Riverdale student gets scholarship award
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There was a time when Riverside resident Anne Marie Aikins was worried her 14-year-old son, Haille Bailey-Harris, was headed for a life of crime.
Today, Aikins couldn't be prouder of the respectable young man that he has become.
"He had some very difficult early years with not having a dad in his life," said Aikins, recalling how at one point she was called to her son's school on a daily basis to deal with his behavioural problems.
"It was very stressful."
Things came to a head by the end of the 2004-2005 school year - the 'summer of the gun' as police and the media had coined it - and Aikins was determined that her son wasn't going to become just another "black boy killed by gun violence."
"I sat down with my son and wrote a plan to help him succeed," she said, noting the focus was placed on having stronger family involvement and more positive influences in the young man's life.
"It was more about the kind of things that give you intellectual stimulation."
To do so, Aikins sought family counselling and signed Haille up for a Big Brother or Big Sister. Aikins, who works in communications for Toronto Public Health, also encouraged her son to explore his interest in writing and public speaking.
Before she knew it, Haille - who recently celebrated his Grade 8 graduation from Woodfield Road's Duke of Connaught Senior Public School - managed to get his life back on track and started to surround himself with good friends and positive role models.
His progress was so significant that, aside from being chosen as the graduating class' valedictorian, Haille was also awarded the $20,000 Andra Takas scholarship, an honour given to a Grade 8 student who shows tremendous potential but is at risk of not graduating high school and going to university.
The University of Toronto and Big Brothers/Big Sisters are behind the award.
"This makes me feel very proud of myself. I'm very, very happy knowing that I'll be able to pay for university," he said.
In his valedictorian speech, Haille called on his 75 or so classmates to think of themselves as global citizens and always remember to care for others.
He also thanked the many teachers, as well as his mother, for helping him grow into the person he is today.
"My mom has been a big inspiration. She's always helped me," he said.
"I couldn't have done this without her. She's amazing."
Aikins said she's just as thrilled with her son's success.
"It was just incredible to see the marks he got this year and to be chosen valedictorian," she said, adding meeting and relating to Mayor David Miller, who was also raised in a family without a dad, was another inspiring moment for Haille.
"He has a really bright future. He really is very special and he's going to be doing some very incredible things, I have no doubt."
For now, Haille is set to enter into the ninth grade at Riverdale Collegiate Institute. Down the line though, he dreams of becoming a lawyer or journalist, but not before taking some time off to travel after university.
