort of showing up to classes or getting good grades. Barnett said he skipped school to hang with friends and experimented with drugs such as “oil, vape and marijuana.”

So why the change?  Barnett said the biggest factor in helping him get out from the situation was his grandma, who raised him and his girlfriend. Barnett wanted her to be proud of him by graduating high school. He is currently catching up with all of his credit requirements by taking credit recovery, going to summer school, joining clubs, and surrounding himself with positivity.

Barnett felt there were times he wanted to give up, yet he kept pushing himself harder and thought about what he wanted for his life in the future.

He said, “Comparing myself as freshman to now as a junior, I improved so much and I’m looking forward to the future!”

“I’m proud of him and I can see his future. I wish people could look at themselves in the mirror, see what went wrong and change their life around like he did,” Dean of Students Greg Melvin said.

(Editor’s note: Barnett approved all content for this story.)