Filed under: Interviews, Professional Profiles, Dr. Boyce Money
I was introduced to the work of Roszalyn Akins at a conference being held by the
Mississippi Learning Institute. Roz (that's her nickname) was giving a presentation about her program called
"Black Males Working." I was immediately impressed with the vigor and passion with which Roz approached the important task of mentoring and educating young black boys. Without having the funding or the fanfare that her program truly deserves, Roz has taken the "worst" kids in her district and turned them into academic champions. She reminds us that there is nothing that our kids can't do when they are given an opportunity and a little bit of encouragement. Saving the black male is not just something just that helps black men. It is important to any woman who cares about her son, husband, brother or father. In fact, saving the black male is critical to protecting the black family in America. It is for her never-ending commitment to empowering black boys that Roszalyn Akins is today's
Dr. Boyce Watkins Spotlight on AOL Black Voices:
What is your name and what do you do?
Hello, my name is Roszalyn Akins, and I am a retired educator from the Fayette County Public School System in Lexington, Kentucky. Well let me say I am semi-retired, because I still help a middle school three days a week. My educational partner is Dr. Roger Cleveland, a professor at Eastern Kentucky University.
What is the purpose of your organization?
The BMW Academy is a collaborative program between First Bracktown, Inc. and Fayette County Public Schools that serves to close the achievement gap that exists between African American males and others in our educational system. The mission of the BMW Academy is to educate, motivate, and activate the potential for excellence that lies within every African American male. The young men who participate in the BMW Academy attend school 6 days a week. We serve young men in grades 6 through 12. The young men come from six different high schools, and 12 middle schools. We not only work with the young men to close the achievement gap, but we also strive to get them into the advanced and AP classes in their schools. We monitor grades, behavior, state assessments, and we have very high expectations for every one of them. We not only work with the boys, but we also require parents to attend bi-monthly sessions on how to help their sons be successful in school. The parents are also required to make two positive visits to their son's school a year.
Why are black boys struggling so much in the school system?
The reason why our African American males are struggling in Kentucky as well as across this country is because of a lack of expectation level in our schools. It is not that African American males cannot do work at a high level in our schools -- they are not pushed to do so. Many of our African American males are taught by young white teachers who do not understand the learning styles of our African American males. Another reason that African American males are not successful is due to their home and community environment. Many of our young men do not have positive role models in the home or community. Parents need to be more involved with what their sons are watching on television, doing on the computer and the amount of time they play video games. Parents do not stress reading at home anymore!
What are some of the funding challenges you've run into when it comes to getting money for your program? Is there a way that people can help?
The BMW Academy is run strictly by volunteers who are teachers in our school system or who have retired from our school system. We also use college students who need community service hours to help with our program. Funding becomes an issue when planning college and educational trips for our boys. We take the boys on a college and educational trip every year somewhere in the United States. Our boys have been blessed to visit Morehouse, Howard, Hampton, Florida A & M, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, and many more. We sell candy bars, have a fish fry, musicals and do whatever we need to do to raise the money. We have some families who have multiple boys in the program so it is difficult for them to choose who will get to go on the trips.
We also raise money to buy the necessary supplies for the program. We need graphing calculators because we have discovered that in order for our boys to be successful, they need access to school supplies that can help them in the classroom. Some parents cannot pay $115.00 for a calculator, because they need to buy food and clothes for their son. We are hoping to raise money to buy laptops that the boys can check-out to use at home when they have a project due in school. We also need funds to buy books, because many of our boys don't have the correct books on the grade level that will prepare them for college. We are blessed to raise funds by working concessions during football season to pay an ACT instructor for our junior and senior boys. We are praying for enough funding to have our own school every day of the week for African American males. We are making great progress with our Saturday program, but if we could have these boys every day of the week in a regular school setting, we could turn the educational system upside down and close the achievement gap!
It seems that programs that have been proven to be successful should be in every school district across America. Why haven't the educational powers-that-be helped you to replicate your program nation-wide?
One of the reasons that this program has not been replicated nationwide is because it takes commitment, commitment, and commitment. We are going into the seventh year of the BMW Academy, and it has survived because of the commitment of our church and the volunteers. We are good at starting programs, but we have issues with sustaining them because we get tired and fizzle out! The state of the African American male is critical, and if we are going to make a difference we need to stop waiting on the school system, the government, or superman, and take back our children to instill in them that they are great and they are candidates for greatness. If we could get churches, community groups, sororities, or fraternities to start the recovering of our African American males, we would see a difference in our school system -- but most of all in our juvenile system. There are Saturdays that we don't feel like doing the BMW Academy, but when we see the faces of over 125 black boys every Saturday saying "I want to be all that I can be," that is all the energy that we need to keep getting up every Saturday morning and visiting their schools all week long!
What is your take on the debate of charter schools and whether we need more of them?
The data shows that the most successful charter schools are those that were created for African American males. I don't care if it is a charter school or a school district that says we are going to do something out of the box to help our African American males. Just let us do what needs to be done to close the achievement gap, stop the number of African American males in special education and the number of them that are going to jail. If we can build prisons based on the test scores of boys in the fourth grade, then let us have the schools and teachers who can do what is necessary to meet the needs of African American males and make them successful and not a statistic.
Is there anything else you'd like to share with our AOL Black Voices audience?
Let me close by saying that our BMW Academy did not have overnight success, but it has been a wonderful journey as we have been blessed to change the mindset that making good grades and being good in school is acting white to young men who are now competing to make the first
30 on the ACT in our program. We had a 29 this year. They now believe that they don't have to play in the NBA to be a star, they can own a team in the NBA who pays the stars. Many of them had never been out of our state and last summer we took the 20 high school boys with the highest GPA to Europe for 10 days. Now they are talking about studying abroad.
We raised most of the money to take them to Europe. We are planning our second international trip in 2012, so if anybody out there knows how to help us with the funding we sure could use your help! These trips aboard are truly a step of faith, but we believe that where God guides He also provides. The boys say a creed every week that sets the tone for the program and our expectations. If we can get the creed in their heart and head, I don't worry about what their hands will do and where their feet will go:
The BMW Creed
I promise to give my very best to achieve my every goal,
To be faithful and disciplined with everything in my control,
Learning as much as I can for knowledge is the key,
There is nothing I cannot do, but the first step starts with me,
I represent my family, even my community as a whole,
And I refuse to let negativity keep me from my goal,
I will succeed and excel, if I just have faith to believe,
For I am a future Black Man Working,
And there is no limit to what I can achieve,
I will arise above all prejudice and stay positive the whole way through,
For I am a Future Black Man Working,
And YOU can be one TOO!!
Written By
Rev. Michael Robinson
![Dr. Boyce Watkins on AOL Black Voices]()
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the author of the bookBlack American Money To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here. To suggest a subject for a Dr. Boyce Watkins Spotlight, please click here. To follow Dr. Boyce on Facebook,
please click here.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Brown's current spokesperson, Tammy Brook, did not respond to queries about the photos today.
