He Hello everybody welcome back to another episode of the male perspective I am your host Lana Reed and today is another wonderful day I get to sit down with one of these amazing men of five Beta Sigma fraternity Incorporated today I have with me brother James Rayford he is down
In the Gwinett County area of Georgia with roow Beta Sigma chapter and I’m so looking forward to spending some time with him today but first and foremost as I always do sir I take a quick moment to pause and say thank you to you for
Making time for me today time is a gift once we give it we can’t get it back so I truly appreciate you setting aside this time to talk little me and with that welcome welcome to the show thank you for having me Lana I’m excited to be
Here awesome awesome well as I open up with these shows I always ask how long have you been a sigma man and where did you pledge okay yes I have been a man of f Beta Sigma uh since fall of 1986 I pledged at Russ College gamma
Side chapter Russ colleg is in the oldest HBCU in the state of Mississippi and so I pledge a fall 86 I was a math education major oh is Mississippi where you’re from or I am from born and raised in Holly Springs Mississippi yes all right M I cook letter Crick letter i
Letter I I’m back back back okay all righty now your particular chapter that you’re with now the alumni chap chapter um how long have you guys been around uh our chapter was ched in Gwynette County back actually fairly new in 2015 and I actually yes 2015 we’re coming up on a
10 year anniversary um in next year in 2025 and I actually joined the chapter about two years ago okay so you were at another alumni chapter before then I no I was in uh my fraternity as as a honorary member and I couldn’t get involved as much because I was too busy
Raising four children oh and working a full-time job understandable understandable so um you gentlemen have been around for about 10 years about how large is the chapter how many gentlemen are there uh we have about 75 uh Brothers okay so nice size okay nice size okay well usually I start off these
Uh interviews with you uh men of divine n talking about the chapter but I want to kind of jump right into your professional career because I think education is is is on the Forefront of many conversations these days uh you have been a uh lifelong uh educator and
More specifically your current role is director of academic support correct correct I was wondering um if you could possibly explain the roles and responsibilities of your job and when the students and parents might encounter you great question Lana um So currently um I serve as director of academic
Support for bu County Public Schools and mostly I oversee our District’s community- based mentoring program uh which was started back in 2009 to serve uh African-American males uh then we kind of broad branchy stretch to serve African-American females in 2017 and then in 2019 we expanded to serve
Hispanic uh boys and girls and now we’re just serving all students when we relaunched in 2023 24 we serve all students so my role um how I support the local schools um I work with our local school counselors and I work with schools to identify staff of identified
Staff who may have students who could benefit from having a mentor whether it be boys whether it be girls uh we work with students in grades um 4 through 12 um so it’s almost like a balancing act so I have to go out we part of my my job
Responsibility is to uh not only recruit mentors but to provide the training uh the background checks uh the resources that they need uh so that they can be ready to be matched with a student or we go over the best practices we use use what we call a mentor national uh is a
National organizational mentoring that has the Elements of Effective practice for mentoring so we Implement those standards and then so once we have our mentors identified we then say okay what school are you interested in being a part of so we go to those schools and then say hey can you identify students
And once they identify students we then go out and interview those students to make sure that they want to participate and then not only um do we matched them up uh Alana we provide both individual and small group mentors so that’s where we meet the parents um so over I would
Say over a period of this is our 14th year over a period of 14 years we’ve actually have students uh from a hybrid model if you will and what I mean by that is we have students who were recommended we have students who were um they wanted to join a have a mentor
Because their friend was involved we have had teach make recommendations but the the beauty of it is the student has to say yes and I always commend our students when they are open to having an adult to come into their life to say hey
I’m here to I got your back I’m here to advocate for you I’m here to help you navigate this thinge called life okay that sounds great um couple things I want to unpack here you the mentor part uh if if somebody’s interested in being a mentor what requirements are
Uh needed is it like a time limit that they have to sign up for yes great question so so we actually they have to be at least 21 years of age so we do uh adult uh mentoring we do same gender mentoring uh they have to be 21 years of
Age they must be able to provide a backround check they must make a a commitment of at least one year um the mentoring that we do we provide or one hour the research says that that if a mentor works with the student at least one hour a week for just even 6 months
You can change the trajectory of that student but Lana unfortunate our program we’re fortunate that we actually have some men who Vol have volunteered in our program for over 13 years since his Inception wow 13 and these are men who are volunteered because our program started out with men uh working with our
Boys okay so um I’m hearing that they meet for an hour a week is it to go over quar work or just life skills or so great question we actually provide a a mentor handbook with our mentors okay but we know that every student is different so we say meet them where they
Are so we equip them with tools so if you have a student who’s not as organized so we may have a a session on how to get organized a goal setting if someone may be struggling with um conflict resolution or they may be struggling with anger management we just
Give them equi them with resources that they can just meet the mentee or where they are um but we do have a set resources for them and every every every child is different so we say meet them where they are and find out what resources they need and pour into them
Okay and and you mentioned um sometimes the kids you know they see their friends in the program so they want to be in program but sometimes um the staff identifies a student that might need so are are there particular students that the program looks for first and foremost
Yes so we we actually have what we call a tier system so we we look at a tier two student or a student who may just be in the middle of the road a student who may not necessarily be in a straight A academic strong student but at the same
Time they’re just that student that’s in the middle of the road that uh just go to school and come home may not be involved in as much activities so those are the types of students we really uh we look for we and we tell our counselors and teachers to know who are
Those students in this middle of the road there that could just benefit from having someone impor to their life okay okay now talking about the school set I’m going switch gears for a little bit um talking about the school setting one of the things that I’m constantly hearing from Educators north south east
And west and you’ve been at this for some years now is that public education has tra changed a lot over the years and um a lot of things in current times some people are saying are broken in your opinion what are some areas where we can fix repair make some changes in public
Education that’s a a great question there Lana um I think one of the the first changes we need to have is just to bring people to the table uh we need to be able to have what we call a collaborative leadership um to be able
To have parents at the table to be able to have students at the table to have business at the table everyone needs to have a seat at the table to discuss uh some of the challenges that are facing public education and I and I do believe
That uh we are at the point you obviously everyone was impacted by the pandemic but I think uh public education is is is going through a phase where we have to reinvent we have to keep up with the times and so we are asking our Educators to to uh really focus on
Development of our students there our students have to have those get back to the basics those critical skills those reading skills and you know sometimes um my something my father always told me is that know Ed education is is is knowledge it’s not just book knowledge but it’s that life skills
Knowledge and we just need to get back to those Basics and just have everyone have a seat at the table okay right right you mentioned the pandemic and and another thing that I was hearing that we lost a lot of uh students off of the roles during the pandemic that just poof
Disappeared there in gwynned County have you managed to relocate take these children and get them back uh in the school system uh I would say for the most part yes our enrollment has picked back up uh we we are seeing our influx of students to actually enroll in our
Schools our schools are constantly growing uh but we’ve also lost some students to u to a lot of virtual learning a lot of online learning uh we have lost students to some private schools as well some of those pieces as well that’s just across not just gwed
County but across the state as well as the country uh we have lost those things but we are seeing a a tick in the enrollment okay that’s great that’s great now another thing that’s always concerned me um and by Beta Sigma you guys are doing an excellent job is that
We don’t see a lot of black men in educator roles um is there is there something that we can do to entice our brothers because it’s very important that students see you guys in in class rooms on on campus and stuff like that is there anything that we can do to
Entice you guys to get in the education yeah actually there is um you know it’s a great question I’m actually working with an organization we’re talking about you know you’ve probably heard of the African-American male initiative uh there’s a lot of organizations out there to really promote that and what I what
What we’re finding is that we must start working with our students in Middle School to start talking about education and careers uh so that they’ll know that there’s a support system uh to let them know that they can have a sustainable career that will allow them to um
Support their families to live a quality uh life and they can make a tremendous impact of of the next generation of people and so we have to be very intentional and strategic in those areas uh we have to provide because we know there’s a a shortage of teachers and
There’s also a shortage of male Educators we just have to do a better job of letting people know that these careers exist and that they’re in demand and that you know you can have a fulfilling life as an educator okay and we have to really show that you have to
Show that well what for you personally what are some of the uh most rewarding moments you have about being on campus in in the K3 12 setting and working with the kids what are some of the rewards you get well I I think there are several but I think what something that stands
Out me L I’ll give a classic example um my son and I were at uh at Atlanta hwks basketball game and as we were exiting the arena one of my former students saw me from 1996 he was in the class of 1996 and he said Mr ra you are my middle
School and my high school teacher you’re one of the best teachers that I’ve had so to hear that and he’s now working with the CDC and know he has his own family uh to hear people uh students say that uh that’s probably the most rewarding um uh compliment you can
Receive there and then when you find uh students that come back and say or they’re doing extremely well they’re um contributing to society they’re productive you know and they say that they can remember your name and they can remember the things that you you taught them in their clients um that that’s
Very rewarding awesome I I just think people don’t understand the power the long-term power of seeing a brother in a class as a teacher you know the impact that has on male and female students of all Races you know it’s just it’s just so wonderful and I must say it must be
Something in the process because I see more sigas as as Educators than any of the others it must be something they they whisper in your ear well you know it’s well you know that our president honorable President we say that when you want to get things done you get a to do
It so U our sigas we are a men of action uh we are we are leaders and really uh hone in on the Brotherhood and the scholarship there so you know I think it’s a a natural calling and that’s one thing that Drew to uh F Beta Sigma was
The fact that not only my dad is an educator and the sigma but my the the mayor was a sigma uh the vice president of the college is a sigma um my pediatrician was a sigma I mean they just held a lot of leadership positions in in the community there uh coaches
Were Sigma so we have always I’ve always seen men of Sigma uh helping with the youth uh volunteering being great dads it seems like that’s just our just just send our DNA oh a lot of blue and white in Mississippi huh yes ma’am yes ma’am yes ma’am well quite fitting since you
Are in education in gweny County you are also the director of education for your chapter so that just didn’t happen by happen stance I’m assuming right yeah yeah yeah I got a pointed time I joined the chapter I got app pointed that’s our guy education yeah that’s our guy okay
And and one of the one of the many uh initiatives that I see that your chapter carries out and I think this is a nationwide U initiative of five beta segment is you have the adopter school program how does that play out for your chapter in your area that that is great
Uh adopted school program is one of our models of for Education one of our pillars of of our programs and so we actually have adopted uh an elementary school um that’s in Snellville Georgia uh they have a new principle there so we signed things there and we have done a
Lot uh to provide support there we provided uh tutors we provide we participated in a stem night where we’ done some extend activities for them uh we participated in their black history program we shared all of our information about our fraternity we actually just even um did participate in there what
They call trunk Retreat where we as sigas where we got together and gave out um candy for Halloween so we participated in that uh we do uh Teacher Appreciation Week we provide uh treats for and thank all of the teachers uh doing teacher appreciation week and then there’s something new that the principal
Asked us was just visibility you know and and when you mentioned that just not only uh men in education but just is even rare to have men at the elementary level so one of the things we’ve done is what we call it visability where we
Actually just go up to the school and we walk the hallways be in the cafeteria so the kids get an opportunity to see kids that look like them see men in the building and then we also participate in what they call um positive behavior in intervention supports PBIS so we provide
The incentives and treats for those students who are selected by the counselors for the positive behavior and intervention supports so with the PBIS you gentlemen come in and is it like a a treat day or how how do they interact yes so they actually have a little
Ceremony once a month where they uh the teachers are they they identify the student that have shown the most U progress or the most standout student for that month for that particular classroom and during the lunch time they actually uh call them up on the stage
And then we provide them with uh treat bags with our logo and things on it like that so they’ll know about our fraternity that we provided those incentives for them I can just say it now chest also kid just beaming smiling from ear to ear I can see it now so what
Other um things does your chapter have going on in the area that I might have why oh wow well we we’re doing everything we we we our we’re doing V so it’s tax season right now so many of our my fraternity Brothers uh We’ve um worked in a church where every Saturday
We go help people prepare their Income Tax Service tax prepared so we actually have a brother our chapter that have been trained to do that uh we participate in can drive caned food drives uh we do a number of things we did uh babies helping mama so we donated
Uh uh toiletries and food items uh for single parents home families we’ve done it we provided Christmas gifts to U The Children Healthcare of Atlanta uh we’ve done a number of things that we provided even scholarships we we provide scholarships to uh students to continue their postsecondary education once they graduate high
School wow you guys are doing a lot in the 10 years you’ve been around yes we have an adopter school so we actually have an adopt no excuse me adopt the highway program so we actually go out and we do we pick up the trash in our areas we
Partner with another organization we provide U support uh for our Spectrum autism uh uh support group so we provide support there well we’ve done that uh we’ve done a Yellow River cleanup uh so we do a number of things as a matter of fact uh this past weekend uh we actually
Had Brothers all over we were uh we did the income tax uh preparation on Saturday morning morning uh we participated in a local churches um HBCU um college and then we had brothers that were at one of our local churches passing out cany Goods all in one all on the same day
Awesome serving work serving work now voting season is coming up and you know georg’s in Georgia’s in the news when it comes to oh yes get into do do do you gentlemen get out and and rather the folks up to vote and all of that stuff yes so our our social action committee
Uh does do that and that’s been one of our that was actually one of the thingses for our chapters that for is to make make your vote count so that’s something that we’re going to be doing this upcoming school year because we obviously in G we got the big election
Uh general election that’s going to take place in November so we are going to be uh doing some things where we gonna our social election committee is going to come up with some initiatives to encourage young people to register to vote awesome awesome yeah and I know you
Guys can’t do it but if you could just keep an eye on those elector people because they’re going through some changes down there so but yes yes yes indeed well let me ask you um this real quick because you mentioned you grew up seeing sigmas you come from a legacy of
Sigmas um you know for that young man who is just step foot on a college campus and everybody’s on the yard uh what advice or guidance would you give give him unbi let me say unbiased advice would you give him um in trying to decide if and when to pledge what the
Pledge and all of that stuff I I I would first say um be true to yourself uh make sure that you understand that you’re there your first for is to get an education uh your or your whomever sent you to school that they want you to
Graduate try to graduate on time so make that your priority um the second thing is I’ll say um have an open mind uh to look at find out which do you research on the fraternities if you decide to pledge one and find one that’s going to
Fit you uh you know a lot of times you see people um they join a fraternity because of what the fraternity can do for them but I see it is other way around what you can do for the fraternity you have to make sure that you’re going to stay true to yourself
And be yourself uh that that’s the advice that I would give young person on the college grounds okay and you mentioned you were raising four children did they follow in your footsteps uh I actually only have one son so he actually I have one son he’s
He’s 27 now and I have three daughters uh my son um he actually was G to go ahead and start a pleasure but there are some little mishaps that took place along the way so I told him that I’m going to bring him on and one ofum and
Our alumni chapter life life happens life happens yeah and for you personally Sir Mr rord um reflecting on your years as a sigma man how do you feel it’s impacted you and in the sense of Brotherhood and how’s it added value to your life oh wow it it has done uh so much
For me um as as as a man uh growing up you know when I see all the brothers uh it just gives you it’s inspiring and it’s it gives you it’s a great feeling when you see that there are a lot of other likeminded brothers
Uh who have the same purpose and who are part of the same uh going down the same path uh it’s it’s that that cliche earn sharpens earn and you know I’ve been fortunate to be a part of a fraternity where it’s not it’s nonjudgmental it’s going to be support Brothers want to
Check on you how’s your family how’s your health how’s your job well how can we support one another uh it’s great to have uh men in your corner that um that you can do that because that doesn’t happen a lot of people don’t have those um those resources and those
Opportunities so I feel very uh blessed to be a part of fraternity uh that generally has Brotherhood when I tell you a true Brotherhood it’s a true Brotherhood and you know and it’s almost like sometimes even when you don’t see one another on a regular basis but when
You do see each other you can pick back up where you left off and it’s like nothing has happened in between there so it’s great to have that type of bond and like minded brothers who who want the same thing in life awesome it is so important to have that connection um one
Question just popped in my mind um because we were talking about mentorship earlier of young people if if there was a young man standing in front of you and he says you know one day I want to be like you Mr raford and be director of academic support what steps would he
Have to take to eventually land himself in your type of position wow uh he would he would definitely have to have a degree uh he would have had to have at least five years uh as a classroom teacher um he would have to have a master’s degree or a certification in
Educational Administration and supervision and he’ll have to have a a a passion for wanting to serve because um the the more I look in this position it’s all about serving um I I consider myself a servant leader so I would tell them that uh are you doing it for
The title or are you doing it because this is for the money or doing it because this is what you want to do um that’s what I would tell them those will be the steps that I will tell them so next in the educational career for Mr bford what what is it
Superintendent is that what we will well you you know I actually have some other things that I’m working on that I I want to uh eventually um step out and do a LLC at some point okay um so I have some ideas that I’m kind of U putting U
Putting pin to the paper right now just jotting down some things that I want to see in the next phase of my life okay I like it well let me ask you my random question sir I think I’ve covered everything okay I think I’ve covered I
Think we’ve covered so uh we’ve got the voter registration coming up for your chapter you’ve uh you said scholarships when will the scholarships be uh because kids will be great question so we actually we we’ll be giving the our scholarships out uh during the month of April okay so our our application U
Window is still open right now we currently have about 20 applications in already so we have our rubric where we’ll go in and start scoring uh the essays and looking at the GPA and uh so that we can determine our uh three scholarship winners and then we award
Those scholarships uh going that will take place in April okay so uh for the the kids to apply for the scholarships are there requirements going into the application that they have to to have yes they they must have a minimum of of a 3.0 GPA and they must be involved in
At least one extracurricular activity and then they have to write a a 500w essay uh titled how will they use their education to impact their Community okay and it’s just for um students going to a fouryear in County this is what be students who are in gwet County Public
Schools graduating seniors in the class of 202 for so can I I guess what I’m trying do can they be going to a community college or do they have to go to a four-year institution they have to go to a four-year school okay okay I got
You okay got you got all right let me ask my I know I I’m gonna have some questions and then I’m GNA get off and I’m like I should have asked that I should have asked that I have to get you back let’s see what I’ve got here let’s see you
Have okay if your partner were to surprise you what would be your idea date to go on say that again if your partner were to surprise you what would be your ideal date to go on oh my ideal date to go on all expenses paid you don’t have to
Worry about anything oh man I’m I’m going to say gonna say go to go see a show in New York oh have you ever been to New York yes I’ve been to New York yes okay okay very and and and and then we’ll find a spot to do a lot
Of dancing oh okay all right light on your feet then yeah there you go there you go there you I like it I like it alight so we’re gonna be peeking in on you you got your LLC to be forming um the what is it uh you you have your all
The sigas will be gathering for your convention when so actually we have our we have actually having a joint uh Sigma Zeta State Conference in Augusta Georgia next weekend uh that’s going to be there unfortunately I won’t be able to take off to go to work there
The next weekend I’m not gonna be able to go it’s the 20 actually I’m sorry this up weekend February 23rd through the 25th uh but then we actually have our regionals uh in the Bahamas May 17 through the 20th so I will be going there I GNA
Go yes I’mma catch the Bahamas I’ve seen Georgia enough I’ve seen Georgia enough but that’s right that’s right man I a mad at you well sir give us the website if we are ever down in the Georgia way and we want to connect with you and and
See what your sigas are up to just go gwet sigma.com gwet sigma.com all righty that’s it all right well sir I thank you for your service and education first and foremost because um it is so important like I cannot say that enough it’s just so important for
Kids to see kids of all Races to see a black man um on the campus in in any capacity you know it just it just leaves such a strong impress impression and sense a strong message I thank you for your commitment to the community and your chapter’s commitment to the
Community and I thank you for your time and just from theow me just thank you very much well you’re quite Rec I really appreciate you and work that you’re doing and to help broadcast off story um I I love in fact the male perspective I love that I’m going to be following you
Now so I can see all the things you’re going to be doing and again congratulations to you and thank you for doing this work it’s it’s much needed thank you so much that is all for this week’s episode of the male perspective I’m your host Lana Reed and we’ll see everybody next time
source
