A Newark single father has impressed his community by working three jobs, solo parenting, and earning a graduate degree in educational leadership. The dad says “determination” and “drive” are the key elements to his success, adding that his son was his “why.”
Desmond Durham graduated from Montclair State University on Tuesday, May 23. His mom, family, and son were there for graduation. While the day was exciting with the scholar delivering the commencement speech during the university’s College of Education and Human Services graduation ceremony, reaching this milestone was not easy.
He spent a lot of days managing his schedule and burning the night oil to complete his program.
His teacher, Rachel Garver, a professor at Montclair State, watched him struggle and marveled at how focused on success he was.
“I knew how much he had on his plate and was impressed with everything he was able to handle and hand in such quality graduate school work,” Garver said.
The program he completed is called the Newark Montclair Leadership Pipeline Program, a partnership between the Newark Board of Education and Montclair State University.
The mission of the program is “to cultivate school leaders who are trained specifically to serve the district and the Newark community.” Durham got into the program because he is already serving the district in multiple ways.
The 36-year-old balances teaching young people during his days with coaching adults at night as they prepare for their GEDs. In between grading papers, and preparing lesson plans, Durham also found time to be the district coordinator for the Newark Elementary basketball program for the community.
With his young son watching, he modeled what a leader looks like and what it takes to accomplish a goal, saying in an interview with ABC 7, “Dedication, hard work and long days, long nights, it’s the will,” that kept him going.
For the Jersey teacher, while the…
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