Urban Education Professor Chance Lewis delivered the keynote address at an event this month that recognized recent minority male student graduates from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS).
The Beta Nu Lambda Education Foundation planned the inaugural Baccalaureate Service in partnership with CMS.
More than 60 years after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, reports show that a majority of African-American males in this country are still not graduating from high school, according to the Council of State Governments. In CMS, the four-year cohort graduation rate rose to 88 percent in 2015, a nearly three-percentage point jump from 2014 and more than 18 percentage points since 2010. The graduation rate also increased for all subgroups of students.
“It takes the work that I do and brings it full circle,” said Lewis, a leading urban education scholar. “It was a chance to speak to the hearts of these young men and celebrate their accomplishments, knowing the obstacles that they’ve faced to this point but also to encourage them to make wise decisions.”
Beta Nu Lambda and CMS officials said they want to celebrate the young men for completing 12 years of school and encourage them to be lifelong learners. Organizers added their goal also was to engage the community and families and provide support to the graduates.
The Baccalaureate Service program took place at Biddle Auditorium on the campus of Johnson C. Smith University.
“Our city is buzzing about it because it changes the narrative,” Lewis said. “Images like this, you don’t really see at the high school level.”