Whatever you're doing, 10th grader Sadre Campbell is probably doing more. Sadre is taking four AP and dual enrollment classes at Turner Tech High School in Miami. He has a part-time job. He's in five clubs, and the president of one of them. He holds regular tutoring sessions for classmates after school. He does all this while earning straight A's. How does he do it? Sheer determination to excel.
"I will not let anything stop me from doing my homework, and I spent many nights doing homework up to three AM to get it done and I'll be tired in school but it's worth the grade and the sense of accomplishment I feel," Sadre said.
Sadre is an academic whiz kid, especially in math. He's the one his classmates turn to for help.
"I do it just to help other kids, I don't sign up for community service or anything, I just want to see everyone succeed in life," Sadre said.
He sets the bar high, and his friends at school have certainly noticed.
"Given the high standards that he gives himself, it inspires other kids to set their standards high and try to go all out," said Andrinna Arne, one of Sadre's classmates.
"I hope my brothers come out like Sadre because I feel like Sadre's very determined, he actually can be a role model for many kids," added Rusbely Pena, another classmate.
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His friends also say Sadre hasn't let success go to his head.
"Even though he'd done a lot of amazing things and he gets a lot of credit for it, he isn't pretentious and he just remains humble," said Ayanna Fontaine, a fellow sophomore.
Sadre works in the school's credit union, which is a real, student-run bank. It's good training for a young man who wants to eventually be a business tycoon, and no one at Turner Tech doubts that Sadre will achieve his goals.
"I've seen him from 6th grade to 10th grade, can't wait to see him graduate, I know he's gonna do great things, he's a special kid," said principal Uwezo Frazier, who was formerly the principal of Madison Middle School.
Frazier remembers being called at eight o'clock in the morning on a Saturday three years ago. The alarm bells were going off at Madison Middle, so he rushed over to the school. To his amazement, Frazier found Sadre and one of his friends on the school grounds, technically trespassing. They didn't realize they had set off the alarm. They were there to use the school's wifi. The kids didn't have any connectivity ability at home, so they did the only thing they could to finish their homework. Early on a weekend morning, instead of sleeping.
"I think that shows I have a sense of persistence 'cause I've been persistent my whole life and I haven't let anything stop me," Sadre said.
Frazier told the story to Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who was so moved he personally gave Sadre a wifi hotspot.
"If he has equal opportunity, if he's on a level playing field, he's gonna blow it out of the water and ever since he got that hot spot and had those opportunities he's made nothing less than a level five on any assessment," Frazier said.
After school, Sadre helps take care of his five younger siblings. He will be the first in his family to attend college, and he's got his sights set on the Ivy League and the nation's best universities.
"I'm OK with the cards I've been dealt in life but I'd like to improve so I see education as the best way for me to get there," Sadre said.
He will get there, and as his peers in the credit union say, you can bank on it.
