Markeith Hogan has an abnormal high school life compared to the average teenager. Hogan is well-known around the school, but some still don’t know the full context of his story at Gonzaga.
Hogan is well known as a leader, especially on the football and track teams where he has become a captain. This is especially important because being a captain is achieved through a team member’s vote.
Hogan is also a talented poet in Mr. Joe Ross’s class and as a poetry ITE student. He meets with Mr. Ross independently twice a week before school to work on his poems.
As a leader of the poets and writers club, Hogan is very helpful with the younger members who are new to poetry. He also has contributed largely to organizing the trips that the poets and writers take to Bishop Walker School, a predominantly black all-boys elementary school.
Mr. Ross described Hogan as a hard-working poet that takes his work seriously. When he receives feedback he’s very receptive to criticism and open to workshopping his writing.
Mr. Ross says that this shows Hogan’s rare maturity at his young age. He is mature enough to go inside himself and write deep personal poems and take himself and his work seriously but without being rigid in his creative process.
“[Markeith is] the example of one of the best students we could have here at Gonzaga,” Mr. Ross said.
Although he is a very talented poet, Hogan is also successful in his athletic endeavors.
His work outside of the classroom begins with his 1st Team All-WCAC honors on the football field and received the Echelon Award for Leadership on the track this year.
His hurdling coach Jamil Ludd said, “Markieth’s leadership is extremely valuable to this program especially because it motivates others to try and achieve their goals.”
Many of Hogan’s teammates describe him as “ultra-competitive” but also as a teammate that wants to so his teammates reach their goals.
One may ask how Hogan has gained the respect of his peers. This is because of his dedication and his ability to lead by example.
“[Markeith] knows how to get the best out of the team by trying hard himself,” said his teammate Mekhi Spriggs, senior.
Of course, this has paid off in the form of his recent commitment to Merrimack College in Andover, Mass. to play football and to study business, but his dedication has shown off in other ways that many Gonzaga students can relate to.
Everyone can relate to having to commute to school in the morning and commute back home after, but Hogan does even this on a different level.
Living 32 miles away in Columbia, MD, Hogan wakes up at 5:45 a.m. in order to get to school every day at 7:30 a.m. on the Marc train.
To some that might not seem all too difficult, but Hogan has done that every day and has only missed four days of school in his whole high school career.
“It’s just a mindset […]. I was always taught to show up for what I signed up for,” Hogan said.
The other half of his commute can be just as tough. During football season, he doesn’t get home from practice until 8:30 p.m., and during track season, he doesn’t get home until 6:45 p.m. He is still able to manage his school work and maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.7.
This is all an important part of who Hogan is because it represents the discipline he has.
This is important to highlight Hogan in order to shed light on what it’s like for him at Gonzaga every day.