“We Have Your Back”: 100 African American Men Role Models Will Cheer on Students During First Day of School

A group of 100 African-American men plan to be at four different Pasadena Unified campuses on the first day of the District’s 2016-2017 school year on Monday to cheer on students, offer words of encouragement and open the door to expanded mentorship opportunities for Pasadena’s youth.

“African-American men from around the community will be joining together to welcome students back and to encourage them to have a great year and to try their best to be successful,” said event organizer and PUSD graduate William Syms.

The district-wide event is planned to include gatherings at four school locations including Cleveland Elementary, John Muir High School, McKinley Elementary, and Altadena Elementary. Volunteers and prospective mentors will greet students in a tunnel similar to a sporting event with intentions to pump up the students and boost morale through friendship and encouragement, Syms said.

“It’s important that we encourage students in our community because these young people are the ones who will take care of us in the future and its also our job to give back as community members,” said Syms. “It started as a call to create more unity and talk to our community of Africa-American men that I belong to.”

The group of 100 men includes individuals with an array of professional backgrounds from doctors, lawyers, firemen, police officers, fathers — a gamut of people from across the community, according to Syms.

Event volunteer Rodney Wallace, a retired Pasadena police officer, says the event should inspire the children.

“As you look around the entire nation you see where there seems to be a disconnect when it comes to our educational system. We have a lot of young people who are achieving but not as much as they could. This event is to give them a safety net to show them that men in our community are here to support their academic pursuits and to dream big,” said Wallace.

The event intends to build up the mentorship programs and opportunities within the school district by recruiting more individuals who are interested in lending a hand to the youth. The four campuses participating on Monday will have sign-up sheets available for participants who want to serve as mentors in the community to fill out and information on mentoring programs provided to site coordinators.

“We want to identify the people that want to be involved in these mentoring programs and then funnel them there,” said Syms.

There are already several mentoring programs in place at various Pasadena Unified campuses, such as the Mentoring Partnership of Youth Development (MPYD) at John Muir. Sym’s event aims to expand on existing programs.

“For us, we really want to support the programs that have been created and that work. We’re trying to give entry points to engage them and provide further access,” said Syms.

The group intends to make these events ongoing with plans to involve PCC as a venue for regional mentorship opportunities.

“We are showing the community examples of black men who are here to help everyone thrive. These efforts serve as a kick off to the convening of programs working on boys and men of color issues being organized by Pasadena City College,” said Syms.

According to Syms, groups from across the region will convene on the campus of Pasadena City College in September to create a work-plan focused on closing equity and achievement gaps for boys and men of color locally. This plan will be then be submitted to the National My Brothers Keeper Initiative in hopes of securing funding to keep the work happening in Pasadena.

“The work that Mr. Syms is doing reminds local students of the important role that education plays in building character and advancing our community. Through the work of our students, staff, and faculty, PCC is proud to serve as a point of inspiration for the young people of Southern California as they pursue their educational goals,” said Alex Boekelheide, PCC’s Executive Director of Strategic Communications and Marketing.

For individuals like Syms and Wallace, being proactive in offering a helping hand to the community’s youth is a duty they are ready to uphold.

“We have to do more instead of sitting on the sidelines talking about it,” said Wallace.