August Bohmont-Brown
Everyone is familiar with the term “blended family.”
Typically, it refers to two people with children from previous relationships, who marry one another. They then blend their kids – his and hers – into one family. They may, or may not, have children together later.
The blended family we’re discussing in this story, however, is a bit different. Brent Bohmont is six-year-old August Bohmont’s father. He is also an engineer.
Carolyn Brown is Brent Bohmont’s wife and August Bohmont-Brown’s mother. A former television journalist/producer, she’s a journalism professor at the University of North Texas.
Alexandra Bohmont-Brown is eight years old, and the daughter of Brent and Carolyn. Oh, by the way, Brent, Carolyn, and Alexandra all have varying shades of white skin.
August Bohmont-Brown is the six-year-old son of Brent and Carolyn, and the brother of Alexandra. And, by the way, his skin is a shade of brown/black – sort of café au lait-ish. Both Alexandra and August are adopted, and everyone is very well blended.
August is the main hero of this tale.
He was born in the Washington, D.C. area and went home with Carolyn and Brent shortly after his birth. It didn’t take very long for his parents to realize he was a super-active kid. By the time they moved to Denton, he was bouncing and tumbling with natural coordination. He was athletic and he was extremely strong for his age. It was also a bit nerve-wracking for Carolyn when she watched him leap from the back of a sofa or fly off the edge of a table.
“He’s always been outgoing and confident, and he enjoys performing,” Carolyn said. “He took an acting class when he was four and he loved it.
“He’s always in motion and seems to run on pent-up energy. Brent and I talked about it and decided to start him at Achievers Gymnastics in Denton when he was four. From the very beginning, he just naturally mastered whatever was put in front of him.”
August was like a duck in water, but his progress came to an abrupt halt when COVID hit. Everything shut down but, fortunately, it was only a temporary hiatus. He was five when he returned to the gym and advanced to the boys’ team.
“He’s such a funny kid,” continued Carolyn. “He’s totally aware he’s the only brown kid in our family and the only brown kid on the gymnastics team. It doesn’t bother him, and he’s not affected by what other people may think.”
The Achievers program is perfect for a kid like August. It’s competitive but it’s competition with a twist. “We want these kids to be in competition against themselves as much as anything,” head coach/director of the boys’ team Ryan Turney stressed. The facility is owned by Frank Kudlac and the program director is Emilio Perry.
“We want them to achieve by being better today than they were yesterday. We want them to achieve even more tomorrow. One of our leading goals is to teach them life principles. We want them to see the difference between pushing for themselves and pushing for the team, and we want them to learn how to push both inside and outside the gym.
“August has a tremendous level of natural strength and talent. He never backs away from a challenge. It’s incredible how he can move and control his body and use it effectively per pound of his body weight. One of my greatest challenges, as his coach, is to keep him interested and motivated. I must know these kids as 100-percent individuals. That’s the only way I can teach them to recognize if today’s best is better than yesterday’s best.”
August is the youngest member of the team. That doesn’t bother him. He’s racked up a collection of medals, including an outstanding performance in the 2022 Horton Challenge in Fort Worth, one of the largest competitions in the country.
“One of his competitions was at a huge stadium,” recalled Carolyn. “He looked around and motioned for me to bend down. I did and he asked, ‘Mommy, is this the Olympics?’”
Well, that one wasn’t but no one knows where he might be a few years from now.
