Hasan Black wants to be the role model he wished he had as a kid. Growing up in Cincinnati, the education major said he never had a teacher who looked like him. \u201cI did not have any Black male teachers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A scholarship football player, Black spent his final semester as a cadet juggling twice-daily workouts with student-teaching\u2014essentially a full-time job\u2014at nearby Burke High School. But the inside linebacker said being able to have an impact in the local community was worth the early mornings. \u201cI love seeing them learn\u2014when that light bulb goes off, that\u2019s my favorite part.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He chose Burke, a Title I school directly adjacent to The Citadel\u2019s Johnson Hagood Stadium, in part because it eliminated commute time in an already full day, but also because he felt he could make a valuable impact. \u201cI knew I could be a good influence and role model.\u201d Though he may have been a little hard on his students sometimes, Black\u2019s goal was to make a difference in their lives. \u201cI hope my students would describe me as someone who values them as people,\u201d he said, \u201cthat they would say I challenged them and cared about them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, Black got a lot out of the opportunity. \u201cYou can\u2019t duplicate the hands-on experience that I got,\u201d he said. \u201cBurke has given me the tools to be successful, and my time there will make me a better teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So what\u2019s next? Black\u2019s goals are lofty. He has aspirations to play in the NFL, but he still has his eyes on academic challenges and plans to pursue his MBA, as well as a career in education. \u201cIt\u2019s just about balance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Black\u2019s interest in teaching grew out of his own childhood. \u201cI thought back on some of the good experiences I had with teachers,\u201d he said. \u201cMy mom is a teacher. My history teacher made history fun.\u201d Black decided he wanted to pass along those positive memories to the next generation of high school students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hasan Black wants to be the role model he wished he had as a kid. Growing up in Cincinnati, the education major said he never had a teacher who looked like him. \u201cI did not have any Black male teachers,\u201d he said. A scholarship football player, Black spent his final semester as a cadet juggling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other"],"yoast_head":"\n