by Glenn Tschimpke
Staff Writer
Derrick Williams has a different sort of mentor. Late last year, Take Stock in Children connected Williams with a role model ... not a school teacher, not a police officer, not a doctor.
“They told me I had a special mentor,” said Williams. “I asked if he was a football player. They said no, bigger than that. I said, ‘President of the United States?’ No, no. It’s Ander Crenshaw.”
Since December Williams, a junior at Lee High School, has spent most Mondays with U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw. For an hour-and-a-half during school hours, Crenshaw and Williams pal around town spending time together and doing different activities.
“Frankly, I just really enjoy it,” said Crenshaw. “I can’t be available every week, but when I am, I can take my time and share my views with him. He’s very mature, he’s pretty secure in himself and self assured.”
Most of the time, the two meet at Lee High School.
“The first time we met, we walked around Lee High,” said Crenshaw, who graduated from Lee in 1962. “It really brought back some memories.”
Once in a while, the two go to different functions, like a house construction for Beaches Habitat or a luncheon at Crenshaw’s Rotary Club. While time spent at school is most comfortable for Williams, erecting houses or rubbing elbows with local leaders at a civic club luncheon is something new.
“At the beach, I had to nail stuff into walls. It was kind of fun because I never did that kind of stuff before,” said Williams.
Last month, Crenshaw was the scheduled guest speaker at Rotary. Crenshaw asked Williams if he would like to go, who in turn asked the most pertinent question a high school junior should make.
“Is the food good?”
Williams can look back with satisfaction. While Crenshaw discussed national security in the wake of September’s terrorism attacks, budget concerns and base closures, Williams was carefully assessing the culinary offerings.
“The food was good.”
Williams, the child of a single mother, has a high statistical chance of running into trouble through drugs, gangs or other malfeasance. The Take Stock in Children program strives to prevent problems before they start. Williams is a active in sports at Lee and is a member of the football and track teams and insists he keeps a “B” average in class.
“He really wants to go to college,” said Crenshaw. “I think he has a great future.”
Williams dreams of a football scholarship, but will gladly take an academic ride through college. Which one? It’s too soon, he says.
“There’s so many out there, I don’t even know,” he said.
In the end, Williams comes away feeling a little more confident, a little more mature and a much better man.
“My friends are kind of proud of me,” he said. “They’ve seen a big change. In a way, I feel like I have to be more responsible. As a football player, people looked up to me, but now people really do.”