At a Detroit school named after the football team, ‘Second chances lead to greater comebacks’

Few students have a direct line to the Detroit Lions.

But June Marshall, 14, does.

Sitting in his math class on Friday afternoon, June had a message for Terrance Thomas, a program officer for the Detroit Lions Foundation: “When the Lions win the Super Bowl, they better come here to celebrate with us.”

June is in seventh grade at the Detroit Lions Academy. He knows Thomas — and feels at ease talking about the team’s defense with him — because the Lions employee is at the school at least once a week, if not more. The team and its foundation are so involved with the school, Thomas has an office at the campus. And when Thomas comes in to mentor young men on Tuesdays, you can bet that he gets an earful about what happened at the game on Sunday. Sometimes staff members joke that he’s an assistant principal at the school.

Detroit Lions Academy is an alternative school in the Woodbridge neighborhood of the city that serves more than 400 students in grades 6-12 who may have fallen behind academically or violated a school district code at another school.

Detroit Lions Academy head principal Alean King speaks about her school and the excitement generated by the Lions playoff wins on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024.

Central to the school is its mission statement, according to principal Alean King: Second chances lead to greater comebacks. It’s a mission statement that Detroit football fans might adopt for their team this season, as the Lions blaze into the NFC Championship on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers.

And while scores of Lions fans will cheer the team on Sunday, the students at Detroit Lions Academy know that on school days, the team cheers for them.

“When they were in other schools, these sometimes were students that didn’t feel wanted or no one was there to be a cheerleader,” King said. “Coming here, I think kids feel like the Lions cheer them on. They’re really invested, like they care about their attendance. They care about the test scores.”

Lions show up for students

The Lions logo and colors are all over Detroit Lions Academy, open for more than two decades but it moved into its current building on West Warren Avenue this school year. Photos of players and coach Dan Campbell, signed helmets and signed football cleats line the hallways. The team’s logo is painted in the center of the gym. It’s engraved into wooden chairs.

Students go to Ford Field for holiday parties, while teachers spent their first professional development day of this school year at the football stadium. The foundation donated a washer and dryer for students to use and keeps a food pantry stocked for families, along with Kroger and the United Dairy Industry of Michigan.

Detroit Lions Academy seventh grader Olivia Elijah, 12, calls her school amazing as she wears her ALL GRIT Lions T-shirt to school Friday, Jan. 26, 2024.

Students “have resources and access to different things that they may not have,” like the food pantry and a new media center being built, said Thomas.

Players show up when they can, too. Alex Anzalone, a Lions linebacker, stopped in this school year to serve students lunch. Staff members and team mascot Roary showed up at Field Day to play tug of war. The team hosts football clinics for students. Staffers come in every week to mentor students, to teach them “life lessons,” Thomas said. King said together, mentors and students put together vision boards. They talk about self-esteem and making the right decisions.

“We play games, we eat, we talk about stuff, about life,” said Olivia Elijah, 12, a seventh grader.

King and the foundation believe the partnership between the team and the school has only grown in recent years. The foundation is helping Detroit Lions Academy renovate an expansive auditorium on the school’s campus, which used to hold the Frederick Douglass Academy For Young Men.

Lions fever hits a high

On Friday, Wilma King — a school volunteer and King’s mother — stapled letters to spell out “Go Detroit Lions!” to a bulletin board decorated in the team’s signature blue. Staff members and teachers donned team T-shirts on Friday and several said they’d worn the logo for weeks.

Wilma King, 73, of Detroit, puts up a spirited Lions sign at the Detroit Lions Academy on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024. King likes to volunteer at the school, where her daughter, Alean King, is the school’s head principal.

King said students have already asked if Superintendent Nikolai Vitti will give them the day off if the Lions win the Super Bowl and have a parade the next day (whether their request will be granted is unknown). The team’s repeated victories this season are teaching students an important lesson, King said.

“If you work hard, and put in the work, you can be successful,” she said. “And so, for them, they really need to see that, because so many times life has done them wrong.”

The passion isn’t one-sided. The team and the team’s staff treasure the support they get from students, Thomas said.

“Having the next up-and-comers really cheering you on and having our back, it means a lot; it doesn’t go unnoticed,” he said.

And seventh grader June’s message to the team on Sunday?

“Go big or go home.”

Contact Lily Altavena: laltavena@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: At Detroit Lions Academy, ‘Second chances lead to greater comebacks’