Graduated Student Profile
Ebony Bothwell
Never having met her father, Ebony Bothwell was aching for a father-figure when she entered P.A.R.K. in the eighth grade. “I had a bad attitude, was a total pain (when I started here),” she stated. Kareem Moody and Keith Jackson agreed. “Ebony had a nasty attitude early on,” Moody said. Jackson added, ”She was a pillar of fire that needed to be controlled.”
After five years at P.A.R.K. and four more in college, the old Ebony Bothwell no longer exist. “P.A.R.K. brought out the potential in me. I knew I had potential, but I didn’t know how to start,” she said. “At Henderson Junior High, I was an excellent student, but I kept getting put out of school for talking back or fighting.”
Bothwell credits those P.A.R.K. father-figures such as Kareem Moody and Keith Jackson for turning her life around. The new, improved Bothwell graduated high school with a GPA of over a 3.0 and enrolled at Arkansas State University on a P.A.R.K. scholarship provided by Steve and Linda Humphries. She transferred to the University of Memphis where she is set to graduate in May with a degree in political science and pre-law. She recently sat for the LSAT and hopes to attend law school next year. She wants to use that law degree to help others.
Since Bothwell found her P.A.R.K. experience to be a positive one, she has influenced her younger sister and several cousins to join the program. And while she is the first in her family to attend college, one gets the feeling from visiting with Bothwell, she won’t be the last. Asked how she viewed her time ate P.A.R.K., Bothwell proudly exclaimed, “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!”