Bounced by the ‘good’ school, he thrived at the ‘bad’ one. Here’s what made the difference
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Zyrann Hibbitt is the first to admit — he didn't want to go there.
Iroquois High School: "The Dirty I."
Zyrann, 18, had his education mapped out: Graduate from duPont Manual, one of Kentucky's most prestigious high schools, and use his pedigreed diploma as a springboard to conquer the world.
But when trouble got him bounced from Manual, he ended up instead at Iroquois, the "bad" school.
He's certain now it was the best thing that could have happened to him.
The senior and model student is blossoming in Iroquois' culinary arts program, and he already sees his future mapped out in the food industry.
The same teen who walked in Iroquois' doors wondering if his future was shipwrecked is now the school's biggest booster.
"They say I am Iroquois," he says. "I tried running from it for the first year and a half. But once you accept it for what it is, the doors are gonna open."
In episode 5 of The Courier Journal podcast "A 'Bad' School," we spend time with Zyrann in Iroquois' classrooms and hallways and learn why the dividing line between a "bad" and "good" school can be razor-thin.
We learn why it's students — not teachers — who make the difference.
And we learn why no matter how hard teachers work to make their classrooms warm and welcoming, the outside world eventually comes creeping in — sometimes laying waste to good intentions.
Read the project: ‘Magnetic Pull’
Magnetic Pull: An investigation into magnet schools
Read our sister project: ‘The Last Stop’
Louisville's desegregation myth: How a busing plan hurt Black communities it aimed to help
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This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: A 'Bad' School, episode 5: What separates a 'good' and 'bad' school
