Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Raising the bar, one student at a time
Just after 7 a.m., a tall boy in a white T-shirt and khakis enters the classroom adjacent to the gym and sets his book bag down next to a desk in the front row. He exits and returns a few minutes later with a breakfast tray. He especially likes the strawberries.
A rap song streams from the teacher’s laptop as students en-
ter, already singing the words. There are dozens of boys in Shavonda Mitchum’s R.A.I.S.E. The Bar class who meet before school at McNicol Middle School in Hollywood.
After breakfast, some boys run to the gym to shoot hoops, while others gravitate to the computers, like Danaris Cumbie, 14. He is researching a question for a science project to help explain why fingernail polish remover dissolves Super Glue.
R.A.I.S.E. The Bar stands for “Rise Above the Influence to Strive for Excellence” and it is what the School is Cool 2.0 initiative is called at McNicol. School is Cool has been a five-year investment with $3.8 million of support from Community Foundation of Broward and a goal of increasing high-school graduation rates to 90 percent.
By aligning with the strategic goals of Broward County Public Schools, the initiative encourages partnerships with local nonprofits to design innovative programs to fully engage students, their family, the school and the community. At McNicol, this is achieved through R.A.I.S.E. The Bar, which is designed to aid atrisk students before, after and during school with enrichment activities, lifeskills education and mentoring.
According to Angelica Rosas, charitable funds manager at CF Broward, McNicol is one of 13 schools in the county with the School is Cool 2.0 initiative. The program serves up to 50 students at each of the 13 schools, for a total of 642 students. At McNicol, the R.A.I.S.E The Bar boys also participate in lacrosse after school three days a week, through a partnership with US Lacrosse and Opportunities Industrialization Centers of South Florida (OIC-SFL).
The Community Foundation of Broward is supported by the Sun Sentinel Children’s Fund, a McCormick Foundation fund, which benefits South Florida nonprofit organizations that help local families and children in need.
“When Danaris came into this program three years ago, he was always truant, verbally combative and argumentative; he was a handful,” explains Mitchum, a behavior and literary specialist overseeing the program. “I’ve not only witnessed his academic growth, but also his follow through, and today he is the most trusted member of the program,” she emphasizes with a proud smile.
Asked why he was a “handful” and what changed, Cumbie replies in a soft voice: “Well before, I’d been bullied and all and it really put me down, so I just lost control of myself and I let my anger take over, because that was what I was used to in school. But then, I met Ms. Mitchum and came into this program and she showed me something that I never thought I could do. She taught me how to control myself and how to maintain my cool when people do or say certain things to me.
“Now, I feel proud of who I am,” he continues, “Because if I’m not proud of myself, I can’t be proud of somebody else for who they are. And by me being that way, certain people see that I know how to just let things go. And they’d be like, ‘How you gonna let them talk to you like that?’ And I’m like, ‘Because words don’t hurt me.’ ”
Motivation and coping skills
Mitchum encourages the boys to do their best by reminding them in a call and response, “Ds and Fs are not acceptable — you are better than that, so what do you get?”
They shout: “As, Bs and Cs!”
After breakfast and hoops, the boys sit at their desks for a daily dose of inspiring stories. Mitchum reads off of her laptop, then asks for feedback.
“Have you ever done something good for someone else?” she prods, as a few hands go up. They swap personal stories and share details that otherwise get buried in the challenges of middle-school life. They reveal and make connections. They learn about mindfulness and speak of respect. They agree and show support for each other in a motivational exercise meant to foster healthy decisions inside and outside the classroom.
The long-term goal of School is Cool is to ensure that high-school graduation is firmly within the grasp of the boys.
“Danaris is a prime example of how the impact of an amazing teacher, mentor, and community support program together, can enable excellence,” says Melissa M. Gurreonero, principal. R.A.I.S.E. The Bar expands on the idea attributed to University of Alabama softball coach Patrick Murphy, who said, “Uncoachable kids become unemployable adults.” This is why lacrosse is now an integral part of the program — to encourage cooperation and support among players. Head coach Micole Walters echoes this sentiment by adding, “The primary goal of the lacrosse component is to create overall better citizens and more responsible young men for the future.” He says it’s the same thing “whether you’re building a team or a community, they have to learn to work together.”
Three times a week from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m., the boys complete a dynamic warmup and conditioning, followed by a snack and mandatory study hall with tutors to help with homework. The final 90 minutes is spent in actual lacrosse practice.
Funding enables Mitchum to host quarterly events where the whole family is welcome. “Grandma, auntie, big sister, neighbors, cousins — that means everybody,” she explains. Activities recently included a Zumba lesson and a brief cooking class to show parents how to make easy, healthy meals.
Lakeesha Cumbie, Danaris’ mom, speaks enthusiastically with pride about R.A.I.S.E. The Bar and what it means to her family. “This program has actually helped with raising him,” she confides. “Being that there is no father figure in the home, it has helped him to learn respect and learn discipline. And it has taught him a lot of things that a mother cannot teach a boy. This program has become like a second parent for him and his attitude has changed tremendously.”
For Cumbie, while his middle school experience and his attitude have improved, his future is yet unwritten. He hopes it includes a lot of what he enjoys now — writing and singing, adding, “When I get to college, I want to study journalism and music.”
This is only a glimpse of what the School is Cool program provides: Hope. Dreams. And a road map how to get there. Aside from Cumbie, there are 641 other students countywide with similar stories.
The bell rings at 7:40 a.m., signaling time for homeroom. Mitchum’s students grab their book bags and race to the door cheering like they just emerged from a huddle: “I will achieve. I will succeed. Greatness starts now!”