The saying ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ is true for Deion Henderson, who also used the support of a village to find out what his passion is.

As a member of the marching band at Huguenot High School (although he attends Richmond Community High School) and a member of a few organizations at his school, Henderson’s interests range from drawing to math.

He was in double-accelerated math classes since middle school, allowing him to take Advanced Placement calculus his junior year of high school and he was the lower brass section leader in the marching band.  Ultimately, Henderson has decided to pursue studies in something that ties math and his more creative side together: civil engineering.

He was originally introduced to the idea of civil engineering by his middle school band instructor. Now, through his participation in Partnership for the Future, he’s able to help at AMF Automation as an intern.  “I originally wanted to be an architect (but) through my (internship), which is partially an engineering company, I got to meet some engineers,” he said.

Henderson wants to pursue an engineering degree at George Mason University, but has also applied to James Madison University, Virginia Tech and the University of Maryland at College Park.

And although he said he enjoys his time with AMF — he’s been an intern there for three summers — Deion said he learns the most about engineering through his participating in the Technical Students Association through the Richmond Technical Center.  “Just being around that atmosphere of all that technology is one of my favorite things,” he said.

Henderson has enrolled in all the classes he can to fulfill his goal of becoming an engineering major, including enrolling in classes at the Richmond Technical Center to get more engineering knowledge. This year, he is enrolled in Digital Electronics and Principles of Engineering at RTC.

“If there is an opportunity for growth in the STEM arena, Deion will be involved,” said his school counselor, Bonita Reynolds in a recommendation letter. “He is truly passionate about math, science and technology. I have no doubt that he would make a tremendous impact to the STEM fields of study.”

Although Henderson is passionate about engineering and related topics, he’s also interested and dedicated to music.  His older sister was a clarinet player and piqued his interest in being part of a marching band.  “I love music and stuff like that,” Henderson said. “My sister graduated and went to school (and) told me about her marching band experience.”  He and his marching band travel to compete, often to Norfolk. They have traveled to Atlanta to perform at the Chick-Fil-A Bowl as well

Through all of his activities, Henderson makes sure to stay focused on his schoolwork.   “I think of school first,” he said. “If there’s any situation where I’m crunched for time, or if I have a project or something due tomorrow, I might not go to that band practice or that activity so I can get that out of the way.”

Henderson recently placed in a few entrepreneurship and technology competitions and will be accepting those awards in the coming weeks.