{"id":4633,"date":"2018-04-01T20:18:25","date_gmt":"2018-04-02T00:18:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/staff\/?p=4633"},"modified":"2018-04-02T04:25:40","modified_gmt":"2018-04-02T08:25:40","slug":"voices-olympic-boxing-hopeful-goes-back-to-school-to-talk-to-his-former-principal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/staff\/voices-olympic-boxing-hopeful-goes-back-to-school-to-talk-to-his-former-principal\/","title":{"rendered":"VOICES: Olympic Boxing Hopeful Goes Back to School to Talk to His Former Principal"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Troy Isley was a student quick to tangle with others, but his principal, Dr. Patricia Zissios, saw him as a young man brimming with untapped potential. Years later the AIBA World Boxing Bronze Medalist and Olympic hopeful stopped by to visit with her.\u00a0Read transcript.<\/a>\"Voices\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bringing You the Voices That are the Heart and Soul of ACPS<\/h3>\n

“Voices” is a new an audio series that shares the stories of our students, families and staff\u2014in their words and in their voices.\u00a0Everyone\u2019s story is different. Success looks different for every person. “Voices” celebrates these differences and successes by sharing the stories that are the heart and soul of ACPS.<\/p>\n

Look for new “Voices” once every couple of weeks in ACPS Express<\/a>. They\u2019ll also be archived on our website to that you can listen to them whenever you wish and share them with others.\u00a0And, stay tuned for details in the coming weeks about how you can submit your story suggestions for consideration.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>Transcript:<\/h4>\n

Narrator:
\nTroy Isley was a student quick to tangle with others, but his principal saw him as a young man brimming with untapped potential. Years later, the world boxing bronze medalist and Olympic hopeful stopped by to catch up with her.<\/p>\n

(PZ)\u00a0Hey Troy! It\u2019s good to see you again! So when you were at Lyles-Crouch, you spent all of your years with me. You were there from kindergarten all the way through fifth grade. And I mean, I know I have some memories of Lyles-Crouch and wasn\u2019t sure if you did as well.<\/p>\n

(TL)\u00a0Yes, I do. I do have some memories as well<\/p>\n

(PZ)\u00a0Is there anything in particular that you want to talk about or recount?<\/p>\n

(TL) I would. I remember one time I got, I think, the one for the bus. I think my dad came there\u00a0and then he was, uh, he was like man you guys like like calmed him down.<\/p>\n

(PZ) As I remember Troy, even from the time you came in as a kindergartner, you were really sweet. You were always very respectful. You never would really be rude to one of the adults and the problems seemed to be that the kids knew how to push whatever buttons that\u00a0you had. They would instigate things. So I know that as we went through the different years that you ended up being actually pushed into the middle of things. And your little anecdote about the bus was somebody had taunted you. And they were more to the back of the bus\u00a0so I think you might have been a few seats ahead of them and you couldn\u2019t get up so you crawled over the top of the seats. You were crawling across the top while the bus was moving. So that\u2019s where I had to call your father because the bus driver wanted you put off. But that was just one of several. You used to end up in fights that weren\u2019t even of your own making. They knew, some of your peers knew, that if they got you going that you would actually go in there and you would be the one throwing all the punches. But I think some of the teachers,\u00a0I think there were teachers that you probably even can recall that would always be there would be standing up for you and letting you know that they cared.<\/p>\n

(TL) Mr. Caine, he dealt with a lot. I put them through a lot. That year was crazy.\u00a0Ms. Gross. Yeah Ms. Gross, Mr. Caine, and I\u2019m gonna say probably Ms. Cruz.<\/p>\n

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(PZ) Yeah, Miss Cruz would have been your second-grade teacher and Mr. Slovinski was\u00a0there through thick and thin. He was the one that he used to run interference all\u00a0the time. But I do feel that because your favorite family was there because I\u00a0remember one of the major fights you were in your father came in and Mr.\u00a0Slovinski was trying to calm him down as well. It was about your dad\u00a0saying we moved here for you to have a better upbringing and for you to have a better\u00a0education. And you think you\u2019re some kind of a gangster street thug. Do you\u00a0remember that one?<\/p>\n

(TL) Mmm yeah.<\/p>\n

(PZ) And something to that effect which made him realize that maybe if you wanted to fight, it would be better for you to go and actually get it. Boxing and get trained.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

(TL) Train. Use them legally.<\/p>\n

(PZ) Use them legally and put forth the effort. And did you find that when you were first starting out that that was something that you really wanted to do?<\/p>\n

(TL) I played football for three years before so I was more than just finished with football at the time but when I started boxing I didn\u2019t like it at first but you know once I started getting good I started, you know, actually to just try it out. After a while, once I start getting really good my dad was like here you might as well at not play football, you\u2019re better at this. I started to see that I was. I had natural, I had a more like natural talent like that. And I did.<\/p>\n

(PZ) Did you feel like some of the training that you had with the football, maybe the strength training and the agility, did that help you any when you transition into boxing?<\/p>\n

(TL) No, it was it was like it was a rec league, so we didn\u2019t do a lot of strength training. We just practiced every Monday through Friday then we had a game on Saturday or Sunday. We didn\u2019t do a lot. It was just, you know, boxing and it boxing also you know humbled me as a person. And you know I wasn\u2019t so quick-tempered when I would like, now if I were like to fight, you know, I would give people chances. No game. I\u2019d give them a warning. If you don\u2019t even pose a threat I wouldn\u2019t even fight you. I\u2019d be like bro, just go. You know what I\u2019m saying? Then you know, if you said anything I\u2019m like what I just you know this snap. You know boxing taught me you know how to control myself.<\/p>\n

\n

(TL) Were you ever ready to kick me out at one point?!<\/p>\n

(PZ) So my philosophy is that if I put you out of school then you\u2019re not able to learn. So I really believe in keeping kids in the school and working with them and finding all different types of alternatives and working and partnering with parents to make sure that we meet your needs. And we knew that innately you really wanted to do well and you were not,\u00a0a, you were never a bad child. You make bad choices and I think that\u2019s what really was more of a\u00a0saving grace and there were some times that I may have been tempted to try to send a message but that message would not have been one that would have encouraged you to actually stay with us and really try harder. But you know you got chance after chance after chance and you realize that in life there are a lot of opportunities that you may squander, but at the end of it all, if you\u2019ve got a support system and people have given you the right chances, that you will succeed. So you know Troy, I did not put you out and I doubt seriously if I would have done it today.<\/p>\n

(TL) And I do remember fifth-grade graduation you giving me that award and on the stage, you know, and I thank you for that because I did, I changed my ways from there. You were like he changed his ways and you gave me, and I think two other people, Daniel and Elija, the principal\u2019s award \u2026<\/p>\n

(PZ) \u2026 for the child or the children would who had made the most effort to improve and to\u00a0actually embrace the spirit of the school. Yes you did. You earned it. You earned it.\u00a0I\u2019m glad you remember.<\/p>\n

(TL) Thank you, Dr.<\/p>\n

(PZ) Well thank you Troy Isley and you make me very proud. You made the whole school very proud today. You inspired other children and when you\u2019re at the Olympics you will have the biggest rooting section back at Lyles-Crouch and in the Lyles-Crouch community so you\u2019ll have the power of our passion behind you.<\/p>\n

(TL) Thank you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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