Hendricks vows to promote inclusion, diversity

Meet the candidates

Name: Adrian Hendricks II

Age: 39

Occupation: Regional educator/4-H youth development specialist

Hometown: East St. Louis, Illinois

Why run? "As a concerned parent and educator, I am running to help eliminate educational disparity, strengthen community relations and improve overall results within the Jefferson City School District."

Adrian Hendricks II serves as the Central Missouri youth development specialist for Lincoln University's Cooperative Extension, helping to build educational programming for youth in an eight-county area.

A few of the programs Hendricks' office helps support include: the Fitness Fighters Program, which promotes physical activity and healthy living; Robotics Club, which introduces students to engineering and technology; and the Outdoor Rangers Camp, which helps kids explore nature. Through after-school programming and summer camps, the programs are designed to support 4-H, reduce childhood obesity, and promote "STEAM" - science, technology, engineering, agriculture and math.

With an election scheduled for April 7, four challengers and an incumbent are vying for two open seats on the Jefferson City Board of Education. In order of their ballot appearance, the candidates are: Pam Murray, Joy Sweeney, Michael Couty, Dan Renfrow and Hendricks.

Hendricks is currently working on his doctorate degree in educational organization and leadership from Grand Canyon University in Arizona.

He earned his undergraduate degree from Lincoln University in 2001. He also has a master's of education in curriculum and instruction from William Woods University and a master's in church planning and evangelism from Liberty University.

Prior to working for LU, Hendricks - as the state youth coordinator for the Missouri Department of Transportation - promoted safer driving through campaigns such as "Arrive Alive."

And he is senior pastor at the Joshua House Church on Dunklin Street.

After attending public school in southern Illinois and Chicago, Hendricks said he knows what it feels like to be a struggling student coming from a struggling educational system and having to overcome those deficits. When he arrived at Lincoln, he wasn't academically prepared, he said.

"I came here young and inexperienced, and I didn't know where my life was going," he said. "I had to deal with the residue of an education that wasn't strong."

He's interested in fostering a culture of inclusion and diversity.