Gerald Jackson is a special student – and brother
By Meliqueica Meadows
Of the St. Louis American
This introduces an occasional series on the unique challenges and achievements of bright, young, black kids.
At only 16-years-old, Gerald Jackson has reached a level of maturity far beyond his peers. The Hazelwood High School student is already being courted by universities across the country, and it’s not because of a killer jump shot, but because of his academic excellence.
His father, Gary Jackson, estimates that his son has received nearly sixty applications for schools eagerly hoping Gerald will apply. Gerald simply loves learning and is taking his academic success in stride.
“I always liked learning, and I always liked knowing more and more about the world,” Gerald said. “Being able to do that with my friends around me is probably the best part of (school).”
Gary Jackson says his oldest son has always been intelligent and he is proud that Gerald couples hard work with his natural abilities.
“We knew a long time ago that he was kind of special,” Gary said. “What really makes me the happiest is just to see the effort that he’s putting forth and that he’s not taking it for granted.”
Gerald started his high school career with a 3.4 grade point average and has brought it up to a 3.7. He is entering his junior year and is looking forward to taking Advanced Placement classes in history and biology.
Recently, Gerald took the ACT and scored a 28 out of 36, which is well above the national average of 20.9. However, he feels he could have done better on parts of the exam and is hoping that his courses this year will help him achieve a higher score.
Gerald is the oldest son of Gary and Angela Jackson, who also have an 11-year-old son, Taylor. Jackson feels the special relationship between the brothers has helped Gerald achieve a level of maturity not often found in teens his age.
“We have an autistic son, and I think that’s helped Gerald out a lot. He had to grow up. With us having an autistic child, Gerald missed out on some things, probably, because Gerald has been a big help to us,” he said.
Last summer, Gerald helped his parents by taking care of his brother while they worked full-time. He was responsible for making lesson plans for Taylor and working with him on a daily basis.
“Having a brother like that, you grow up not being able to judge anybody else because you don’t know what they’ve been through,” Gerald said. “Someone can look at Taylor and just start judging him and not know what’s going on with him. Fortunately, it’s taught me to take every day as it comes, because you may not have everything. He doesn’t have everything that I do, and I know that. I know that that could be me one day.”
His father feels that working with his younger brother last summer taught Gerald to be more sensitive and understanding of others.
“I think it helped him grow up and I think that it gave him a different perspective about people,” Jackson said. “I think it made him more sensitive to people and has helped him in his everyday life.”
While Gerald attests to Taylor’s positive influence in his life, he is looking forward to using his profession to help others. He hopes to study medicine at Washington University and one day become a surgeon.
“I always wanted to help people out because I feel like if you have a certain skill, you should use it to help people out,” Gerald said.
“I feel like being a doctor would be the best thing to help people out. Being a surgeon, you can be that last stop between life and death for somebody, so that’s what I want to do.”
