E.J. Boddy has a hulking frame and a gentle voice. The 18-year-old from Philadelphia, Pa., grew up with a drug-addicted parent and often had to help care for his three younger siblings. He says he was bullied by his peers for being “smart, overweight, just different. I remember getting my teeth knocked out. I remember not being able to walk.”
Boddy shared his emotional story with hundreds of educators and students from across the country on Thursday, April 24, during the opening of the Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color 8th Annual Gathering of Leaders at Jackson State University. JSU and the Center for Education Innovation are co-hosting the event sponsored by COSEBOC.
Boddy’s voice cracked at times as he recalled his difficult childhood, but when he told the audience he made straight A’s during his junior and senior years in high school, he received a standing ovation. He said things didn’t come together for him until he joined the Sankofa Passages Program, an initiative of COSEBOC. The program seeks to meet the academic, social and emotional needs of young men of color who are experiencing academic problems because of suspension, expulsion, or social adjustment.
“One of the things they do is create an environment of brotherhood. Everybody accepts you for who you are. This program saved my life,” said Boddy, who raised his grade point average from 0.8 to a 3.9 by his senior year.
The goal of the conference is to share ideas about successful school programs and educational strategies geared toward youth of color, particularly males. The three-day event will be followed by a White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans summit that also will be held on the JSU campus. The White House’s key components of excellence include equity in education, quality early learning programs and K-12 practices that include increased use of data and strong teachers and administrators in schools.
African-Americans are disproportionately underachieving in schools — 53 percent of African-American fourth-graders and 44 percent of African-American eighth-graders read below grade level, according to the White House.
The Annual Gathering drew more than 500 participants, said COSEBOC Executive Director Ron Walker.
“The COSEBOC Gathering of Leaders provides an opportunity to shine a light on America’s greatest educational challenge — the academic achievement of boys and young men of color. We’re here in Mississippi, which was sacred ground for the civil rights movement, to ignite a new movement for education to utilize the innovative practices that we know work to help boys and young men of color succeed academically,” Walker said.
The opening ceremony on Thursday featured dramatic and musical performances from youth. Participants received welcoming remarks from Jackson Acting Mayor Charles Tillman, Jackson Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Cedrick Gray and Dr. Daniel Watkins, dean of the JSU College of Education and Human Development, among others.
Watkins, who also was reared in a single-parent home, said he got into his share of trouble growing up.
“I was told I would not live to be 21. I was told my home would be a prison,” Watkins said. “I stand as a testimony that given the right opportunities, things will work out.”
That the conference is being held in Jackson is significant, said Mitchell Shears, executive director of elementary schools for Jackson Public Schools. Shears said JPS is a predominantly black district with a higher percentage of male students. He said JPS also has implemented various practices to improve male achievement, such as the “Men of Honor” program, which recognizes any male student who gets on the honor roll at least once during the school year.
Shears said he was moved by Boddy’s story.
“We have students just like that here in Jackson. We have to go out and reach those students,” he said.
Shelia Byrd