From .2 GPA to Valedictorian: Angelo Canty’s Remarkable Road to Redemption
By Angelo Canty didn’t take the traditional path to the graduation stage. In fact, the journey that led him to the top of his class as Texas Southern’s Spring 2025 valedictorian, with a perfect 4.0 GPA, started with some of life’s toughest lessons far from any classroom.
“I was in a gang before I hit my teenage years,” he says. “People constantly told me I wouldn’t make it to 18. That I’d either be locked up or dead.”
But instead of becoming another statistic, Canty rewrote the narrative.
He first enrolled in college nearly two decades ago at Benedict College in South Carolina, but college life then looked more like parties than lectures. “I wasn’t going to class,” he admits. “I left with a .2 GPA.”
The military offered him a reset. Already in the Army Reserves, Canty transitioned to active duty, eventually serving in Iraq from 2010 to 2011. It was a move that brought discipline, structure and a shift in perspective.
Years later, a trip to Houston with his wife would alter everything. She had once started her academic journey at Texas Southern and brought him back for Homecoming. That weekend stuck with him.
“I told her then, I’m coming to Texas Southern,” he recalls. And in the spring of 2021 — now living in Houston — they both enrolled. They both graduated, too.
Canty majored in kinesiology and spent his final semester student-teaching in Cleveland ISD, where he has now accepted a full-time teaching position. His next step: pursuing a master’s degree in Educational Administration, with sights set on school leadership.
His motivation runs deep.
“When I was young, I didn’t have male role models. But I had one teacher — Mr. Black in kindergarten — and he left an impact I never forgot. That’s what made me want to teach. I want to be that figure for someone else.”
Canty credits his success to the support he received at Texas Southern. One standout was clinical instructor Chasity Fountain, whose no-nonsense teaching style left a mark.
“Her class was tough — in-class tests, no excuses. If you didn’t do the reading, you were out. But that discipline helped me in all my courses. It taught me how to be prepared, how to grind.”
Today, Canty carries more than a diploma. He carries proof that the past doesn’t have to define the future.
