This article is one of a series of articles produced by Word in Black through support provided by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Word In Black is a collaborative of 10 Black-owned media outlets across the country.
Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
Craig Jackson, a former Franklin High School basketball coach and standout athlete from Roosevelt High School, had long carried a dream that kept resurfacing — completing his college education. A few weeks ago, that lifetime goal became a reality when Jackson received his master’s degree in education from the University of Washington, closing a chapter that had eluded him for years — and was nearly left unfinished.
With a family filled with master’s and PHDs, Jackson credits the Academy for Rising Educators (ARE), a Seattle Public Schools initiative aimed at increasing teacher diversity, with helping him bring his family’s academic legacy full circle.
According to Seattle Public Schools, ARE is a transformative program that has helped many aspiring teachers transition to the classroom. The program, a collaboration between Seattle Public Schools and the City of Seattle’s Department of Education and Early Learning, offers tuition-free pathways for high school graduates, current SPS staff, and community members to become certified teachers.
While the program provided the opportunity, it was Jackson’s family, which is filled with people who have master’s and PHDs degrees, that gave him the encouragement and support to finally cross the finish line.
“My mother was great, my aunts, I got aunts and sisters, I call them sisters that have doctorate degrees and master’s degrees, and they kept me focused, they kept me engaged, they kept me moving towards it because there was sometimes, I thought it’s too much. I didn’t think I could do it. And they talked it right back into me, like, no, we’ve gone this far, we ain’t gonna turn around now,” said Jackson.
Coming out of high school, Jackson received an offer to attend the University of Washington on a basketball scholarship. However, the opportunity would fade away, a consequence of not taking one’s studies seriously. Taking his skills to Langston University, an HBCU in Oklahoma, where he began to understand that talent by itself can only take you so far.
For Jackson, hard work wasn’t the issue, but discipline was another story. As an undergraduate Jackson was enamored with the social life. Being away from home the college party scene occupied a great deal of his attention. While on campus Jackson found himself involved in all sorts of activities outside the classroom. In addition to playing sports, Jackson was also a DJ, a member of the ASB – all activities that took precedence over his studies.
“That was a great time [for me], but I wasn’t focused at the time,” said Jackson. “It was all hoop. It was all sports. It was all kicking it and at that school, at that time, you could get caught up in that, especially at a HBCU.”
“It’s part time,” he added. “There were a bunch of folks there getting their stuff together, but I just happen to want to kick it more and I fell into the same trap.”
Deciding to return home and start over, Jackson honed his skills as coach and became a head coach in high school basketball. But his dream of achieving a college degree was always in the background reminding him that he had unfinished business.
After years in the public school and education, starting a family, Jackson finally decided with the support of family, friends and mentors, that it was time to return back to school. So, in 2019, through the Seattle Public School’s Academy for Rising Educators (ARE), a program designed to bolster the pool of new teachers and educators, Jackson was helping to recruit future educators and one day looked to his cohort and said, “hey what about me? I’d like to sign up for the program”.
After leaving Langston, Jackson returned home to Seattle. He built a career as a high school basketball coach and raised a family, but the idea of finishing school lingered. His turning point came in 2019, when Seattle Public Schools launched the Academy for Rising Educators. Jackson was initially involved in helping recruit students into the program but soon realized the opportunity applied to him as well.
“The craziest thing about the whole thing—it started with one of the creators of the ARE program for the Seattle Public Schools who used to work at Franklin, used to coach with us,” Jackson recalled. “He asked me to help him recruit some students [that may be interested in becoming teachers] and then I just said, hey man, what about me?”
Despite the scheduling conflicts and the demands of coaching, Jackson enrolled in the program to continue the pursuit of a college degree. This time, his approach to school was driven by maturity and intention. He earned his associate degree from Seattle Central College in 2021, followed by a bachelor’s in education from North Seattle College in 2023. As he contemplated his next move, he made a significant sacrifice—stepping down as Franklin’s head basketball coach—to focus on completing his master’s degree at the University of Washington, the very institution he had once left behind.
“I’m more mature [now] and “I’m more focused on an end goal,” said Jackson.
“The UW and Langston both were the foundation, but Langston saved my life,” added Jackson. “I saw Black teachers there that told me every day, Mr. Jackson, I need to see you in my class. What’s going on? I took those experiences with me when I went into my program, and I did my best to never miss a class. I did my best to make sure that the assignments were on time and ahead of time. So, looking backwards at what I didn’t do pushed me harder.”
Despite his commitment, the journey was not easy, as Jackson faced many personal challenges. He had to deal with the death of loved ones, including the loss of his children’s mother, and the emotional weight of stepping away from the sport he loved constantly lingered in the back of his mind. These hardships tested his resolve but also revealed the power of the support systems he had in place.
“First thing it’s going to take is self-discipline especially at this age, like I said, we got a lot of things going on. I went through a lot of things during this journey with my son, then my kids lost their mother, I’m losing aunts and uncles, we are getting to that age where we’re losing folks,” Jackson reflected. “So, there was some distractions. Having to retire from basketball, that was something that I really didn’t want to do, but I knew moving forward into the educational journey was going to be a bigger workload. So, I had to kind of back off some things. But it was self-determination and some discipline. But you also must have a great community around you, my support team made all the difference.”
For Jackson, who is now certified in special education with a history endorsement, the program didn’t just offer a second chance—it helped him realize a lifelong dream, and more importantly, it allowed him to become a new source of inspiration for the next generation.
“I would tell anybody to do it,” said Jackson. “I’m so grateful that I had this opportunity and I think the next step is to go take a mind break and move forward and get that PhD. I’m trying to help our community, trying to help our young Black men to be better.”
