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Senior Spotlight: Robert Collinsworth

GREENVILLE – In 2005, Belgium released a coin to represent the 60 years of peace in Europe since the end of World War II.

The coin features a phoenix, a mythological bird that is often used to express a rebirth or revival, rising from the ashes to symbolize the post-1945, or reborn, Europe.

Like Belgium, Vandalia senior Robert Collinsworth has also made the phoenix a permanent reminder of a rebirth in his history.

A tattooed phoenix appears over a bright red background on the outside of his right shoulder and matches a tattoo that his older brother, Jeremy, has on his forearm.

“It represents that both my brother and I were born in really bad circumstances, and we rose from that and became better,” Collinsworth said.

Collinsworth’s parents lost custody of him when he was very young, and he was raised by his grandmother in Michigan. As he grew older, trouble began to follow him.

When he was in the third grade, he was kicked out of school and sent to an alternative school, and by the time he was 13, he began to have run-ins with the police and was sent to a juvenile detention center a couple of times.

He found the structure he needed in his life when a judge allowed him to move in with his brother instead of entering foster care around that same time, and when his probation was lifted during his freshman year,

Collinsworth and his brother moved to Vandalia and he enrolled at Vandalia Community High School.

“Moving in with my brother gave me what I didn’t have as far as structure and rules,” Collinsworth said. “He pretty much took over the dad role for me.”

His troubled childhood prevented him from participating in sports, but this spring, he put his past behind him and joined his first organized sports team.

And Vandalia boys track coach Jane Bell is glad to have him.

“If he didn’t run, we wouldn’t be able to field all our relays,” she said. “It takes a lot of guts to run track, because you are running by yourself, even on a relay team.”

Guts are all Collinsworth has.

He isn’t a naturally-gifted athlete, but he strives to better himself during practice and always gives it his all in the long jump and short sprints during meets.

“I always liked sports, but I was never able to play them when I was younger, because of the trouble,” Collinsworth said. “I had some anger issues, and (coaches) weren’t OK with that.

“It’s weird, because I’m really different, but these people (his teammates) tend to be accepting when it comes to that,” he said. “I figured the track team had a lot of ‘jocks,’ so I thought I’d get picked on, but they are all pretty cool.”

Together, he, along with Zach Jackson, Ryan Ambuehl and Logan Rogers, finished fourth in the 4X100-meter relay at the Cumberland Invitational on April 19, earning a ribbon for their efforts.

“It’s probably the first time in his life that he ever won a sports ribbon,” Bell said. “It’s exciting as a coach to see that.”

He’s not totally different, though, because like many students at VCHS, Collinsworth holds a part-time job.

But unlike most of those same students, the money Collinsworth gains from his job isn’t used to go watch movies, eat out or put in his savings for college; it’s used to keep him alive.

His brother, who now lives in Springfield, and his sister-in-law, Erin, who is living in Vandalia with Robert until he graduates, help him when they can, but soon he will be on his own.

Despite that, he plans to attend Kaskaskia College the next two years to begin the pursuit of a degree to become a high school art or biology teacher.

In mythology, the biology of a phoenix is outlandish, as it is said the bird lives for 500-1,000 years, and as it prepares to die, it builds a nest and ignites.

From the ashes, a new phoenix, or an egg, is created, and the reincarnated bird then lives as long as its old self did.

But as a teacher, Collinsworth can act somewhat like a phoenix by reincarnating the lessons he learned during his own rebirth and passing them along to students, some of whom will do the same as teachers for the next generation.

And so on, and so on, and so on.

Vandalia senior Robert Collinsworth runs his leg of the 4X200-meter relay at the SCC Championship on Tuesday.

Vandalia senior Robert Collinsworth makes a leap during the long jump at the South Central Conference Championships on Tuesday in Greenville.

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