“I learned from my family at an early age that social activism and community involvement are very important,” says Devin Justin Lockett, a senior at De La Salle High School.
Lockett’s activism began at Stuart Hall School for Boys, where he attended from nursery school to seventh grade. Once Lockett started at De La Salle, he began to understand the importance of activism and community involvement.
While there, Lockett volunteered at the New Orleans Mission and cleaned up under the Crescent City Connection as part of NORDC’s Teen Council. Lockett and a few of his friends from the Woodland Heights neighborhood even got together to sponsor a car wash to raise money for Covenant House.
Rhea Woods, Lockett’s mother, inspires him every day to be an activist and make his mark on the world. Woods is always telling him that “To who much is given, much is required.”
As a senior, Lockett is Student Council President and involved in campus ministry, soccer, National Honor Society and Spanish Honor Society. He also has had the opportunity to work with his mother with the Parent’s Club to find ways to leave a positive legacy at De La Salle after he graduates.
While on student council, Lockett was able to attend the Louisiana Association of Student Councils Convention in Natchitoches, Louisiana, and learned the different ways to make his Student Council more dynamic and inclusive during the school year. He also learned about other cultures when he was able to attend a two-week trip to Barcelona, Spain, with the De La Salle soccer team.
Last summer, Lockett attended a four-week program at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, which got him interested in the areas of business and finance.
“I am looking forward to meeting students from all over the world, as well as truly testing myself to determine how successful I can be on my own,” says Lockett.
Lockett will attend Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, and plans on majoring in business and finance in college, ultimately going on to earn an MBA. He also plans on studying abroad in Madrid or Rome for a semester. His dream is to become an investment banker and then start his own hedge fund. He also wants to become a philanthropist while enjoying life and donating to worthy causes.