Papa K and I are proud graduates of Booker T. Washington High School (’67 and ’68), in Memphis, TN where we continue to strive to uphold our school mottos:
"We're Tops."
"We Lead and Others Follow”
Alan and I were inspired by a conversation with ’68 classmate Linda Brown Williams, former President and CEO of RISE Foundation in Memphis, Tennessee. RISE stands for Responsibility. Initiative. Solution. Empowerment. When we found that RISE was going to gift a laptop computer to each of the graduating seniors for 2020, Alan and I wanted to add joy to the lives of the BTW students too. So, we got busy.
Kenneth Ford donated funds to Team Kirkwood Literacy Lab, and we decided to purchase 135 copies of the New York Times Best Seller entitled The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander.
We were excited to gift the books to the graduating seniors at BTW and the fourth-grade students at Buena Vista Enhanced Option Elementary School.
Time was of the essence. Papa K and I wanted to make the gift really special by including a picture of Kwame Alexander and autographed nameplate. I reached out to my former book editor, Erika Turner at Versify, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. I asked if she would contact Kwame Alexander on my behalf see if he would be willing to send 135 autographed bookplates. He agreed, so we ordered the books and waited anxiously for the bookplates to arrive.
We also worked closely with Kimberly Morgan-West, the Senior Goal Card Program Coordinator at RISE Foundation. She provided the names of each student and was gracious in receiving the books. Unfortunately, we did not get the books to the students in time for the drive graduation, but the books were distributed in person or mailed to the students as a result of Kimberly’s dedicated efforts. Pictured below on the left is the valedictorian and salutatorian. Both recently completed their freshman year of college with flying colors. Onward and upward class of 2020!
