Amarion Simms admits he didn’t have an easy time in elementary school.
“I did have a lot of bad days,” he said, adding one of the problems was he didn’t like to sit still.
Luckily, he had a compassionate assistant principal, Maggie Haley, at Nelson Elementary in Newport News (now Knollwood Meadows Elementary).
“She actually believed in me,” he said.
Instead of disciplining him, Haley sat down and talked with him.
“It actually helped me out a lot,” he said.
Their paths crossed again several years later when Simms was a dual enrollment student at Denbigh High School and Haley was at Virginia Peninsula Community College.
“As I was working as a dual enrollment coordinator, a young man happened by my office in Griffin Hall and saw my nameplate on the door,” she explained. “He asked if I used to be at Nelson (Elementary), and as soon as he said his name, I knew who he was. … I was so thrilled to be able to catch up with his endeavors.”
He was just as excited to see her, again.
“She helped me out a lot. I’m really thankful for her,” he said. “Without her, and all the advice she’s given me, I wouldn’t know half of the stuff I know now.”
That time as a dual enrollment student (the 2021-22 academic year) led him to enrolling full time at VPCC in fall 2022. He’s studying cybersecurity and is on track to graduate in spring 2024.
Dual enrollment was ideal for Simms when he was in high school as he was uncertain about his career plans.
“As I’m taking these courses, I figured out what I like and what I don't like,” he said. “From taking those courses the first year, I found out that I’m more tech savvy, so I went the technical route.”
When he’s done at VPCC, he hopes to obtain a bachelor’s in cybersecurity at Old Dominion University.
“My career goal is to make a difference when it comes to tech and business,” he said. “We do have tech companies, but a lot of business aren’t trying to move over to the tech side. They just don’t know how. … If I can bridge that gap, I think I’ll be very much satisfied helping other companies and people.”
Dr. Jennifer Martin had Simms in her dual enrollment general biology class and got him involved with the LSAMP (Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation) leadership program on campus, where she is a co-director and serves as his mentor.
“I could talk about him for hours,” she said.
She hasn’t had him in any of her classes since dual enrollment, but what she saw in him then led her to inviting him on science weekend field trips to the Eastern Shore last semester.
“I could see that he was passionate, and I thought if he really got out in the field and saw what science was like, it would help him even more,” she said.
In fact, she was surprised to find out he was a dual enrollment student when she first met him.
“I was impressed with him, as cliché as this sounds, for his thirst for knowledge about the subject matter at that time,” she said. “He is really passionate about science, which I love. He doesn’t mind working hard.”
She said it’s hard not to like him once you meet him.
“Everybody interacts great with him,” she said. “He gets involved in things. He does things. He’s young but he's a leader. He hasn’t’ realized that yet, I don’t think. Major leadership potential there.”
In addition to being in the LSAMP program, Simms is involved in TRiO, The Shop and is a Presidential Ambassador. Antonio Dill-Word with The Shop, and Natasha Woods with TRiO have been impressed by him also. Martin said his classmates gravitate toward him.
“He’s exactly the kind of student we want at VPCC,” she said. “He gets involved. He wants to be part of the community. He represents us well when he’s in the community.”