Dardonius Woods Sr. can hardly contain his smile when he looks at his son, Dardonius Woods Jr.
He’s a proud father, and he has a very good reason to be.
The soon-to-be graduate of Thomas E. Edwards Senior High in Ruleville will be on his way to Morehouse College in Atlanta next fall.
Dardonius Jr. was not only accepted to the college this spring, he was also awarded a full scholarship.
“I’m so proud of him and the young man he’s become,” the elder Woods said, standing outside of the Ruleville high school where he was once a student-athlete.
The younger Woods is about to break a multi-generational cycle of teenage pregnancy that led his father and his grandfather, Jessie Nevills, to join the military right out of high school in order to support their children.
His mother, Ashunta Conway, likewise has spent the better part of two decades dedicated to keeping her son’s focus in the classroom and in the various extracurricular activities he’s involved with like football and basketball.
“I had Dardonius when I was 17,” Conway said. “I went to (Mississippi Delta Community College) for a while, but I had to get a job.”
Both Nevills and the senior Woods had children when they were still teenagers.
The two men would make their families proud by serving their country with honor, the older one in Operation Desert Storm and the younger in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But there’s something about that break, and the younger Woods’ ability to name his college, choose his major and explore his passions.
“Being a child of teenage pregnancy myself, and having him in high school, being a child of teenage pregnancy himself, of course you know the struggles that come along with that,” the senior Woods said. “My father, his grandfather, made the decision to go to the Marines when they had me, and I did basically the exact same thing when I found out his mother was pregnant, I joined the Army.”
The junior Woods’ path will definitely be different than the one his father and grandfather took.
He plans to major in political science at Morehouse.
“I have lots of family members who have dabbled in that world of politics, and I feel like I would have to venture into that as well,” Dardonius Woods Jr. said. “I feel like I can make an impact in the world of politics.”
Dardonius’ uncle, Ruben Woods, is an alderman in Indianola, and he has other family members who have served in office as well, like his aunt, Evelyn Woods, who serves as a board member for the Sunflower County Consolidated School District.
The young man said he sent applications to a lot of schools, including ones in-state, but he had his heart set on Morehouse, which happens to be located where his father currently lives in the Atlanta area.
His mother will be sad to see him leave next fall, but she knows he is going to the college of his choice, and that is the most important thing.
“I was ecstatic,” Conway said upon hearing the news of his admission and full scholarship offer. “I knew right then, the moment my son was going to the school of his choice, and he was going to make me proud. The hard work and effort he put into his books and into sports showed me how much of a great man he was becoming.”
His family’s history is not lost with him, and neither is the fact that he comes from a Delta school, something he is very proud of.
“When people look at Thomas E. Edwards or Ruleville Central or whatever you may want to call it, they would kind of brush it off,” he said. “It’s not one of those schools ranked in the country as among the top tier, so I would love for it to be put back on the map as far as academics or even athletics, because I feel that school can do that.”
Dardonius credits his teachers, coaches and even his fellow students with providing him with support throughout his high school career.
This is something he has missed out on largely during his senior year due to virtual learning.
“This experience has really changed my perspective, because I used to be one of those kids that would be like, ‘I might not want to go to school today,” but when virtual learning came around, I wanted to be at school so bad,” he said.
Dardonius said that he could not have made it this far without the support of his entire family, including his parents, his grandparents and his aunts and uncles.
