By Laurel Sampson
Northside News April/May 2015

Northside ninth-grader Daishon Boyd was featured as a Madison Magazine 2014 Person of the Year. “I love the article, how it told the story of my father and me and what we’ve been through,” said Daishon. He credits the people at Kennedy Heights Community Center, his father Jamada Norris, his older brother and his mother as role models. “They all helped me be where I am today and were always cheering me on.” Especially influential for him is his father. “He was always there, always around when I needed him. Always,” Daishon said.

At East High School his favorite classes include drawing and design. Six years ago he started drawing a cartoon “Bobo the Monkey” and, as his artistic ability has grown, the cartoon character has developed with him. Daishon has his sights clearly set on graduating. “There are some kids who try to look cool by acting bad, but I just try to keep my grades up,” he said. 

He is passionate about becoming a cartoonist — like Jim Davis of Garfield fame — or a video game designer. When Daishon pictures life five years from now, the things he sees as most important are “doing something to help the community and being there for my family and friends.”