Former gang member turns life around to become Missouri’s 2021 Teacher of the Year

When Darrion Cockrell was 10 years old, he was already a gang member, heading down a dark path in life.

Life as a gang member

“We were just already in it because of our family,” Cockrell told Good Morning America of that chapter of his life.

“I didn’t care about books… I had to go home and figure out what I was eating…I had to figure out if my lights were going to be on.”

2021 Missouri Teacher of the Year

This year, the 34-year-old elementary school physical education teacher who works in Crestwood, Missouri, is now Missouri’s 2021 Teacher of the Year.

“I still can’t believe it,” Cockrell told Good Morning America of the honor, which has been bestowed on only 51 other people in the state of Missouri.

But it wasn’t an easy road as Cockrell had to face many obstacles to become a teacher.

Darrion Cockrell was raised in foster care

Growing up, Cockrell had trouble finding a stable living situation.

He was raised as a young child by both his grandmother and a series of revolving foster parents after his father, a drug dealer, was murdered and his mother battled drug addiction, according to Cockrell.

Teachers saved his life

Cockrell credits his teachers with saving his life when he was a young gang member in St. Louis, Missouri.

When he was in the seventh grade after his grandmother again lost custody of him and his siblings, Cockrell’s football coach and his wife took him into their home. He lived with them until graduating high school.

Crockrell went on to play football for two years in college and eventually earned a degree from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Darrion Cockrell becomes a teacher

Two years after graduating from college, Cockrell, now married and a father of a 3-year-old son, landed his first full-time teaching job at Crestwood Elementary, where he is in his sixth year of teaching physical education to students in kindergarten through fifth grade.

Known as “Mr. DC” to students and his fellow teachers, Cockrell has taken his love for physical education to the whole community.

He started the Crest-Fit training program that provides after-school workouts for teachers and students’ families and the Dads’ Club Open Gym, a weekly event for local dads to play basketball.

Cockrell, who is the first male to win Missouri’s top education award since 2015, said he is particularly happy to win the award for his work teaching physical education, the class he credits with keeping him in school as a kid.

“PE is just as important as social studies and science and math,” he said.

“As long as you understand those building blocks of fitness and health and taking care of yourself, then you can do anything you want in the world.”