Dr. Stacey Jurhree feels that he owes a lot to the Dallas County Community College District, and he’s determined to give a lot back. “I’m a graduate of DCCCD,” he says. “I feel like I’m part of the family.”
Changing schools often when his military family moved across the United States and Europe, Dr. Jurhree was told by teachers that he was stupid. “I flunked two grades and stopped trying,” he remembers. But after he came to Dallas in 1976 to live with an aunt, he earned his GED and began classes at El Centro College. Never mind that he began college with a ninth-grade reading level; he just took more developmental classes. And nobody has been able to stop him academically ever since.
He earned an associate degree at El Centro, bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science from Eastern New Mexico University, another master’s degree in African-American studies from Ohio State University, and a doctorate from Clark Atlanta University. He has also taught at several universities, including Georgia State, South Georgia College, Eastern New Mexico University and Paul Quinn College.
Dr. Jurhree has published five study guides and currently teaches political science and government classes at Eastfield from his own book. Though he firmly believes that the study of government can and should be taught at a practical level, his educational mission is even more basic. He wants to make sure that his students understand their own self-worth and contribution to society.
“As a teacher, I tell my students that everyone has a gift, but a different gift,” he says. “In almost 20 years of teaching, I’ve never met a dumb student. Lazy, yes, but not dumb. Every student can learn. Show me somebody who’s never failed, and I’ll show you somebody who’s never tried anything.”
He particularly reaches out to those students whose families are not supportive of their college education, as his wasn’t. And he’s not shy about telling his students what they need to do. “I tell them they are not victims, that nobody owes them anything,” he says. “You’ve got to go up against the odds. Just do it.”
For Dr. Stacey Jurhree, it all began here.