Donaldsonville High School principal delivers strong message to students - WAFB

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - At Donaldsonville High School, teachers and administrators work extra hard to make sure more students graduate high school ready for college or a career.

Marvin Evans knows the power of education.

“I know many times, Donaldsonville, when people hear that name, that connotation, negative things come up,” Evans said.

As principal of Donaldsonville High School, he is on a mission to show students they can change the outcome of their lives.

“We’re talking about education and then in their environment, they see some of their peers becoming involved in the criminal justice system. It’s kind of like a tug of war,” Evans said.

When you walk into his office, you’ll see a wall of graduates who have gone on to college, started careers, and been successful.

“There are many great things that happen not only in the city of Donaldsonville but in our schools as well,” Evans said.

But you’ll also see a wall of former students who he says took a different path.

“Believe it or not, that wall is not for shock value, but it’s actually for real because they need to understand that the people that you’re looking at on that wall, they actually attended this school, they walked these same hallways,” Evans said.

Seeing the difference in outcomes for former students can sometimes drive home the message for students riding the fine line.

“It does make a difference when I have young men that, you know, many times I can look up their discipline record, and if I see they’ve had several referrals or possible suspensions, I get right to them, I say which wall do you want to be a part of in the future? And it really hits home to him because when they look at the wall of graduates, they recognize some of those people up there, but they also recognize some of the ones who were not as fortunate,” Evans said.

One of the graduates they recognize is now in the NFL.

“I can give you an example. Stephen Sullivan. Many, many people know that name because he’s a former LSU football player, he’s also in the NFL. He lived in Donaldsonville, with an older brother, in an area that was drug-infested... If not for him moving into that stable home, he would have ended up on that wall. I’m not a fortune teller, but I can say the situation in which he lived was not stable,” Evans said.

Another just graduated from law school.

“It just shows me the power of education. When she was here at Donaldsonville High School, she went on a field trip to the southern law school as a junior. So, it just shows me how an opportunity that she was provided by ascension parish sparked something in her to the point that she was able to realize the dream,” Evans said.

Evans credits the collaboration of educators with increasing the graduation rate to 84 percent at DHS.

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Donaldsonville High School principal delivers strong message to students - WAFB
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