Long before Dr. Demetrius Adams became the principal of Hazelwood West High School, he was a student struggling to read and wondering whether he could keep up with his classmates.
Adams had an individualized education plan and said St. Louis Public Schools educators described his academic challenges as a “severe learning disability.” But after entering the voluntary desegregation program at Lindbergh High School, teachers began pushing him beyond what he thought he could do.
“I found out that I’m not a slow learner,” Adams said. “I’m a learner that needed to be challenged and I needed people to believe in me and have faith in me.”
Adams will be recognized as an Excellence in Education honoree during the St. Louis American Foundation’s 39th annual Salute to Excellence in Education Scholarship & Awards Gala on Oct. 17 at the St. Louis Union Station Hotel.
A St. Louis native, Adams grew up on St. Louis Avenue, where he and his siblings were raised by his great-grandmother and great-aunt after his great-grandmother fought to gain custody of them from the foster care system.
At Lindbergh, Linda Farney met Adams in her reading strategies class and remembers him as hardworking and willing to learn.
“He was exactly the kind of student a teacher loves to have in their class,” Farney said.
As Adams’ reading improved, Farney pushed him further. By the end of his sophomore year, she encouraged him to take more advanced classes.
“He kind of became what I think every teacher hopes for,” Farney said of watching Adams’ progress. “He was as good for me as I was for him. He’s a teacher’s dream.”
Looking back, Adams credits the desegregation program and the educators who challenged and believed in him with changing his life.
“The deseg program saved my life,” Adams said.
He graduated from Lindbergh High School in 1993, but college presented another challenge.
The University of Missouri-St. Louis was his first choice, but the university rejected him because of his low ACT score. After enrolling at Harris-Stowe State University, UMSL offered him provisional admission with specific academic requirements. Adams transferred but struggled and ultimately stepped away from college the following semester.
He later improved his ACT score, returned to UMSL and earned his bachelor’s degree in elementary and early childhood education in 1999.
Adams taught in St. Louis Public Schools before joining the Hazelwood School District in 2004, where he met fellow Arrowpoint Elementary teacher Anya King. When Adams told King he wanted to pursue administration, she agreed to take his first administration course with him.
“I’m here to encourage him,” King recalled telling their professor.
Adams continued his own education while building his career, ultimately earning a Doctor of Education degree from Missouri Baptist University in 2014.
He also spent years teaching at the college level, including at St. Louis Community College’s Meramec and Florissant Valley locations and, more recently, Harris-Stowe State University.
His leadership career took him to Lindbergh and Ferguson-Florissant before he returned to Hazelwood in 2018 as principal of Hazelwood Central Middle School — where King was now one of his teachers.
Three years later, Adams moved to Hazelwood West High School as an assistant principal. When the principal position opened, he was encouraged to apply.
“If you get this position, you are going to make history,” King said.
In 2022, Adams became the first Black male principal to lead Hazelwood West, according to Adams and King.
Adams measures his success by whether students are succeeding. He points to the school’s Annual Performance Report, which factors in attendance, assessments and college and career readiness, as one measure of its progress during his tenure. The school earned 77.7% of its possible APR points in 2025, according to Hazelwood School District data.
“I have such high expectations for my students here because of what somebody had for me,” Adams said.
Cody Crawford, a junior at Hazelwood West, has experienced those high expectations firsthand.
“He’s always … making sure I’m learning right at school and just making sure I’m on top of my work,” Crawford said. “He always checks on me throughout the hallways whenever he sees me.”
Crawford began his high school career at West and said he has built a good relationship with Adams, although it started out rocky.
“My freshman year was kind of rough because I stayed in and out of trouble, and he didn’t like that,” Crawford said. “But that’s just being like a good role model, someone who cared for me.”
For Adams, preparing students for life beyond Hazelwood West means exposing them to multiple pathways — universities, community colleges, technical training, trades, the military and the workforce — with the goal of every student leaving with a plan.
Some students Adams worked with during his K-12 career have since found themselves in his Harris-Stowe courses preparing to become educators.
Adams will soon be eligible for retirement, but he says his work isn’t done.
“I still have a lot of passion and fire in me,” Adams said. “Retirement is just an age and it’s just a number. When I am fulfilled with my entire career, then I’m going to retire.”
He said receiving the Excellence in Education honor has given him an opportunity to reflect on his career and recognize the impact others have already seen in his work.
“Somebody noticed it,” Adams said. “Somebody believed in me. Somebody knew what I was doing.”
That belief is what Adams hopes to pass on to his students.
“Don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t be anything,” Adams said. “It doesn’t matter about a test score. It doesn’t matter about what people think of you.”