DONOVAN HUNT
The Story Behind The Athlete • Writer: Vivek Srivastava
• Designer: Maddy Tabaska
• Photographer: Tracey Hoover
Donovan Hunt was Brookfield East’s star running back in the 2019 Division 2 State Championship in football, was selected for Wisconsin Football Coaches’ Association All-Star Game and has received numerous offers to play football in college. He joined the Spartans as a junior after transferring from Wauwatosa East High School.
Hunt charging forward to make a play against Menomonee Falls.
hard the class I would take it and challenge myself to the core because if you aren’t willing to bet on yourself no one else will.” Donovan Hunt (12) posing with the State Championship trophy in November 2019.
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OVERCOMING CONFORMITY IN SCHOOL
ettling with average outcomes has never been an option for Donovan Hunt (12), a senior running back at Brookfield East. A true example of academic and human excellence, Hunt’s spirit for challenge is rooted in his desire to prove himself as a student. “I always used to be placed in the lowest reading group growing up. There were three groups and I knew I could read at a higher level,” Hunt said. At the age of ten, Hunt challenged himself by improving his reading and writing skills to the point where he felt he was on par with other students. Often times it was apparent that he was smarter than the other kids in his group and it was not helping him.
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“I knew I could read at a higher level, so one day I switched the books for the groups. I took the medium book and I proved to the teacher that I could easily read it,” said Hunt. “After being constantly subjected to lower groups my whole life, I have always pushed myself to take harder classes because when I was younger I was always told to not challenge myself and be complacent with the system.” Hunt continued this journey of academic rigor throughout high school. He recounted several instances of peers being shocked when he would enroll in higher-level classes. After taking several Advanced Placement (AP) and Honors Classes, he noticed nobody like him were in those classes. “I have been the only black kid in an advanced class my whole life. I feel like it is because so many black kids have the same experience I did but fell inline instead of opposing it,” said Hunt. “So no matter how
Taking higher-level classes sparked an interest in history and advocacy for Hunt. He highlighted several Socratic seminar-style discussions in his AP Language & Composition class that had thought-provoking conversations on historical precedent and race. “Being in a class like AP Lang had a more aware group and it allowed for more social-cultural interactions,” said Hunt. “History shows us why things are like how they are. The underlying processes of social systems can be understood.” As a founding member of History & News in Color, Hunt has had the opportunity to learn more about other cultures and share his interpretations of Black History. In conjunction with listening to other people’s stories, playing sports allowed him to travel all over the country. Those experiences have been really fun and you meet different people and see new elements of culture “Getting to learn about other cultures like Hispanic and Asian has been really eye-opening. Those experiences have been really fun and you meet different people and see new elements of culture.”
