Back in January, The Town of Hillsborough, Orange County Schools, and specifically Cedar Ridge High School experienced another round of tragedy in the sudden passing of former junior varsity basketball player, Zikera Wardlow.
Wardlow played for the JV Red Wolves in the 2023-24 season and was called up to the Varsity team for a handful of games. She transferred to Discovery Charter Academy in Durham for the 24-25season and was a part of a Trailblazers’ squad that started the season with a solid 6-2 mark at the time of the tragedy. Discovery was on a bright path as all six wins came by an average margin of victory of 25.8 points per game. The Blazers would finish the campaign with a modest 10-4 record.
According to media reports, Wardlow went to a restaurant near her home and never returned as she was discovered deceased along with another person sometime after the disappearance. After investigation, a suspect was identified and arrested andsubsequently charged with murder. This person is currently incarcerated awaiting trial.
At the time of the incident, it was the second time in a little over two years that a senseless act of violence took the life of a Cedar Ridge student-athlete. Former junior varsity volleyball player Lyric Woods and former Eastern Alamance varsity football player Devin Clark were killed in September 2022. That suspect was also arrested & charged with murder and is also awaiting trial in the county jail.
Both suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Why does violence among our youth keep happening? Why are those in the springtime of life continuing to perish by various forms of violence? The better question to ask is this. Why do kids, or people in general, need to use violence for whatever the reason?
Since 1983, if you went to elementary school, you went through DARE or Drug Abuse Resistance Education. This one-hour class, led each week by a member of local law enforcement, instructedthe student about various controlled substances, the effects of the drugs, and ways to avoid them. There were lessons taught about confrontational avoidance without the need to use violence & weapons.
In an earlier edition of The Franklin Mint, I mentioned that a prepared group of student-athletes can help a team become more successful. Similarly, a prepared person develops upon the building blocks of lessons learned and can set up a bright future if they choose. But over time, refreshers are needed to refocus their attention and to right the ship when they have veered off course.
In various jobs, employees take part in continuing education. When serving as a corrections officer, I underwent “annual refresher training” or “in-service training”. Continuing education enables the employees to review laws, policies, and procedures so that they willbe able to perform their jobs proficiently.
Maybe it’s just me, but with all the media reports of violence inside & outside of schools on a frequent basis, a return to DARE along with increase in the teaching of communication skills andconfrontational avoidance as a required core class – every year until graduation – seems appropriate.
Each year, students are building upon the knowledge and aptitudes of core subjects but have no idea on how to interact with people. Unfortunately, a lack of proper communication skills leads to consistent unemployment, the inability to maturely resolve basic matters, and become prone to criminal behavior.
I know this is true as seen in my current role as a prisons admissions officer. Each week, I meet with offenders that have an extensive history of substance abuse, criminal behavior, and unemployment that often goes back to their days of youth. When they reach my office, many have no idea on how to communicateas their forms of communication are full of expletives, the lack of sentence structure, or common sense.
It is easy to blame a poor home environment, a lack of social support, an overwhelming bombardment from various forms ofmedia, and an introduction to alcohol & controlled substances as the cause of the problem. Yet, there are no positive solutions to the problems if they are continually kicked down the road – all in hopes for the problem to improve over time. Whether or not it’s the student or the environment, why are these problems consistentlycontinued?
A student has to purpose themselves to be better than the circumstances. When interviewing offenders, I’m often told that their friends or family are productive members of society, working in occupations such as teachers, medical staff, tradesmen, or even law enforcement. This tells me that their family & friends made positive choices not to engage in substance abuse and criminal behavior.
Students, it begins with you. You win or lose by what you choose and the decisions of today will impact tomorrow. Choose wisely.
Parents, coaches, school officials, teachers, and community – you are entrusted with a moral compass to direct the students in the positive path and to correct their behavior when called for. Don’t let your compass get stuck.
Overall, it takes a village to raise a child. But if that village fails, the village will eventually cease to exist. If the village ceases to exist, then society itself has no future.
