WS Chronicle

For the past 20 weeks this school year, a group of volunteers representing the Big 4 has mentored about 15 students through their first RAP program. RAP stands for Respect, Affirmation and Problem Solving. The mentors worked with the kids on self-affirmation, values, belonging, communication, critical thinking, problem solving, conflict resolution and peacemaking.

The RAP graduation was held on May 17 at Paisley Magnet School. Paisley is also an International Baccalaureate® (IB) school and the values RAP advocates align well with those of the IB program. 

During the ceremony, Dothula Baron talked about how when the Big 4 alumni were in school, they had social clubs they belonged to and they did everything together and bonded as friends. They want to bring this back through the RAP program and help students to get to know each other better and form relationshiops. When students get to know each other, they are more apt to support each other and become close friends.

One way the students do this is through creating skits during their meetings that look at uncomfortable situations and how they could handle them. Several students demonstrated their skits on stage.

Even though they were obviously nervous about performing in front of an audience, the students bravely acted out such situations as being bullied or made fun of and how to calmly talk to each other and say “I’m sorry.” Another skit showed a conflict about shoes and how to resolve the conflict peacefully.

Jacob McElhaney, who teaches 8th grade English and is a facilitator with the program, showed a video of interviews with many of the students who told what the program has meant to them. One comment a student made was that at RAP, “I can talk about stuff that I can’t talk to other people about.” Building trust is an important part of the program.

Two keynote speakers were college students. Kinley Copeland, a 2023 graduate of Reagan High School and a student at Meredith College, told the students that “leadership characteristics you develop at a young age will help you become leaders in the future.” She encouraged the students to “… tell yourself you are strong when others do not. Go outside your comfort zone to build the person you want to be.”

Jalen Kimbrough, who attends UNC Charlotte with a goal of attending law school, talked about losing his mother when he was very young and that he was raised by a single dad. He told the students to “… use adversity as motivation to succeed.”

The following RAP facilitators were thanked for their support: Ashley Ager, Dock Silver, Dothula Baron, Eric Martin, Jacob McElhaney, Pamella Williams Mack, Quanisha Silver, Shannon Brooks and Sophia Kennedy.

Dothula Baron, a facilitator, mentioned that in the first meeting, when asked to stand up and tell a little about themselves, most of the kids could hardly be heard because they spoke so softly. Now they have more confidence in themselves. “I think we did an outstanding job this first year,” she said. 

When the award certificates were handed out by Sophia Kennedy and Shannon Brooks, it was noted that “they are all winners because you tried.” 

After the awards, a reception for the students and family and friends was held in the media center. Quanisha Silver, one of the facilitators, said the biggest change she saw among the participants was in communication. “They went from zero to being able to be themselves, from untrust to trust, and building relationships. The curriculum was very good.” They hope to extend the program to other schools like Atkins and Carver next year.

Latosha Gill, the mother of Kymberlee Gill, said she saw a big change in her daughter. “She was more talkative. She was bullied and I saw a change in how she handled it … She is more outgoing. She was able to get on stage and speak.”

Kymberlee’s brother, Zebediah Gill, also noticed a positive change in his sister. “She is more outgoing, she knows how to control her anger and is more talkative.”

Students who received certificates were:

Demetri Gallimore

Kymberlee Gill

Aubree Hayes

Brooklynn Hayes

Aliviya Hayes

Ashtyan Hayes

Tysan Hayes

Jayden Henry

Elaina Jones

Salim Murphy 

David Onasanya

Pierson Schlosser

Amari Thomas

Omari Felts 

This program was funded by the Black Philanthropy Initiative of the Winston-Salem Foundation.