Ep. 44 Darrion Cockrell: From Gang Member to Teacher of the Year

PHOTO: Steve Walentik, University of Missouri–St. Louis

Darrion Cockrell is known as “Mr. DC” to his students at Crestwood Elementary School in St. Louis and was recently named Missouri’s Teacher of the Year. But in his younger years, he was known as something entirely different: a gang member and a truant. Born to a drug-addicted mother, his father was killed when he was 4 years old and Cockrell bounced in and out of foster care. Cockrell’s emotional and inspiring Flip Your Script story will make you realize everyone has the power to change the trajectory of their life.

RESOURCES:

Follow Darrion on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

Stay up to date on Mr. DC’s latest P.E. happenings here

Watch Darrion’s 2021 Missouri Teacher of the Year acceptance speech here

Check out one of Darrion’s fun and engaging workouts for his students here

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CLOSING QUOTE

“If you wanna be somebody, if you wanna go somewhere, you better wake up and pay attention ‘cause there’s a real world out there and they don’t care how hip you think you are or who you kick it with. It don’t matter. If you don’t have an education, you don’t have anything. And that’s the truth.”

— Sister Mary Clarence, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit