Destrehan High grad has opened doors for peers to express emotions through the arts
Micah Walker has a knack for leadership.
Though she did not initially see herself joining Destrehan’s ROTC program, Walker eventually heeded the advice of her mother and gave it a shot as a freshman. She didn’t regret it.
“I told her I didn’t want to, but eventually when they came back to my (middle) school, I said ‘why not’ to signing up,” Walker said. “I’m glad I did it. It taught me all kinds of leadership skills, how to work with other people, how to be a leader and a follower.”
While a member of Destrehan’s Air Force ROTC, she earned the position of Flight Sergeant in her freshman and sophomore years and Flight Commander as a junior. She was awarded the Daughters of the American Revolutionary Award, the Order of World Wars Medal and the Military Order of the Purple Heart during her tenure.
“I couldn’t say I had one favorite part about it … it was everything,” Walker said. “There was never a dull moment. I was always involved, doing something, helping my peers be it younger or older. It was all a wonderful experience.”
Her brand of leadership, she said, boils down to her natural enjoyment of helping others.
“If you need something, I’m here and I’m going to help you. And if I can’t help you, then I’ll find someone who can,” Walker said. “I want you to get what you need to get you where you want to go in your life.”
Creative pursuits also carry high importance for her. Walker was Vice President of the Culture Club and helped to restart the Destrehan High Night of the Arts, a talent show for students and run by students. She helped lead a charge that included creating fliers, booking the auditorium and organizing acts. When the auditorium ended up being double booked, she worked with administration to find an alternate space.
“My best friend and I had been in culture club for awhile and saw they’d had this event, but in my junior year, they weren’t having it anymore,” Walker said. “So we asked, ‘what if we do it?’ It was great. Just getting so many people involved to form an awesome team effort, and we pulled it off.”
Walker said she fell in love with poetry in the sixth grade and to her, Night of the Arts represented an opportunity for others like her to express themselves through their artistic talents, be it through written poetry or prose, musical talent or otherwise.
Her writing has been met with acclaim. She placed in Young Authors for two particular poetry pieces, noting she tends to write about what may be weighing heavily on her heart at a given time.
She also creatively expressed her emotions through her senior project, which she did on the subject of grief. Walker lost her father just before she turned two, and had to work through a difficult time knowing he would be unable to be in attendance to witness her graduation. She documented her research which illustrated the power of healing through the arts. To that end, she began hosting a crocheting circle for other students working through grief.
Walker plans to attend Johnson and Wales University in North Miami later this year, where she will major in entrepreneurship. From there, she hopes to open her own dance studio.
She has always loved dancing, and credits that activity for helping her grow as a person.
“Ever since I was little, I’ve been in love with dance,” she said. “Whenever music is playing, I’d dance in front of my house, in front the TV in the living room, to anything,” she said. “I did ballet when I was younger but I couldn’t pursue it further for financial reasons. So when our church got the dance ministry, I knew I had to do it.
“It opened me up, made me more confident with my body, with my movement … if there was something I couldn’t put into words or with pen and paper, I’d express it through my movement.”
Through a dance studio, she hopes to help open the door to that experience for others.
“To open that door for young men, women, boys and girls, that’s something I’d love to do,” she said.
Micah Walker
- Member of ROTC for three years, during which time she earned the position of Flight Commander.
- Was vice president of the Culture Club.
- Will major in entrepreneurship at Johnson and Wales University.
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