In 2017, Quarde Alfred was working his nightly shift as a Beaumont ISD janitor when he paused and walked to the front of the classroom he was cleaning.

“Nobody was in the building but me,” Alfred said. “I would literally stand in the front of the classroom like, ‘OK, class, this is what we are going to do today.’”

Three years later, Alfred is back at the front of a classroom. But now, it’s filled with eager, antsy kindergartners listening as he reads a book.

Looking back, he can’t believe how his life has changed in the last three years.

“I was just happy to have a job at the time,” Alfred said. “I didn’t have a problem cleaning toilets. I mean, I grew up poor, so I saw dirty all the time. But cleaning toilets allowed me to figure out what it is that I want to do with my life.”

Alfred is one of about 36 teachers in Beaumont ISD certified by a district-funded program called “Grow Our Own,” which allows anyone with a bachelor’s degree to become a certified teacher.

“It saved my life,” Alfred said. “I could either be one of two places — in the ground, or in a jail cell. But I’m in a classroom, you know what I mean?”

Alfred worked to overcome a life of struggle and poverty growing up, helping to raise his siblings while holding a job and going to school.

“I grew up in a single-parent household,” Alfred said. “A lot of the weight fell on my shoulders because I grew up dirt poor in a one-bedroom house with six kids. And sometimes the only time we ate was at school.”

But that didn’t stop Alfred from graduating as valedictorian of his high school. He moved to Houston, where he got a degree in economics.

His luck didn’t last long.

“Every job I was getting, it didn’t pan out or it was a failure,” Alfred said. “I remember moving to Atlanta … and when I got there I spoke with my sister, and she said, ‘Please come home.’”

Eighteen hours later, a Greyhound bus with Alfred on it pulled up in Rose City at about 3 a.m.

“To be honest with you, when I moved back to Beaumont I literally thought I had failed,” Alfred said. “I graduated valedictorian, I got my degree in economics from the University of Houston. I always wanted to go off and be an attorney and be this great person, but life happens. Life happens. Life happened to me, and I hit rock bottom. I had hit rock bottom when I moved back to Beaumont.”

A few months after envisioning what it would be like to teach at the front of a classroom, Alfred was promoted to custodial supervisor and moved to the day shift at Lucas pre-K.

“That changed him from being able to work at night to days, which gave him the opportunity to work with and see the children,” former Lucas principal Valencia Greenwood said. “And the children just dearly loved him. They would just gravitate toward Mr. Alfred because he was so kindhearted.”

One evening, as Alfred cleaned Greenwood’s office, she suggested he take advantage of the teacher certification program, noting that he already had a degree and worked well with children.

“I told him about the program and he said, ‘You know what, I’m going to do it. I’m going to do it, Ms. Greenwood, and I’m going to prove to you that I can do this,’” said Greenwood, who is now principal of Charlton-Pollard Elementary. “And so, true enough, he went through the entire program expeditiously and completed it.”

While Alfred’s path to the classroom is unconventional, he has used it to connect with the students.

“The main reason I became a teacher was that I grew up just like a lot of the kids,” Alfred said. “My background is the same. My story is the same. But I wanted them to see that you can overcome your house, or your life, or your situation. I wanted them to see what success looks like.”

Kelli McBride of the Texas Education Agency runs the certification for the Grow Our Own program. She said teachers like Alfred are filling a growing need for educators in the district.

“As an educator myself, I see the need in the districts,” McBride said. “And we’ve got a lot of teachers that are retiring, so we always have to replenish that pool.”

McBride said Alfred is an example of what the teacher certification program can do for individuals, students and the community.

“When he walks in a room, and especially when I have gone to visit him in the classroom … you can tell, he really makes a difference with the students,” McBride said. “So that is exactly what we look for with every single candidate. They are going out there and making the difference for the schools and the students that they serve.”

Alfred said connecting with students, and bridging the gap between home and school life, could be the first step in solving discipline and violence issues that have afflicted BISD and the surrounding community.

“I mean they are fighting in the parking lot, outside of school,” Alfred said. “These kids are exposed to things that 15, 20, 30 years ago, we didn’t hear about. So why would I be someone that would not set the example?”

In addition to his experiences, Alfred said his identity allows him to be a positive role model for the kids.

“Sometimes you have to do it alone. I am a black educated man. We are rare. I didn’t have anybody that looked like me growing up,” he said. “I look just like them, my hair is just like them, the way that I talk, my body language is just like them. They see me and they say, ‘He look just like me, and he is a teacher.’”

He uses those experiences to curtail bad behaviors and instill respect in his students, while teaching them how to cope with the stresses of life.

“BISD is a predominantly black school population and sometimes, especially our boys, they don’t have enough role models to say, ‘Hey look, I come from a similar background that you had, but you ain’t gotta be in that classroom acting like that.’ You know what I mean?” he said. “Listen to your teacher. She’s only there to help you, not hurt you.”

At the end of the day, Alfred said he can effect change starting at the beginning of a child’s education and give back to a district that gave him a second chance.

“I teach kindergarten, and kindergarten and pre-K … are the foundational levels. If you can reach them at this age, you have them for a lifetime,” he said. “If you can get them to enjoy school and understand that learning is a lifelong, not just K-12, but lifelong thing.”

Alfred does not look down on his time as a janitor.

“I wanted the learning environment of our students to be clean and conducive to learning,” he said. “I want people to know that I enjoyed being a janitor.”

Greenwood said that just as she inspired Alfred to be a teacher, he could inspire students and other potential teachers alike to make the most of their situations.

“Mr. Alfred definitely could serve as a role model for … the kiddos that are in this community,” Greenwood said. She described Alfred and herself as products of their communities who set an example with their passion to achieve.

“We really need mentors to show our kids that they too can rise above where they are,” she said. “Children certainly today need to see that they can rise above any situation.”

isaac.windes@hearstnp.com

twitter.com/isaacdwindes