Detroit Lion Tracy Walker, NHSA Advocate of the Month, Shares Love of Reading
BRUNSWICK, GA - A preschool class at Head Start was interrupted during lunch Monday by a surprise guest.
The young students didn’t seem to mind putting down their forks and abandoning their lunches, though, when Tracy Walker, a defensive back for the NFL Detroit Lions, came towering into the room and greeted the class.
Walker, a Glynn County native and Brunswick High graduate, visited the Head Start location Monday that he too attended long ago, well before he achieved success on the football field.
He read to students and posed for pictures with the classes and with their teachers.
“They definitely enjoyed it,” Walker said afterward. “And I think it’s a blessing to be able to come here and be able to interact with the young kids, and basically seeing where I came from when I was small like that and now seeing where I am.”
Head Start is a federally funded preschool program for 3, 4 and 5 year olds.
Walker, 23, graduated from Brunswick High in 2013 and went on to play college football at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. He started playing for the Detroit Lions in 2018.
His family lives in Glynn County still, and Walker said he rarely has time to come home.
“So when I’m home, I try to make the best of it and utilize my time very wisely,” he said.
His grandmother, Bernadette Humphreys, encouraged Walker to visit his former preschool and spend time with the students.
“She just wanted me to come talk to the kids, so I agreed, to give back,” Walker said. “When I come home, I try to give back in some type of way.”
He hadn’t been back to the Head Start since he was a child, but Walker said he was glad to have the opportunity to put smiles on the students’ faces.
“It was a great thing to do,” he said. “I’m just happy to be able to do the things that I do on a daily basis.”
This article first appeared in the New Brunswick News, Brunswick, GA