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Hanna Center High School Teacher
Tobhiyah Holmes
Tobhiyah Holmes spent a short time at Hanna as a student in the mid-90s. Within the span of 18 months, he was asked to leave, twice. And yet, his brief tenure here was powerful enough to impact the course of the rest of his life.
Growing up in East Oakland, Tobhiyah was a model student – he represented his school at the Math Olympics and was tapped for acceptance into the gifted student program. He was at the top of his class. Then his mom accepted a better-paying job in Marin County and they relocated.
“Moving to an affluent community; we weren’t ready for the culture shock,” he says. “I was labeled as being from East Oakland and there was stigma there. The curriculum was nearly two years further along in material than in my previous school and I struggled, which validated their assumptions about my inability to perform. I internalized it and thought I wasn’t as smart as the others.”
Tobhiyah went from being at the top of his class to the bottom. The downward spiral affected his behavior as well and by the time he entered high school, his family had arranged for his placement at Hanna.
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