Life is riddled with so many hurdles and the way one chooses to face them can result in either a positive or negative outcome. When Demoine Jones was 14 years old, he was set to be a father by age 15. The news almost shattered his dreams but he persevered and now he is a senior in law school while his child is also a senior in high school.
Jones took being a teenage dad in his strides, seeing how his single mother raised him without his father.
“On August 10th he was born,” Jones said of his son, Devante. “It was actually the first day of school, my Sophomore year. So while other people were preparing for school I was preparing to be a dad.”
Luckily for Jones, his high school at the time, Kashmere High, had just introduced day care. Braving the system as a child himself and being from the Fifth Ward, the odds were most likely against him, but Jones did not relent.
“So the odds were already against me. Now to become a father at an early age at that point I was like, ‘oh man life has to be over.'”
As he prepared for school at the time, he got his son, Devante, ready as well. He soon realized that his baby boy is a blessing in disguise as he grew up hearing those words from his own mother. “I didn’t have my dad. So I always said that I wanted to be different than that. Parents, especially like my mom, they would say how kids are a blessing. To become a parent that made me realize what that meant.”
Jones now knew he had something to live for. Devante gave him every reason to see his dreams through. He worked odd jobs and got more involved in his community and church activities as well (he is a deacon at his church now), all the while doing so with his son by him.
“My son has been like my inspiration,” Jones said.
Devante, after his father had learned to be a parent at age 15, was also diagnosed with lupus at that same age. “We all have our battles but it’s not the battle, it’s how you handle the situation. Your current situation is not your final destination,” Jones said.
Jones, now a father of two, has a daughter, De’Naejah. His children gave him the push to earn an Associate Degree in Business Administration, a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications and now he is in his final semester in law school at TSU’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law set to take the bar exam in February 2021.
With all these achievements under his father’s belt, Devante now sees the importance of education and pursuing one’s dreams and wants to train to be a doctor and take his fellowship to be a neuroscientist.
“At first, I didn’t even think about going to school. But because I see my dad going to school, that’s the main reason I want to go to school,” said the 18-year-old. “I want to study neuroscience,” he added.
A 17-year-old migrant from Sudan, Abdul Usman, has attempted to cross the Channel from France…
Tatiyana, Danyelle LaShay, and Jyniah Smith -- the Smith sisters -- are some of the…
It's a full circle moment for mom Tangenicka "Tange" Williams and her daughter Chyna set…
Fat Joe is widely known for hits like Lean Back, All the Way Up, and…
Get to know Jordan Taylor; he is the founder of Vizcom, a software company that…
38-year-old Tanice Spence-Clarke was arrested and charged with child neglect without physical harm after police…
Janet Jackson might have wielded superpowers alongside Marvel's iconic heroes. But, it was Halle Berry…
A North Carolina mother wants a middle school teacher to be terminated after he allegedly…
In a recent interview with PEOPLE ahead of the release of her Curse You With…
Authorities in the United Kingdom have ordered the Jamaican government to pay the legal bills…
Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton has said that his little brother was subjected to racial abuse,…
Reggie Bush has regained his place as the 2005 Heisman Trophy winner after over a…
Since 2012, actor Nick Cannon has openly shared his struggle with lupus to support others…
Former USC superstar Caleb Williams has been drafted by the Chicago Bears as the No.…
Stephen A. Smith is an ESPN analyst. People widely regard him as the face of…