Jaden Rivera was overtaken by emotions when learning he and another Delaware State University student were the first Dr. Terrance Newton Scholars recipients — a scholarship program named after the university’s alumnus whose attitude toward education and students earned him accolades as an innovative school and community leader.
“As I received the news, I sat on the phone with tears rushing down my face,” said Rivera, a 21-year-old majoring in physical education. “The fact that I was able to make history by being one of the first recipients for this scholarship is something that I am grateful to be a part of.”
The $5,000 scholarship was presented to Rivera and Jaron Hunt-Fletcher, a senior from Seaford majoring in elementary education, last month as a way to “acknowledge and support young men of color who have chosen a career in education, following in the footsteps of Dr. Newton,” the university said in a news release.
To qualify for the award, the students had to be enrolled full-time at DSU and possess a minimum GPA of 3.0.
While the scholarship was a one-year grant given to these seniors this time, DSU Spokesperson Pati Nash said the grant will be awarded to freshmen in the future and be a multi-year award.
The scholarship was created shortly after Newton died following a motorcycle accident on March 18. He was 47 years old.
Who was Terrance Newton?
Newton grew up in Wilmington’s East Side streets, where gun violence was something that found him twice – the first time in Wilmington when he was a high school freshman and then two years later when he and friends snuck up to New York City.
The second shooting was his wake-up call.
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While he said it wasn’t easy to break from this way of life, his mother – the late Marie Hammond – helped keep him straight. She was helped by others, including coaches, neighbors and police officers.
His mother forced him to attend Hodgson Vocational Technical High School, where a coach saw his athletic talent and convinced him to play football. There, he became a star running back and learned the trade of plumbing.
After graduation, his mother persuaded him to take a scholarship offered by DSU. He graduated from the Dover college with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and sociology and became a youth rehabilitative counselor at Ferris School, a detention center for juvenile criminals. At Ferris, he decided to influence students there before they ended up behind bars.
“I wanted to be at the preventive stage … to work in the schools and be more of a role model for these kids because I can relate to them,” he said in 2015. “I come from the same communities they come from. I understand the struggles that they go through.”
Newton returned to DSU for his master’s and his doctoral degrees and worked in Delaware and Pennsylvania schools until he became principal of Warner Elementary in Wilmington.
Despite being the school’s principal, Newton continued a program he started in 2005 cutting students’ hair as a way to show he cared about their education and wanted students to be happy with themselves and how the world sees them.
“When I was coming up as a kid, a lot of things I learned was in the barbershop,” Newton told Delaware Online/The News Journal. “Just the conversations, listening to people talk, listening to their opinions. That’s what I utilize with my kids here.”
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The school barbershop brought national attention from the “Kelly Clarkson Show,” “Good Morning America” and NBC’s “Nightly News with Lester Holt.”
Newton also kept an eye on students whose families were struggling and around Christmas, would find ways to get them presents and money for the parents to help with food or rent. The help would usually come from members of the Thunderguards Motorcycle Club, which would roar into the community to present children with their gifts.
The scholarship’s impact
Hunt-Fletcher, 22, called the scholarship “an honor,” saying he plans to honor Newton by helping out in the community.
“The knowledge I was able to gain about him really impressed me and excited me about the scholarship,” Hunt-Fletcher said. “You don’t see many African American males in the education system, so I definitely want to carry on his legacy and help out in the community any way I can.”
Hunt-Fletcher, who is currently participating in an internship at West Seaford Elementary, is slated to graduate from DSU in spring 2023.
Rivera, who will graduate from DSU after the winter 2022 semester and is currently participating in an internship in the Lake Forest School District, said it meant a lot to him to receive this scholarship.
“To have my name in the same conversation as someone like Dr. Terrance Newton is an honor,” he said. “I am able to carry on his legacy that he left behind as I am recreating my own by trusting in the purpose that God has placed over my life.”
Have a tip or story ideas? Contact local reporter Cameron Goodnight at cgoodnight@delawareonline.com, or by calling or texting 302-324-2208. Follow him on Twitter at @CamGoodnight. Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3.
