Renaissance Academy's First Eligible Graduate of 2021
“Just me being successful in life, that’s the only thing I can say. Everything else I can do by myself.”
Raquan Tanner, a soon-to-graduate senior at Renaissance Academy High School
Several months ago, a significant thought dawned on Raquan Tanner, the soon-to-graduate senior at Renaissance Academy High School. “I was at my brother’s house and realized I never got my report card, so I wondered what was up with my grades.”
“I asked Mrs. Maiden and she told me, ‘well you’ve got eighteen credits and then you only need one more elective class.’ She explained there was a music class that was only one term, ‘so you’ll be done around January 20 or so, and then you can graduate early.’ So, I said, ‘I can do music—I’ll do it!’ I was like, ‘hey, give it to me!’
Promise Heights was excited to learn that one Renaissance Academy High School senior accumulated enough credits by the end of the second quarter to make him the school’s first student to fulfill graduation requirements during the Baltimore City Public School System 2020/2021 School Year.
Raquan Tanner took this honor during a most challenging time, when studies included a mix of online and in-person learning due to the pandemic. Yet Raquan is so self-motivated and received so much support from Renaissance Academy that he successfully accumulated his credits early—news that came as a welcome surprise that he had accomplished this important goal.
“My plan now is that I'm getting a job, of course. Saving up my money to go to college. I’m going to college for sure. I’m still picking my colleges, but I want go to automotive school or trade school. I want to open up my own garage, just to help people who can’t work for themselves on their cars. (Raquan agreed when his Promise Heights College and Career Advisor Mr. Derris Hawkins-Smith piped in, “It’s good to be your own boss too!”)
If you believe that most teen boys are silent and seldom engage in conversation, Raquan is a young man who will quickly transform your expectations.
Yet he’s humble and credits others for his ability to advance to graduation long before his peers. “I’ve got great resources, and I’ve had great help. I don’t have problems reaching out to nobody. Miss Brandie and Mr. Hawkins-Smith—they’ve helped me out a lot. Especially Miss Brandie—she helped me through years of school.
Brandie Thomas-Cunningham, the longstanding Promise Heights College and Career Coordinator at Renaissance Academy clarifies his abilities, “He's a go getter. He's a doer. I know he’s going to be on top of it! When you see a kid working super hard for themselves, it makes you ask, ‘what else can I do for this kid? How else can I help to make sure that all of his goals and wishes—that he's able to meet those and meet those exceedingly well?”
We discussed how early graduation and aiming to get a job right away means that he’ll avoid the competition most graduates will experience later this year, a step ahead that’s especially important during the pandemic.
Raquan agreed, saying, “good thing about that! My cousin, I was working for her before home school started back up in the fall, and she got me construction work. We were doing bulk trash and helping out elderly and the community. I was fixing up houses and stuff. So, when I told her I would graduate early, she said, ‘I’ll have no trouble getting you back to that job!’”
He enthusiastically shared, “I love doing community work. When I was doing Youth Works for three years, we were doing gardens and helping elderly people mowing their grass and things like that. I really like doing that type of stuff. Before, I was with Civic Works for three years—also working in gardens for elderly people, mowing grass and stuff.”
Eventually the conversation turned to COVID and remote learning now that pandemic-affected learning reaches a one-year point. Raquan was definitive, “I don't like it. I miss my friends. I miss being in school! But it is actually different [than in-school study,] like when your siblings come in while you’re working on your courses. [He laughs.} Other than that, it’s chill. But I just miss being around people!”
Yet Raquan has creatively avoided a sense of pandemic-induced isolation. “We made a group. [Before the pandemic] I was in a football team, so we made a football group-chat from three different schools: my school—Renaissance Academy High School, Bluford [Drew Jemison STEM Academy West and Augusta Fells [Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts in Harlem Park.] We talk about what we’re doing in school, and what we’re doing in our free time during COVID. They talk about playing games with their families, and they go outside a couple of times a day. But other than that, they’re just chilling in the house. Everyone is doing their work. Some people don’t have computers, so they’re doing work on the phone. But that’s harder than on a computer—I would think. They’d be working on iPads too.”
We mused about drawbacks regarding early graduation from the Baltimore City Public Schools. Raquan is concerned about some of these changes, saying, “I’ve got to give back the computer when I graduate, though I have a phone at home. Also, when I graduate, I’m going to miss everybody. Especially my good support team: I’m going to miss them! But of course, I’ll be in contact with them, either in or out of school. Or I’ll give them help if they need somebody to talk to. I like helping people. I’m in a lot of programs.”
At that point we discussed Raquan’s goals and what he’d choose if he could have anything, as if a genie showed up to answer his wishes—what would he picture? “Just me being successful in life, that’s the only thing I can say. Everything else I can do by myself.”
Then he described his future goals and ambitions, “having a good job, having a great job, doing my career, mechanical work. Having a family of course. Buying my Mom a new car. All I want is family, so I don’t have no problem, like to ask my mom, “’what can I do make you happy and smile?’ Because that's my mom—all I want is the best for her.”
At this point Mr. Hawkins-Smith joined in: “Requan, he definitely is true to what he was saying, about everything he can do on his own. He’s not a talker—he’s a doer—he’s driven. At that age, especially in this COVID atmosphere, I can’t imagine at 17 or 18 years old, doing my classes online, just overnight. We’re adults and we adjust to things we have to do—but as students—that’s a hard situation! But Raquan—he’s always taking care of his little brother to make sure he’s doing his classes, so he’s definitely all about family. He's not limiting himself—he’s keeping his options open.”
Ms. Thomas-Cunningham piped in next, proudly sharing, “one of my favorite things about Requan is like he said—he has a lot of resources! It’s always important for students to make sure they’re going above and beyond. To have those connections with different staff members, different partnerships, because you never know what door that will open for you going down the road. Requan has always been such a respectful young man. He's always ready! If you need something done, he's someone that you can count on. He’s always stepping up and doing this or that.”
“That’s an important thing, because you know, not everybody has resources—not only to reach out, but sometimes, people don’t know how to act. Requan is always a breath of fresh air. You know he’ll reach out to you, which is nice because we’re going to be that extra resource, and you also know that Requan is also thinking about himself.”
Mr. Hawkins-Smith provided an example: “Earlier in the semester, Requan came to me about one of his classes, so I reached out to the teacher. Typically, when you tell students to come to you, they don’t. Yet when I reached out to the teacher, he told me that Requan had already come to him. And I said, ‘that’s awesome!’ He went to talk with the teacher before I even had an opportunity to speak with him. I’ve been at universities where college students won’t do that!” He paused for a moment, searching for the perfect description of this student that both advisors admire, “He’s not intimidated. That’s important—especially, as we know, in higher education, if you can develop relationships with your professors, that pays dividends in the classroom, you know? Requan refuses to be intimidated.”
Yet Raquan revealed that he hasn’t had an easy journey leading to his early graduation from high school: he faced many tough years as a child. Raquan went to five elementary schools and a different high school before Renaissance Academy. His journey just underscores how important it is to find a school that is the right fit.
Given that experience transferring from one school to another, it seemed that Renaissance was the good fit he’d been seeking. Mr. Hakwins-Smith jumped in, explaining, “Raquan was playing football too!” Raquan lamented, “until they get rid of it.” Yet his enthusiasm returned when he shared another thing to look forward to once he graduates, “My uncle has a football team, and he said I can get on his football team. I’m like, ‘OK, I’ll do it!’’’
We discussed how Mayor Scott is seeking young people in the community to support City Hall, and again, Raquan picked up on his passion for helping others. “Have you ever heard of Roberta’s House? I've been there for five years as a Peer Ambassador talking to other people about my losses—about my grief and how I did overcome it—my accomplishments and stuff. I lost a lot of people in my life—a lot of people that was close to me, real close to me. My closest friend, Lamont, my first friend—he passed away. He got killed. He was sixteen. Actually, I’ve been grieving people from different ages, even family members, so it’s been, it’s been crazy.” I lost them, from friends and family members.”
“Not too long ago, my stepfather passed away. He got murdered in November last year, so that’s been taking a hold on me. But that didn’t hold me down, that just has made me stronger. I know I’ve got something to live for—that’s for him and for the rest of my family members. So that’s why I really just want to get out of the streets, to get out of this environment, and change. Change the way of living, change how my environment is—like Baltimore can be way better, you know, with less drama and less violence. Especially when you have young friends who have passed away…especially from murder at a young age.
After sharing his tragic experiences, and also reflecting about his focused ambitions and dreams, Raquan clarified that he’s becoming the change he wants to see. His support team will truly miss him when he’s no longer a student at Renaissance Academy. Yet when discussing plans after he graduates, Mr. Hawkins-Smith reflected about how the work in Promise Heights community schools is best performed through a trauma-responsive lens, focused on healing interventions, and sharing peer-related experiences.
“We will definitely be reaching out to him and have him come back and sit on panels. He’ll be a leader for those sophomores and freshmen coming up. It’s good to see someone like Raquan who sat there in the same seats and who wanted to do more, and who is going to do more. So, it’s always important to have someone like Raquan come back and be an example for them. To speak to them. –He doesn’t know that until now, but we’ll be reaching out to him.”
We can’t wait to see what Raquan’s future brings and given his community-minded focus and the pleasure he gleans from helping others, we won’t be surprised when he eventually becomes a significant leader and role model in our great city.