As Excel Academy mourns fifth student killed this school year, community promises support
“Sharonda Rhodes stood before the classmates of her dead son Markel and told them they are on the right path — there at Excel Academy in West Baltimore, at their desks learning chemistry — and will have a bright future if they maintain that focus and stay off the streets. ‘You can do it,’ said Rhodes, her T-shirt covered in pictures of Markel, a 19-year-old senior at the school who was fatally shot in March. ‘Don’t let nobody tell you you can’t.’”