AALOT - Phi Lambda in the News

[Professor]

Transitions into middle and high school can be tough for children -- and their parents, too.

Classes and friends change. Peers begin to precede parents. Bullying and peer pressure build. Academic loads weigh heavier.

And the ultimate challenge is a maze-like race to grab the grade and beat the bell.


When North Raleigh resident Joseph Springer reached that point with his sons Gregory and Reginald, he faced another underlying issue: The transitions can be doubly-tough for African-American boys, who often report feelings of social, cultural and academic alienation as they leap from elementary to middle school to high school.

Rather than idle in the wings, Springer, already a mainstay volunteer in Wake County schools, started a group called African American Leaders of Tomorrow, or AALOT, to bridge the leaps with tutoring, life-skills lessons and leadership development.

That was in 1992. Springer's sons grew up and moved away.

Yet he still leads AALOT, which counts 23 students on its roster, including girls now. About a dozen attend weekly.

Joseph Springer also is president of his fraternity's Phi Lamda Educational Foundation, Inc., founded in 1997 to provide academic and life skills programs to poor youths in Southeast Raleigh and Wake County.

The foundation has launched a $1 million capital campaign to build a Community Resource Center to house AALOT and other educational programs.

The project is searching for a new capital campaign leader; a post left vacant by the death of state Sen. Vernon Malone.

Springer started AALOT by asking his sons to invite a few friends for free, bi-weekly sessions at St. Ambrose Episcopal Church off State Street. And he asked his Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity brothers to be mentors, tutors and life-skills educators.

"If we neglect these young men and lose touch with them at an early age, then we lose our young men altogether," Springer said. "Our intention was, and is, to make sure each of those young men go the rest of the way through middle school, through high school and then on to college. We put our hands around them to make sure."

That's what Linda Rogers hoped for Tarrance Hayes, the nephew she has raised since Tarrance's father, her brother, died when Tarrance was 6.

"He needed mentors," said Rogers, who home-schools Tarrance, 16. "I see total improvement in his level of confidence and his ability to set goals. It's like he's done a 180-degree turnabout."

Of the original AALOT group, seven became National Achievement Scholars, including Reginald Springer, who earned a full scholarship to Florida A&M University.

Loretta Faheem applauds AALOT's commitment to youths such as her son, Kristopher, a high school sophomore at Mt. Zion Christian Academy in Durham.

"It's a beautiful association between the mentees and fraternity brothers," she said. "They prepare them with the arsenal they need to fight the impending wars of life."

Shirley Johnson drives from Morrisville each Saturday with Miles, 15, and Nia, a sixth-grader, in tow.

"It's great we have an African-American president, but we still have a lot of issues we have to deal with," Johnson said. "They focus on being responsible, being accountable; knowing when and how to ask for help, and how to respect others."

Nia's newfound willingness to speak out is evident.

"You get everything you need," Nia said, noting better science, math and social studies grades. "You get help in school and you get help with life situations."

Miles, a sophomore, anticipates AALOT workshops and academic support each week.

"So far, it's been a great experience," he said.

AALOT's SAT preparation netted Miles a score over 1500, Johnson said.

Reginald Springer says AALOT's benefits are measurable and immeasurable.

"It doesn't really surprise me that my dad is still working with AALOT," he said. "He cared about where my brother and I were going, but he also has that same concern for other people's kids, too.

"Sometimes it just takes people being nosey about other people's kids to help get kids where they need to be. That's even more critical and more important now than it was when I was coming up."