Terrell Thompson is a proud Sac High alum, graduate of the UC Berkeley School of Business, and a member of the Gamma Alpha Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. Currently, he is doing B tech consulting at Ernst and Young in San Francisco. 

Terrell started at St. HOPE Public Schools in middle school and says the schools’ secret sauce is pushing its students and holding them accountable. He says accountability is the name of the game and it’s so impactful when students learn that at an early age. Terrell says his teachers were very motivating and he remembers thinking “I can do better for myself, I can challenge myself.”

At Sac High, Terrell took rigorous AP classes and played basketball all four years working his way from the freshmen team to varsity. He also played football and said his involvement in sports and extracurricular activities allowed him to stay active and focused.

Terrell says a lot of schools focus on getting students across the graduation stage but they don’t focus on preparing them for what’s to come. Sac High prepares its students for the whole college experience and because of that Terrell says he thrived at UC Berkeley. 

Looking back on his time at Sac High, Terrell says he was particularly inspired by his science teacher who taught both chemistry and biology. When he was in AP biology, he entered his global warming project into a science fair. His teacher encouraged him to make sure that not only was his work creative, but that it was a scientific study that he could defend. He remembers his teacher saying to him,” Think about this like when you’re defending your dissertation to get your PhD.” 

“My science teacher always pushed me because she saw more in me,” said Terrell. “At the time I didn’t understand why she was pushing me to do more but looking back I am super grateful.”

Terrell is proud of the generational excellence at St. HOPE Public Schools. His siblings also graduated from Sac High; his sister went onto Hampton University and his brother graduated from UCLA. His younger siblings currently attend St. HOPE Public Schools and are excited to follow in their siblings’ footsteps and attend prestigious universities.