Steven Collins wants the best for his children. He wants them to walk with Christ. He wants them to finish school. And he wants them to grow up with wonderful memories of their dad.
As a young parent who has worked hard and sacrificed to make sure his kids have a good role model to look up to now and always, Collins was selected as the Greenwood Commonwealth's 2009 Father of the Year.
Collins said his first reaction to being named Father of the Year was that he was ecstatic — and surprised. He had no idea he had even been nominated.
"I should have known. My wife is always up to something," Collins said.
His wife, Kawanis Webster Collins, who wrote the letter nominating him, described her husband as a “wonderful man who loves the Lord and his family … Steven not only is a wonderful father, but he is an example to other African-American men. You can succeed in life, all you have to do is put God first and allow him to lead and you can't go wrong."
Collins, 30, is the father of four children, Myracle Collins, 8; Isaias Collins, 7; Isaac Collins, 6; and Marlon Collins, 5.
He said having four young children definitely keeps life interesting at home.
"At my house, there's excitement all day, every day. There's not a day that goes by that there’s not something to laugh about or talk about," he said.
Collins was born in Itta Bena and lost his own father to leukemia when he was only 8 years old. Though his father died when he was young, he made a big impact on his life, Collins said.
"He was the hero in my life. He was a father and a friend — a great example of what a man should be," Collins said. "I never thought I'd be as good as him, but I got a good idea of what a father should be."
He said his father's death took a big part out of his life, and as he got a little older, he began to act out and take advantage of the fact that there was no father-figure in the home.
Collins said he "did some things I regret," including dropping out of high school, but a change came in 1998 when he accepted God into his life and became a follower of Christ.
"When the Lord touched my life, from that point on, great things started happening to me," he said.
Since then, he has kept the word of God as his foundation, and said his pastor at Steadfast Church of God in Christ, James Allen Cooper, has become a father-figure in his life.
When he met and fell in love with Kawanis, they soon got married. By then he had already decided he wanted to go back and finish school, but his wife was still in college. So he waited and worked until she finished, and then went back and earned his GED. He later enrolled in the nursing program at Mississippi Delta Community College.
In addition to attending school, Collins also works as a patient-care technician in the dialysis unit at Fresenius Medical Care, and his wife is the Ryan White coordinator at Magnolia Medical Clinic.
In the meantime, between school and work, the couple had their four children. Collins said it was difficult balancing the kids with school, especially at such a young age, but he tries not to waste time regretting how busy life is. Instead he just makes the best of the time he has with his children.
"It is a challenge, but when you enjoy what you have, it makes it less stressful," he said.
When people asked Collins and his wife how they were doing it, their answer was always teamwork.
"That's the only way you can survive as a family is to have each other's backs," he explained.
He said he also got a lot of support from his family, including his mother, Blanchie Baymon, and his brothers and sisters.
Collins said going back to school was important to him, not just to set a good example for his children, but also to be able to provide for his family. Though having lots of money is not a necessity, he said he didn’t want his children to be deprived, and he wanted them to be able to enjoy life.
"I enjoy seeing them happy," he said. "At this time in their life, I'm trying to keep their lives as simple and carefree as possible."
Though his children are still young, Collins said he is already beginning to struggle with negative peer pressure in their lives outside of the home. Young children don’t always know right from wrong and often mimic the inappropriate behavior and language of others.
Collins said the best he can do is have a greater positive influence on their lives than the negative influence coming from the outside. Despite their busy schedules, the family still eats together and talks every night.
"I try to be an example by not just telling them how to live, but showing them through the way I live," he said. "I've always been told that if you instill something into them when they're young, they'll always come back to that."
He said his greatest hopes for his children are that they’ll have a relationship with Christ and continue their education as far as they can.
As for finishing his own education, he participated in the graduation ceremony at MDCC last month and will be officially finished with nursing school in July. After that, he will take his board exams in August.
Collins will be the first in his family to graduate from college, and as excited as he is to be finishing school, he said his children are probably looking forward to it even more.
"They're tired of hearing 'Daddy has to work' or 'Daddy has to go to school,'" he said. "They want their old daddy back."
Even though their "new" daddy is busy, their mother knows he is still a hero in their eyes.
"To see the joy on his children's faces when he walks into a room, when he pushes them in a swing, when he plays baseball with them, when he teaches them about the word of God, when he helps them with their homework, when he gives them a kiss goodnight, or when reading a bedtime story makes a wife feel so proud to have such a person to father her children," Kawanis wrote.
Collins said he knows that, as a nurse, his schedule will probably continue to be busy, but he plans to keep his family as his top priority and always try to be home by bedtime.
"It means a lot to me to be able to say goodnight," he said.
