“He was an individual who, as a slave, he practiced excellence in everything that he did. Crops that he grew, everything that his hands set out to do," says Brenda Chunn, the president of the William Hooper Councill Alumni Association. "He took that same commitment to excellence into everything that he did once he was freed... And I personally benefited from the high school that was named for him and stood for the qualities that he brought into the community and the standards that he brought into the community.”