The day that Demonde Ragins finally learned he passed his GED test was the best and worst day of his life.
For months, the Simmons Career Center student had been trying to pass. It was his last chance before the deadline at the end of 2013.
But in the midst of his joy, tragedy struck. His father, Willie Ragins, had gone missing from Lake Tarpon several days earlier. When he called his family to share the good news of his test score, they told him that his father was found. But not alive.
“He was dead,” Ragins says. “That threw me down. I couldn’t feel anything. Not the good moment or bad moment. I was numb.”
It was a dark day for the teenager. But, he knew he had to push through. He gathered his inner strength, something he had done many times before.
SOMETHING SPECIAL
Ragins was from a tough neighborhood. When he first came to Simmons Career Center, he had been kicked out of Plant City High School.
When Ret. 1st. Sgt. Jerry Betancourt met Ragins, he knew he carried a lot of baggage with him. His mother had to move to another rough area. A cousin, to whom he was close, died.
“He was not very trustworthy of people,” Betancourt says. “I guess he had been let down so many times.”
When Ragins smart-mouthed to him one day, Ragins was sent to the office. He came back and apologized. That’s when the two established a mutual respect.
By Ragins’ second year in ROTC, he was commander for competitions and in charge of the cadets. Betancourt started encouraging Ragins to stick with ROTC. He told him that joining the National Guard comes with education benefits.
“He’s going to be a successful person, because he wants to get out of the neighborhood,” Betancourt says. “He wants to take care of his mom and siblings.”
“I basically wanted something better for my life,” Ragins says. “After talking with first sergeant, he inspired me to do better.”
So, when Ragins wanted to get his GED, the whole school rallied behind him.
“I always felt there was something special about him,” ELP teacher Andrea Jean says. “I saw the potential to get him to where he wanted to be. And, apparently, all of us saw the same thing.”
THE RALLY
Jean and teacher Hasani Jackson began to push him in his school work. But, Ragins came to social studies teacher Laurel Simpson on his own. He didn’t have her as a teacher, but he had heard she was the person who could help.
“A lot of students don’t try to understand the material,” Simpson says. “But, he listened. Here’s a kid who was willing to do what it took. He came out on his own. He took my advice and ran with it.”
Ragins had to run. He only had mere months to pass when he started testing in October. The deadline was the end of the year.
But, once again, obstacles arose. With each test he took, he just couldn’t pass. He started to get disheartened.
“He didn’t want to let everyone here down,” Ret. Lt. Col. Don Gunn says.
Going above and beyond, the faculty at Simmons had none of it. Counselor Andrea Thurston spent hours on the phone and computer, even on the weekends, to find testing sites. She sent Ragins to St. Petersburg and even looked at a site in Ft. Myers.
When she exhausted local sites, she began to look further. She found one in Wauchula, but Ragins needed a ride. Jackson stepped up once again. He already had driven Ragins to other sites. But, he was willing to make a farther trip to see the success of his student.
Ragins had not traveled outside of Plant City often. Riding into the interior of the state, he was tense but also captivated by the changing scenery.
When he didn’t pass, Jackson gave him some advice.
“‘If a rock falls in your path right now, what are you going to do?’” Jackson says. “Turn around? No. You’re going to find a way around it.”
Again Ragins and Jackson traveled farther, to Gainesville.
And again, Ragins didn’t pass.
This time, Ragins was sure he was finished. Time was running out. But, at the last minute, Thurston found a site in Jacksonville.
At the same time, Ragins’ father had gone missing. His father took a fishing trip with friend Willie Hightower on Lake Tarpon. When the pair didn’t come home that night, family alerted the authorities.
Ragins didn’t have a ride to Jacksonville. So, Jackson put him on a bus to meet Thurston, who was in Jacksonville visiting her family for the holidays. She was to meet him at the bus stop and take him to the testing site.
Rightfully so, Ragins was worried about his father and his family.
If you don’t do it now, you’re going to have regrets for the rest of your life, Jackson told him. Get on the bus.
“It was a painful ride,” Ragins says. “But, I enjoyed it in a way. I got to see a lot of things. Met some cool people on the bus. It was my first bus ride.”
Ragins remembers seeing the majestic courthouse in downtown Jacksonville. It was monumental to his small-town eyes. If he could pass his GED, one day he may have a chance to work in such a place. He was interested in studying criminal justice.
THE LEGACY
When Ragins arrived to the testing room, he was filled with prayer and hope.
“A lot of things were running through my mind,” Ragins says. “If I didn’t pass, then what’s next? If I did, then what steps to I need to take to get to where I want to be?”
After Ragins walked out of the testing room, Thurston saw a change.
“He seemed like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders,” Thurston says. “He looked like, ‘I got this.’”
Thurston took him to her family’s house for dinner. Ragins made calls to his family. His father still was missing.
On the bus home, he learned that authorities had called off the search for the night.
On Jan. 1, Thurston encouraged Ragins to look up his score online. Thurston walked him through the login process.
Dead silence.
Did you find it?
I think so.
More silence.
“Then I heard, ‘Oh my God, Oh my God,’” Thurston remembers.
He had passed.
“It’s almost like a make-you-want-to-cry moment,” Jackson says. “I told him, ‘Today marks the first day of your 365-page book.’”
But, when Ragins called his family to tell him about his scores, he learned of his father’s fate. He allowed himself time to think, to register.
“At first, I thought I was being punished for something,” Ragins says. “But, now that I think about it, it’s another strength or muscle to push myself in life. I know my dad wanted me to do something with my life. I can continue the legacy he wanted to start.”
Contact Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com.