From bullied student to No. 1 in class: Elliott is West Morgan's first black male valedictorian

May 20--For almost a month, Austin Elliott has been working on the speech he will give during West Morgan High School's graduation Tuesday.

His appearance will be historic -- he will become the first black male valedictorian in school history -- and Elliott wants his message to encourage his classmates, but also "be real" about his high school experience.

"I was bullied by a few, very few, of my classmates, and most of it was racial bullying," he said.

In a 2014 report, the U.S. Department of Education released a joint study with the Centers for Disease Control which revealed one in three students said they had been bullied. The most common types of bullying were verbal and social, and the majority of it occurred in middle school.

Elliott's was mostly verbal, and it happened in middle and high school. He used the experience as motivation, often turning to academics as an outlet to prove his worth.

Lucas Johnston has been Elliott's friend and classmate since third grade, and the two will attend the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He was aware that Elliott was bullied in middle school "because he was so much smarter than everyone else," but Johnston said they didn't discuss it in high school.

"He never came to school upset and took his education seriously," Johnston said. "He's always been a very good friend."

Elliott said he learned in middle school that retaliating against bullies made him like them. So he decided to chart a course of inclusion and academic success.

He said he wasn't an athlete, but was determined to represent West Morgan "in the best light I could."

Elliott turned to academics and said he focused on what Principal Keith Harris challenged them to do when they enrolled as freshmen.

"We ask our students to leave the school better than they find it," the principal said. "Austin has certainly done his part and more."

Harris and counselor Natasha Burks were the first to inform Elliott that he was going to be valedictorian. They pulled him out of class in February because they wanted to share the news with his classmates.

"It's generally never good when the principal comes to get you out of class, and I thought I was in trouble," Elliott said.

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He knew he was ranked No. 1 in his class when the school year started, but wasn't sure about being valedictorian. Elliott said Harris informed him during their meeting that he was the school's first black male valedictorian.

Dr. Wonder Puryear Drake, who graduated with Harris in 1986, was the school's first black valedictorian. She is a physician scientist and associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

"Some big shoes to fill," Elliott joked.

Classmate Shelby McCulloch has no doubt that Elliott is up to any challenge. "He's really smart, but puts others before himself," she said.

Elliott, who plans to study accounting at UAH, said he doesn't remember a time when academics were not first in his life. He has been a straight-A student since first grade and is graduating with a 4.5 grade-point average.

His most difficult time in school was when he was bullied because he struggled to understand why the color of his skin mattered. Elliott said it was "just certain individuals" who called him the n-word and that the overwhelming majority of the students at West Morgan are kind and loving.

He said his struggles with bullying made him more determined academically. Elliott said he didn't share what he was going through with a lot of people, but leaned on his spirituality, parents and friends who saw him for who he is.

Angel Elliott, one of two older sisters, was aware of the bullying and at one point said the family talked about transferring him from West Morgan.

"But he wanted to stay and fight through it," she said. "He wanted to show them who would come out on top in the end."

Elliott, 17 and a National Honor Society member, said he wants to become a certified public accountant.

He hopes his graduation speech mirrors what he helped the Student Council do when West Morgan held its first class Olympics this year. The three-day event included academic and athletic competitions, which meant every student could participate.

"We are one school, one student body and one community, regardless of skin color or anything else," Elliott said. "I've had some good experiences at West Morgan, and I hope people hear this in my speech." -- deangelo@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2469. Twitter @DD_Deangelo.

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