'I wanted to prove them wrong': Daughter of man serving life sentence for murder graduates high school with honors

Mahira Dayal
Updated
Aaliyah Glover graduated from Stevens High School despite having an incarcerated father who is serving a life sentence for murder. (Credit: Getty)
Aaliyah Glover graduated from Stevens High School despite having an incarcerated father who is serving a life sentence for murder. (Credit: Getty)

Her father is serving a life sentence for capital murder, but a 17-year old girl is determined not to go down the same path.

Aaliyah Glover graduated from Stevens High School in San Antonio, Texas, with honors on Wednesday. She not only had impeccable grades, but was also the captain of the school swim team and was named “Youth of the Year” for the Boys & Girls Clubs of San Antonio — a competition created to recognize exemplary teens who have made contributions to their family, school and community.

“I wasn’t going to be what the statistics said I was going to be,”she told Kens5. “I was more prone to be a teenage parent, a high school dropout or being incarcerated just like my father.”

Her father, Joe Glover, was arrested for murder during a robbery at Wah-Lee Grocery Store. According to a District Court Memorandum, officers found a stolen vehicle in his backyard and bullets in his room when they searched his home. The memorandum states that he was stopped in his car — when he was with his wife and children — and arrested.

Her goal was to prove that having an incarcerated parent didn’t need to pave a path for their child, and hoped to show other people in similar situations that they can do better.

"I wanted to prove them wrong. I wanted to be someone who can motivate others that come from backgrounds just like me to do the same thing I have done,” she told news station KENS.

Glover has big dreams, and hopes to be a neuroscientist or cardiologist. But, she admits that she owes much of her success to her mother, who raised 4 children on her own, as reported by KENS.

“I always just blamed her for how my life was going or how it was at the moment. I never really saw what she was doing for my future,” she told told the station.

Glover’s high school counselor Ruby Bible told Yahoo Lifestyle in a statement that she looks forward to “seeing all of the extraordinary things” the graduate will accomplish in the years ahead.

“There are no better words to describe Aaliyah and her time at Steven’s High School other than simply amazing. The impact she has had on not only her classmates but also the teachers and staff here will remain long after she no longer walks the halls of this campus. She has been a shining star here,” Bible said.

Glover will be continuing her education on a full-ride scholarship at Texas A&M University, College Station.

Anne Reber, Dean of Students at Texas A&M said in a statement to Yahoo Lifestyle that the university works with students from all backgrounds on assimilating into campus life.

“I suspect students who have parents/family members who are incarcerated would have varying needs for support and we would not want to assume anything until we had a chance to meet with the student. We work with students on ALL kinds of issues that life presents to them and would do the same in a situation as described,” the statement reads.

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