Graduating high school during a global pandemic

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - Success is the greatest revenge, but in this case not against a person, against this pandemic.

The Adams family, like many of us, were navigating through lockdowns, shutdowns and mandates.

LaChelle Adams recalls, “Two years ago, I was feeling some kind of way. I worked for the BJCC and we had received notice the pandemic had caused the shutdown and we were laid off - and my kids, the schools had shutdown that same week.”

Their two sons, Trey Charles Adams lll at Jefferson County International Baccalaureate, and Murphy at Ramsay High, were suddenly learning remotely.

Trey says, “During the pandemic, there were a lot of ups and downs. It was kind of hard being isolated from everybody else, but I got through it, and one thing that really kept me going was learning how to play the guitar.”

Lori Lightsey from Jefferson County IB told us when students came back from remote learning, enrollment was lower, and says, “The pandemic was exciting for sure, remote learning was a tremendous challenge as something we’ve never experienced, but we just knew we had to keep moving forward and they did a great job moving forward, just as these teachers did.”

Now to the great news for the Adams - Trey soared through graduation with $1.6 million dollars in scholarship offers from 17 different colleges and universities.

His mom has them memorized.

“I am his administrative assistant. I am that person who reads through the emails and uploads and adds whatever. I was the one who keeps up with spreadsheets on the scholarships he got from those schools.”

The family is celebrating after a tough time, and when those letters started pouring in with dollar signs on them, Trey says, “It was really cool. It made me feel like all the hard work I had done was worth something. I just felt really good about it.”

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