When she showed up at Lake Highlands Freshman Center, Shaletha Mayberry quickly gained a reputation with teachers as a discipline problem. Suspensions and grade problems followed her like a dark cloud, and some teachers gave up.
In May, Shaletha will be just the second in her 32-member family to graduate from high school and the first to go to college. Shaletha recently committed to play basketball on full scholarship at Northwest Tech in Goodland, Kansas. She’ll be the starting point guard for the Lady Mavericks.
Shaletha’s inspirational story of turning her life around involves personal soul-searching and the love of a strong-willed mom, but Shaletha admits she couldn’t have done it without the support of several special LH teachers and coaches along the way.
She tried out for the LHHS basketball team as a sophomore and she clearly had talent, but her lack of discipline hindered her on the court and in the classroom. She was cut from the team.
“She decided to change the path that she was going down and to improve her life,” said Justin Matthews, one of her LH coaches. “She buckled down in school, focused on her grades and her behavior, and good things started to happen.”
By the time she tried out for the team in 11th grade, the coaches were willing to take a chance and placed her on the JV roster.
“This was Shaletha’s first year to ever play organized basketball,” added Matthews, “which is much different than pick-up games and street ball. She had to learn offenses, what a ‘Zone’ defense was, and so on. She was frustrated sometimes with the learning curve, but she loved every minute of being part of a team and a new ‘family’.” It wasn’t long before head coach Holly Mulligan moved her up to varsity.
Shaletha was named First Team All-District her senior year and was nominated by VYPE Magazine as Power Player of the Week, but her biggest challenge may have been catching up academically and changing the minds of teachers who’d written her off.
“Her story highlights why kids need to be given second, third and sometimes even another chance to get it right before they walk out our doors forever,” said Matthews. “I don’t know that I’ve ever been more proud of a kid for what they have accomplished in a short amount of time through pure determination and taking the initiative to change their path in life. She’s been gracious and extremely thankful for the many people that have helped her along the way.”
Congratulations Shaletha, shown in the photo with coaches (left to right) Justin Matthews, Holly Mulligan, Julie Amabile and Janis Grace and mom, Lena Mayberry. Thank you to Basketball Mom Carrie Denson for providing the photos, and go Mavericks!
