SLY WORTHY JR., 2017 LORAIN HIGH
Sly is a recent graduate of The Ohio State University with his Bachelors of Social Work, and is also a Licensed Social Worker. He will be attending graduate school at The Ohio State University to receive his MSW. During his undergraduate career at Ohio State he was honored to start his own student organization to support first-generation college students (Buckeyes First Student Organization), be apart of our 2020 Homecoming Court, engage in research, study abroad (Dominican Republic), and be nominated and named as a Martin Luther King Jr. Scholar.
How has your experience in Lorain City Schools influenced your life?
"I would not be who I am today if I had not grown up in Lorain and attended Lorain City Schools. Growing up in Lorain was not always the easiest as often you are surrounded by a lot of distractions, but it simultaneously taught me so much. Lorain taught me how to make the most out of what I had. Resources were limited so often you had to learn how to maximize the most out of resources to still reach your desired outcomes. Lorain also provided me with grit and pride. I was an athlete and our coaches always reminded us what it meant to be from Lorain the type of grit that it would take to persevere. The last thing Lorain provided me was love. I could not agree with the saying “it takes a village to raise a child” enough. At a young age, I was misguided and was not always shown the love a kid like I needed which caused me to get into a lot of trouble. People in the community, my coaches, and some teachers saw that dimmed light inside of me and took it upon themselves to do whatever they had to do to make sure that my light would shine. This support did not end once I graduated high school. The most recent display of this support was displayed when I had the opportunity to raise funds as a member of the Ohio State Homecoming Court and about 50 of the 71 donors were from Lorain. Everyone believes that Lorain and schools like Lorain do not prepare their students for higher education, but I would argue differently. Once I came to college, I was exposed to an abundance of resources which I was able to maximize. I had a sense of pride in who I was, the identities I held, and where I came from which allowed me to stay true to myself. When things were difficult in college, I had the grit instilled in me which allowed me to stay persistent and get through it. Lastly, things are a little easier when you see the continuous support and love that Lorain provides me. College was not easy by any means, but I was able to utilize what Lorain instilled in me to persist at a high level during my undergraduate career."
What piece of advice would you tell your younger self?
"I would tell my younger self that life does get hard but situations are temporary so keep my eyes on the prize. I would also tell myself that everything happens for a reason even if we do not know why. We learn a lot from our experiences and sometimes we have to go through things in order to prepare us for our future."