Ernest Simmons also known as “Big Rico” is a junior at Tunstall High School. Simmons recently moved to the Dry Fork area from inner city Washington, D.C. where he grew up. There has been a lot of talk since he has moved here because of the numerous amounts of tattoos on Simmons’s body.

Simmons would like for people to realize his tattoos mean a lot to him. Some stand for his brothers and best friends that he lost from crime and gang violence. Others stand for the neighborhood where he was raised.

Simmons also has the Washington Monument, the apartment building he grew up in, and a “$” tattooed on his neck. Simmons says, “I’m thankful to be alive and walking because being raised in the streets wasn’t easy.”

Simmons plans on graduating high school next year and is happy that he is in a safe environment now that he lives here in Dry Fork with his mother and siblings.

Even though Simmons has gotten his life straight, he still knows that his tattoos have deeper meaning than just an appearance, and says, “My entire body will be covered in ink of the things that mean the most to me.”