Hasan Black wants to be the role model he wished he had as a kid. Growing up in Cincinnati, the education major said he never had a teacher who looked like him. “I did not have any Black male teachers,” he said.
A scholarship football player, Black spent his final semester as a cadet juggling twice-daily workouts with student-teaching—essentially a full-time job—at nearby Burke High School. But the inside linebacker said being able to have an impact in the local community was worth the early mornings. “I love seeing them learn—when that light bulb goes off, that’s my favorite part.”
He chose Burke, a Title I school directly adjacent to The Citadel’s Johnson Hagood Stadium, in part because it eliminated commute time in an already full day, but also because he felt he could make a valuable impact. “I knew I could be a good influence and role model.” Though he may have been a little hard on his students sometimes, Black’s goal was to make a difference in their lives. “I hope my students would describe me as someone who values them as people,” he said, “that they would say I challenged them and cared about them.”
At the same time, Black got a lot out of the opportunity. “You can’t duplicate the hands-on experience that I got,” he said. “Burke has given me the tools to be successful, and my time there will make me a better teacher.”
So what’s next? Black’s goals are lofty. He has aspirations to play in the NFL, but he still has his eyes on academic challenges and plans to pursue his MBA, as well as a career in education. “It’s just about balance.”
Black’s interest in teaching grew out of his own childhood. “I thought back on some of the good experiences I had with teachers,” he said. “My mom is a teacher. My history teacher made history fun.” Black decided he wanted to pass along those positive memories to the next generation of high school students.