Wekiva High School students listened to Congresswoman Val Demings speak about her journey from an impoverished childhood in Jacksonville to becoming Orlando’s first woman police chief and her election to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Representing Florida’s 10th Congressional District, which includes all of Apopka and Northwest Orange County, Demings was invited as a guest speaker at the high school on Wednesday, October 9, for students from Wekiva’s Scholar and Cambridge academies.
“When I look at you and your young lives, I do believe that the best for you is yet to come,” she said to the high school students. “I do believe that you have been prepared for a time such as this when your community needs your service, when our state – the
best state in the Union, by the way – the state of Florida needs your service, when our nation needs your service. No matter how old or how young you are.”
The youngest of seven children and the daughter of a janitor father and a housekeeper mother, Demings is a graduate of Florida State University with a bachelor of science in criminology and the recipient of a master’s degree in public administration. She also
holds an honorary doctorate of law from Bethune-Cookman University.
Demings began her career as a social worker, working to protect foster children, in Jacksonville before moving to Orlando and launching a law enforcement career. Her notable 27-year career with the Orlando Police Department includes her 2007 appointment as its first female police chief.
“I wanted to make a difference in my community,” she said about becoming a police officer. “I believe that all of you are here because you are determined to make a difference in your community.”
There are three things Demings said she believes it takes to be successful: courage to pursue one’s goals in the face of challenges, preparation with the best skills needed to succeed, and opportunity, which has to be given to an individual.
She is the wife of Orange County Mayor (and former Orange County Sheriff) Jerry Demings, the mother of three sons and grandmother of five.
After Demings discussed her background, teachers, faculty, and students asked her questions that ranged from her career to gun control and her opinion on ramifications
that could spring from the Mueller report.
Wekiva High School’s Cambridge Academy, for freshmen and sophomores, and the Scholar’s Academy, for juniors and seniors, prepare students for a college career and even give them the opportunity to earn college credit while in high school.
As part of the academies’ curricula, their coordinator Brian Charboneau gives a platform to guest speakers so students can be informed about various community members and to highlight the academies themselves and the students. He said in a past interview that he tries to keep the roster of speakers as apolitical as possible.
In total, eight speakers will have met students this school year, starting with
Apopka Mayor Bryan Nelson in September.
“She (Demings) was basically you when she was your age: a high academic intellectually young individual,” Charboneau told the students. “Her background is just like you, (someone) who really wanted to change the world, help the world any way she can.”
Charboneau reaches out to many individuals with a request to speak with academy students. He leaves it up to them to choose their subject of discussion.
Demings was originally slated to speak in September but postponed her appearance due to Hurricane Dorian.
Read about U.S. Rep. Demings’ speech to Wekiva students on page 8A.
