President Adams Becomes Slide Certified.

by Melanie Turner 

At the University of Georgia’s Twenty-Fifth Annual Holmes/Hunter Lecture held in Hodgson Hall, President Michael Adams’ Assistant Matthew Winston announced during the closing that the University’s President decided on February 25 to create a longstanding partnership with The Ron Clark Academy by founding a renewable scholarship available each academic year to one student.

The announcement, made after about 30 of Clark’s students performed their song “Man in the Mirror”, received a standing ovation from the crowd that filled the bottom level and some of the top level of the hall. The crowd composed of about 30 educators along with students from the university and surrounding public schools whooped and cheered for the 5^th through 8^th graders, who’s test scores on average ranked higher than that of students four years older. This energy only mirrored Ron Clark’s as he waved his arms and bounced around the stage giddy from excitement of describing how he had taught his students to overcome adversity.

The 2000 Disney Teacher of the Year recipient followed in step with the theme of the day, which was created 25 years ago to honor Dr. Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter-Gault for their determination to receive an education at the newly integrated University of Georgia in 1961. Clark described with his southern proper accent how he has pushed his minority students to break racial barriers put on them and their education.

The blonde haired, fair skinned man in a pink tie recounted how he did not let being the only male teacher or person of his race deter him from seeking the job at a school in Harlem and pushing his students there to succeed. The lack of hope the students had for education’s impact on their futures inspired him to raise funds to take the students from Harlem to South Africa in order that they might gain a more global perspective on poverty and racism.

Before the students left, Clark assigned them to read Nelson Mandela’s book “Long Walk to Freedom” so that they might more deeply understanding the race struggle not only in America but also around the world. While touring a small museum one of their last days in South Africa, several black cars pulled up outside the building. When the students glanced outside through the windows and realized that the tall, stately, man in his 80’s walking towards the entrance was the civil rights leader they had grown to respect, many started crying and shaking from the immense honor they felt towards him.

Clark also broke down barriers when renovation on the old factory designated for becoming The Ron Clark Academy began in the South Atlanta neighborhood. After a series of break-ins, Clark decided to get the neighborhood on his side by walking to every door meeting the people in four months, armed only with a backpack, his book “The 55 Essentials” and his energy for students. The response, the neighborhood is now a fortress around the school and the school has not been vandalized since.

With 22 percent of the students at The Ron Clark Academy coming from minority backgrounds, Clark celebrates these differences. He has constantly stressed to students to be proud of their heritage. As Oprah’s “Phenomenal Man”, Clark once a year has the new students perform DNA tests to locate what tribe or clan they are originally descended from. Then, the school holds an assembly, calling each up on stage to announce and praise their heritage. “You must understand your race and other races to become a global leader,” Clark said about the school’s intentional approach towards not just focusing on American history but deeply exploring other cultures.

This attitude towards racial differences can be seen in how the students and faculty recently handled the racism that appeared when a video of their song “You Can Vote However You Like” appeared on Youtube. Coupled with thousands of encouraging comments about the video were thousands of others containing derogatory and cutting remarks about the students. When the students began to report that they had read some of these remarks, the school held an assembly to not only counsel the students through the situation but to decide whether to have Youtube remove the video or not. When given the power to make the decision, students turned to Dr. Martin Luther King’s strength for inspiration, citing that even when people cursed at and threw things at him during marches, he still held his head high and marched on. They decided to leave the video up because they were proud of the work they had done to learn the material and wanted the world to see what they could do.

And did the world see. After the video, the school received numerous visits from the media and celebrities including CNN, rapper T.I., UGA’s president Adams and World News Tonight named the students their Persons of the Week. Somewhere between witnessing the passion the Academy’s teachers have for the students and becoming according to Winston “Slide Certified” by zipping down the giant blue slide into the lobby with students, President Adams and Matthew Winston decided that UGA and The Ron Clark Academy needed to unite under their common ideals for education. During the drive back, past the farms along rural GA-316 to Athens, Adams and Winston discussed how to make this a reality. That one day, one of the students from the Academy would also drive past the same pastures on the way to the University and call it their own.