Two Roads Charter School senior Brandon Farler smiles during a class discussion about a play by Sophocles. Farler came to the school with a more than decade-long gap in his formal education, having last stepped inside a classroom as a kindergartner.
The Jeffco Schools Foundation has honored heroes in Jeffco Public Schools for the past 13 years. This long-standing tradition recognizes outstanding teachers and high school seniors who demonstrate extraordinary character, leadership, and strength. Students and teachers are nominated by their principals, and the final honorees are chosen by a volunteer selection committee comprised of community representatives and the Jeffco Schools Foundation Board members. Meet 2015 honoree Brandon Farler.
Brandon Farler is a tall kid with a giant heart. That’s what the staff and students at Two Roads Charter School think. Farler’s journey to high school is unlike most. Before Two Roads, Farler’s last formal education was a kindergarten class. After missing out on over a decade of learning, he is now on grade level, set to graduate in May.
Family addiction, money struggles, and worse left him alone and uneducated until his grandmother stepped in to set things right. In addition to his grandmother, Farler says it was God who pointed him to Two Roads Charter, as well as Bible teachings that helped ease his anxiety about suddenly jumping in as a high school freshman after last setting foot in a school when he was just a small boy.
“When I started going to Two Roads, I didn’t really know what to expect because of my academic level, and I wasn’t quite on par with a lot of other students, and I was kind of afraid of whether or not I would be accepted,” said Farler. “It turns out that wasn’t the issue at all… they came in with open arms and they loved upon me and they are really patient, despite my difficulties with reading and mathematics and everything.”
A sign outside of one classrooms reads “Success is not final; failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.” Farler lives this mantra each day, inspired by the grit and determination of his great grandfather, who recently passed away after having lived through the Great Depression and World War II.
“He would tell me all these stories of what he’d been through,” said Farler. “He always had faith in me and, despite my situation, that just really meant a lot to me and I wanted to make him proud.”
Principal Wendy Noel said Farler started at Two Roads desiring to learn and achieve academic success, undeterred by his prior academic standing. According to Noel, there has never been a harder working and dedicated student than Farler.
“The day we found out about this award, he was in our counselor’s office talking about college and was like, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to be able to afford to go to college; I don’t know what I’m going to do.’ The counselor and I ran to him and we wanted to just tell him: ‘You did it! We nominated you for this award… you won and now you get to go to college.’ He just broke into tears,” said Noel.
Farler, who is not used to receiving praise and attention, says the award is difficult to take in, but something for which he is extremely grateful.
April Bell, Two Roads English Teacher, believes Farler is one of the most empathetic students she has ever met.
“He can look at another person and definitely feel deeply what that person is feeling. He cares, really, about everybody,” said Bell.
Noel says Farler will do great things with his drive and empathy, no matter how long or in what direction life takes him.
“He’ll just keep going and I can see him doing incredible things,” said Noel. “I don’t know what they’ll be, but I know they’ll be great. And I know they’ll involve caring for someone.”
See the JPS-TV version of this story here.