Dr. Farmer changed my life, and changed the lives of so many other "Govies"

I still remember how shocking it was to learn in Dr. Farmer's class that I had a small interest in science, still remember watching in his class an episode of "Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman" on black holes and suddenly getting an idea to tell some of my family's personal stories of loss by using dark matter as a metaphor--an idea which evolved into an essay that led to me flying on an airplane for the first time, on my way to Miami as a YoungArts Week finalist, and led to me traveling to D.C. as a Presidential Scholar, and eventually brought me here to UChicago as a QuestBridge scholar. 

Dr. Farmer changed my life, and changed the lives of so many other "Govies", and it's sad to know that he's gone. 

But it's comforting to remember how he always stocked his classroom with lollipops for students, as though we were Kindergarten students in need of a snack. (I did kind of resemble a restless four-year-old back then.) 

It's comforting to remember Dr. Farmer hilariously trying to remember his experiences at Woodstock, and it's even more comforting to remember the best marriage proposal in history, or at least the best one that has ever taken place in SCGSAH's Smith Recital Hall. 

You will be missed, Dr. Farmer. Better yet, you already are.

Contributed by Da'Shawn Mosley

A graduate of the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, a public residential high school for emerging artists, Da'Shawn has taught writing there. He is also an alum of the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards and YoungArts, and currently attends the University of Chicago.

CLICK HERE to visit Da'Shawn's website 

Note:   An excerpt from one of Da'Shawn Mosley's essays was installed in an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, and a poem of his was published by the author David Levithan in the anthology, "What We Remember, What We Forget: The Best Young Writers and Artists in America."
He was chosen as one of twenty United States Presidential Scholars in the Arts of 2012 by a commission of the White House and the U.S. Department of Education. He was chosen as one of twenty United States Presidential Scholars in the Arts of 2012 by a commission of the White House and the U.S. Department of Education.