In the fall of 2023, Athens High School Band director and Fine Arts director Ty Parker might have been the busiest man in Athens.

Football games, pep rallies, rehearsals, marching contests, fundraisers, community events, philanthropic events —  Parker seemed to find time to do it all, and do it all with excellence. Then, the announcement was made that he was now Dr. Ty Parker after earning his educational doctorate from Lipscomb University.

“My students asked if they had to call me Dr. Parker and I said, ‘No you don’t have to call me Dr. Parker.’ They love the name Docky P and Dr. Pepper. I knew they would have their Gen Z take on it. They were really excited and they surprised me with cakes and some students thought it was my birthday so they started singing Happy Birthday to me. They were so sweet,” Parker said.

“My kids really supported me and the community support — I didn’t realize that people knew that much, but I had people mail me cards. That’s meant the world to me. I don’t want to focus on myself, but for people to recognize that I finished this degree means a lot to me,” he said.

Parker began working on his educational doctorate at Lipscomb in fall 2021.

“It was essentially two and half years. It was non-stop– fall, spring, summer, fall, spring,” he said.

It had been suggested to Parker that he look into achieving his doctorate, but he didn’t aspire to do that at the time. He then began doing some research and found an appealing program in educational leadership.

“I will be the first person in my family to have a doctorate degree and that is cool. My middle name, Helton, is given to the first-born son. My great grandfather, who had that middle name, couldn’t read. He did delivery and he would memorize what the road signs looked like, but he couldn’t read them,” Parker said. “My dad’s dad had the middle name Helton and he finished at Cullman High School. Then my dad was valedictorian and a scholar athlete and D1 football player. I have the middle name is Helton and my dad was telling me that I was the first with a doctorate and reminded me that his granddad couldn’t read. He was still a very smart person but it’s amazing how far, educationally, this middle name has gone.”

Managing his duties as Athens High School’s director of bands while furthering his own education was no small feat. Parker’s achievement took great perseverance and he admits that it was not easy.

“Honestly, it was very, very, very difficult. Being full-time band director here with marching season, concert season and band camp in the summers, I had to drive to Nashville each week. Those nights were long. Some Saturday’s I would be there all day, 8 to 5, and often I would get a hotel room in Nashville because I just couldn’t bare the thought of getting up that early after a long day,” he said.

Now that he has finished his degree and is now Dr. Parker, he describes the feeling as surreal and is happy all that is behind him and he can focus all his attention to what is ahead.

“I feel like I will have more time to plan here and to be creative. Doing all the logistical work here and then doing all the classwork — a mixed method research study using qualitative and quantitative research. My dissertation and research took over a year to do,” Parker said.

“This experience reminded me that we are all lifelong learners. You can continuously learn throughout your career. It is my first degree that’s not music-related and I got the taste of what research is. I had always read studies in magazines that said qualitative and quantitative and I never knew what that meant. Knowing how to read that data is really educational and beneficial to me. It makes me want to research more,” Parker added.

Parker also makes time each day to take care of his body and despite the hectic schedule, finds time to squeeze in a local 5K.

“I workout religiously. I went through a period in my life when I didn’t workout. I feel like taking care of yourself and your body is so important, so I try to eat healthy and workout. My dad and I Zoom every morning at 4:50 and workout. Then, I get ready and come to work. This really made me prioritize planning and scheduling,” he said.

Parker, a Cullman native, came to Athens after serving as band director in Cullman County for eight years, and one year in Arab. Parker is now in his fourth year at Athens.

When asked if Athens feels like home, Parker answered, “It does. It does, yeah. I am looking for a house here, I have been going to church here at Athens First Baptist. My church family is awesome.”

He added, “It really does feel like home to me. I have only been here for four years but I feel like it has been a long time. I didn’t set out to really get accepted. I came here and saw how much work the program needed and rolled my sleeves up. Along the way, Dan (Havely) reached out and they accepted me. Dan will text me regularly that I did a great job and that means the world to me. I never got to meet Pat (Bacon), but ironically I marched with his twin sons at Alabama and at the Rose Bowl.”

But above all else, it is Parker’s students that keep him motivated.

“Docky P,” he said with a smile. “These kids, they are amazing. I love my kids. They are really, really, really good kids. This senior class was my first freshman class. We have a special relationship and I have already teared up multiple times. When I came here, it was 2020. he had just started the pandemic, I was new and they had no director. It was a very tough situation for all of us. I feel like through all those trials, I feel like I have gotten closer to this senior class — and I will fell a little lost without them next year.”