Incoming UC student proves that the past does not define you

Elliott, an Oyler School senior at the time, thought the competition might be interesting, so he joined a team on a whim. On the day of the competition, however, the rest of his team didn’t show. Instead of going home, he asked if he could compete solo. 

Within 30 minutes Elliott was at the top of the leader board and at the end of the hour he had won the competition, beating out 60 other teams. Weeks later, in May, he led a team that took sixth place, out of 5,000 teams, in the national competition. 

While Elliott’s stock market savvy is impressive, what’s even more impressive is that in only four short years he went from being dubbed by a peer as the kid “least likely to succeed” to becoming Oyler’s valedictorian and the recipient of one of the University of Cincinnati’s Marian Spencer Scholarships, which provides four years of full tuition, room and board and a travel abroad experience in Tanzania along with other opportunities. 

Elliott was one of 10 Cincinnati Public School (CPS) students awarded the scholarship, which was established in 2021 to support high achieving CPS seniors.

“Never let anyone tell you that you can’t do something, not even when you doubt yourself, if you really want something, work for it and give it your all and eventually you will obtain that very thing you thought was unobtainable, I promise,” Elliott told an audience of Oyler graduates in his valedictorian speech on May 20, at UC’s Fifth Third Arena.

In the speech he shared words of encouragement, but also offered up a glimpse of his difficult past: D’s and F’s throughout middle school, 22 suspensions in eighth grade; and, regrettably, how he watched his mother, Amanda Taylor, cry because his grades and track record were so terrible that he might not even get into high school. “I was so lost and naïve,” he says of the times he spent hours alone in his room or getting into mischief and looking at school as “just a place I had to go.” 

Marcus also came to admire his older sister’s drive and determination: Angie Elliott, a third-year UC student majoring in social work, was Oyler’s valedictorian of 2019 and the recipient of a UC Gen-1 scholarship. When she talks about her brother’s accomplishments, the feeling of admiration is mutual. “I’ve never had someone younger than I am who I’ve looked up to, but I do him. He’s come such a long way.”

The 180-degree turnaround was astounding, and “Marcus was laser focused his entire time in high school,” says Brian Talbert, one of Oyler’s college coordinators. Talbert was present when Elliott was surprised at his home in Price Hill — by UC leadership and the UC band — with the scholarship package in January 2022. Talbert says he will never forget Elliott’s ecstatic reaction: “They picked the perfect person. It was the best day of his life.”

As for Elliott, he is still basking in his recent successes. He will enter UC in the fall with an exploratory major, but after the Stock Market Challenge, he said: “I might be thinking about something in finance.”

Read more about all of the 2022 Marian Spencer Scholars.

Featured image at top of Marcus Elliott by Andrew Higley/UC Creative + Brand