Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Henrisme receives award for valor, courage
Alcivial Henrisme has always been an inspiration to those around him.
It’s one of the many reasons the Glades Central defensive end is this year’s recipient of the Orange Bowl Beigel-Feis-Hixon Valor Award Scholarship.
The award honors the memory of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School coaches Scott Beigel, Aaron Feis and Chris Hixon, who lost their lives in the 2018 shooting that occurred at the school. It is given out to a South Florida high school athlete who exhibits valor and courage in the face of adversity, and comes with a scholarship worth $10,000.
“It means a lot, winning [the award], ‘‘ Henrisme said. “It means a lot, knowing the meaning behind it and the reason why I won it is part of my story. … So, it means a lot, knowing the meaning behind it, like not just to win the money but to be able to support the backstory of the scholarship.”
Henrisme has been faced with life-altering circumstances throughout his life. He and his sister were placed into the fostercare system at a young age, eventually being adopted in South Bay, just south of Lake Okeechobee.
After his adoption, Henrisme’s mother struggled financially and worked hard in order to make ends meet and support the family.
Through all the struggles, however, Henrisme always found a way to persevere and push through the adversity that he was facing at any given time. His constant motivation was to get out of his current situation and better himself for the future.
“What allowed me to push through was knowing that I can’t stay in the place that I am,” he said. “Knowing I can get out of that environment, that’s pretty much what pushed me. Letting myself know that I didn’t want to go through
the same thing like I did at a younger age.”
Sports quickly became an outlet for Henrisme and he got involved in as many different activities as he could.
At Glades Central, he was a three-sport athlete. In addition to playing football, leading the team in sacks his senior year, he also played for the Raiders basketball and baseball teams, playing as a small forward and outfielder.
Rashad Jackson was Henrisme’s football coach for his last two seasons of high school. He always admired his tenacity on and off the field.
“He did a nice job of beating adversity and beating the odds, it was stacked against him and he found a way to be successful,” Jackson said. “He did it way better than you would expect, I mean he didn’t just do the bare minimum, he went over the top and beyond to make himself a successful young man.”
One of the areas where Henrisme has thrived the most, and in which he takes the most pride, has been his performance in the classroom. Always one of the better students in schools, he ended high school in the top 10% of his senior class.
It was always education first for him as he struggled to keep up on the field early on. He saw school as his primary way of getting out and poured all his effort into it.
He noticed that his dedication to his studies inspired those around him as well.
The city that I grew up in, I was adopted in, it’s pretty much a sports school, it’s only for football,” Henrisme said. “People think football is the only way to make it out. So, I wanted to be an example with my story and my grades to other students and other teammates.
“I was influencing other kids that were looking up to me. … So it made me want to become a better leader and continue keeping my grades up.”
Now, Henrisme is enrolled at Valdosta State in Georgia on a football scholarship. He already has plans for what he wants to do
once he hangs up his cleats. His goals include earning his real estate license and
eventually opening his own physical therapy center in Belle Glade.
No matter what he chooses to do, Jackson has seen enough from his former player to know that he’ll be successful in any path he opts to take in the future.
“He’ll be a successful young man in whatever he chooses to do,” Jackson said. “Whether that’s playing
ball, he can be an entrepreneur, a businessman, if he wants to come back and be an educator, get into political stuff, he’ll make a difference in life.
“He’s going to be successful. He’s going to be fine. And he’s going to be the best
that he can be.”