Teacher brings Inspiration to the Classroom

San Gabriel Valley News
By Emanuel Parker
      Staff Writer

The WEEKLY STAR

By Christina L. Esparza

         STAFF WRITER

Duarte-Under the glow of a dozen lights in yellow, orange, red and green, Fred Hawthorne paid tribute to his mother.

She raised him alone.

And later with a heart thumping bass line playing in the background, he romanticized the love felt between two soulmates.

Hawthorne was on stage at B.B. King’s Club in Universal City opening a hip-hop showcase with select poems from his book, “Mud Free Rose: 109 Poems of Hope, Triumph and Perseverance.”

Hawthorne, the poet, is just one of many hats worn by this 29-year-old New York native.

The others include model, personal trainer, marathon man and teacher.

Hope, and triumph and perseverance are in fact the virtues he tries to bring into the classroom at Mt. Olive High School in Duarte.

“ I know my purpose  in life and that’s what I want my kids to learn,” he said.  “ Everyone has their own greatness.”

Hawthorne of Whittier moved to California when he was 8.  His mother decided to run from the demons hat chased her around Harlem.

“I said I was running from death” said Hawthorne’s mother, Belinda P. Washington.

A single mother of two children, Washington kicked her addiction and raised her two children to be well disciplined and spiritual, despite the fact they walked through the roughest of neighborhoods to get to school.

She wanted to make sure they avoided the vices that had once enveloped her.

“ You just got to keep that home enviroment for your child,” Washington said after Hawthorne’s performance at B.B. Kings.

Hawthorne graduated from Venice High School in 1995. Then would enroll in Whittier College and graduate in 2000 with a degree in History.

After graduation, he became a teacher for Mid Valley in Baldwin Park and West Covina Unified School District.

He won awards at both districts and came to Mt. Olive four years ago.

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