Montegut Middle student honored

Rhett Williams was sitting in the front row of the Louisiana Students of the Year awards ceremony at the State Museum in Baton Rouge, not expecting to hear his name called. The Montegut Middle School 5th grader understood that each student present had a unique story, one that made each worthy of the prestigious honor.

“I was nervous that I was competing against these students that also got this opportunity to come to state competition,” Rhett said of the April 22 experience. “There’s something about each one of these students that got them here.”

The Students of the Year Awards Program, sponsored by the Louisiana Department of Education and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, recognizes outstanding elementary, middle and high school students who have demonstrated excellent academic achievement, leadership ability and citizenship.

As a student Rhett, 11, who lives in Bourg, has been involved in organizations like 4-H and currently serves in Student Council, making decisions for the betterment of his school. He is enrolled in honors courses and maintains a 4.0 grade point average, listing math and English as his favorite subjects.

“I don’t know what it is about math,” he said. “I like calculating in my head. In English, I like when we get to write about whatever we want. I have a very big imagination so I can come up with all kinds of things. Those writing are like five or six pages long.”

Rhett also strives to help others find success academically, volunteering as a student tutor, said his fifth-grade teacher, Catherine White.

“He’s an awesome student and he’s very eager,” White said. “He’s very friendly to all people and he’s a true pleasure to have in class.”

Rhett finds success in sports too, playing football, basketball and baseball, the latter a sport he said is a foundation for his love of team activities.

“I was 3 or 4, [ my dad] took me in the front yard and said, ‘Here, throw the football up in the air and catch it,” he said. “Ever since then, on a Sunday, when everybody’s home, we go get everybody in the neighborhood and we’ll play a game in the front yard.”

This eagerness to be involved in just about anything, coupled with a giving spirit inspired by his older brother, Ryan, and his parents, Richard and Kathy, is what captivated judges for the state Student of the Year competition, earning Rhett the award.

As parents, the Williams aimed to raise Rhett and his brother and Loyola University student, Ryan, to be hardworking, compassionate community members. Ryan set an example for Rhett, who calls him his “biggest inspiration.”

“Seeing him in Student Council and 4-H and all the things he’s been in and how successful he is right now, I try to do the same things he did. I wanted to be in the same clubs he was, try to make A’s like he did,” Rhett said.

“They’re both very successful, make good grades and they both help anybody that needs help,” their father added. “We’re proud parents.”

Rhett’s family has served as an example of how to live a successful, fulfilling life.

“I always think of Ryan in the car with Rhett in New Orleans, giving the pizza I sent with them for Ryan to a homeless person on the side of the Road,” Kathy said. “Ryan is a great role model for him … It was normal for our children to see us wake up at 2:00 in the morning and taking off and going help whoever it was. Whether it’s a car wreck or an elderly person that just needed to be put back in bed – We’ve seen a lot, but they also see what we do.”

Learning from example, Rhett now takes a vested interest in his friend and neighbor, Devin Harvey, who was diagnosed with adrenoleukodystrophy, a genetic disorder that damages an insulating membrane for nerve cells in the brain, in May 2013.

Rhett met Devin at school, assisting him in getting around and playing together on weekends.

“He loved playing football,” Rhett said. “We brought him to the house one time and that was one of the times that I’ve seen him laughing the most. His sight wasn’t that great and his hearing was kind of bad, so once those went out, his smell got stronger. If he felt somebody’s arm, he’d go and he’d smell it. If he knew it, he’d know who you were and he’d talk to you. He loved for me to pick him up and bounce him all over…He loved playing hide-and-seek, too. Every time I’d go over, he had a new spot to hide. They have a sofa with big pillows and he’d hide under the pillows and wait for me to find him.”

A friendship was formed and Rhett soon became an assistant caretaker for the young boy, as the disease rapidly diminished Devin’s independence.

Today, Devin is bedridden and unable to communicate, relying completely on family members and Rhett to accomplish everyday activities. Rhett visits Devin after school to tell him about his day and sleeps over on weekends to help Devin’s mother feed and care for him and his baby brother. It’s not a typical job for a young student, but it’s a job Rhett wouldn’t trade for the world.

“I told him [the day I won the award] that the judges came up to me and told me that what I do to help him is one of the reasons that helped me win, so I told him that it wasn’t just me that won, but me and him,” Rhett said. “As great as this honor is, I would give it all back to go back in the front yard and play with Devin again.”

Rhett Williams