DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) — St. Teresa High School has been sitting on North Water Street since 1913. A century after its founding, a student is making history.
"I just feel grateful for the position I was in. Everything just goes to my environment that I was in. It just helped me build myself up to try to stay disciplined," said Abraham Buckner.
Education started early in the Buckner household. This grad and dad duo quickly grew to discover what Abraham's future would hold.
"Always a thinker, always reading. And I'm a writer, so him and I have had a lot of different discussions about a lot of things," said Brian Buckner.
In just days, Abraham Buckner will walk across the stage to receive his high school diploma. All while being St. Teresa's first African American valedictorian.
"I just can't explain it. You can lead your child so far, but it's up to them in the end to make us proud," said Buckner.
"We're very excited. He worked hard for this. I'm excited for him, he's a great kid and he's done a lot for his class as well," said Larry Daly, Principal at St. Teresa High School.
Abraham earned a 4.86 weighted GPA and participated in several organizations and volunteering opportunities. He says Kobe Bryant is one of his biggest motivations to keep pushing.
"When he died after COVID, during that whole thing, that just really pushed me to be like if I wanna go for something I gotta go for it," said Abraham.
He is ready and committed for his next chapter in life. Abraham will follow in his sister's footsteps over 800 miles away at Hampton University in Virginia.
"I plan on getting my PhD. I want to do research in, right now it's molecular slash cellular biology. I want to push into that field and hopefully maybe work on medicines to help people," said Abraham.
All while making dad proud and sending out an important message to never give up.
"He is the best son I could ever ask for," said Brian.
"We're not perfect people, so if everything was perfect it wouldn't really mean anything. So, every time we fail it should be exciting. It's like, 'look I can improve on this, I can get better,'" said Abraham.
Also, for the first time in the school's history, twins Matt and Joe Brummer will join Abraham as the first set of twin valedictorians.
St. Teresa will hold their commencement Saturday.
