GUIDE RIGHT
At CSUN Event, Black Teens From Across Southern California Find Male Mentors for a Lesson in Facing Life
B rian Palmer stood before the group of judges as his team members held up a hand-made poster. “Who here woke up late?” Palmer said. “Don’t worry. We have a solution.” His group of teen boys, many who met this weekend for the first time, had in- vented “Pillow Vibes,” an app-activated pillow to shake someone awake. In the space of about an hour, the teens had to devise a product, name, investment and selling plan for a “Shark Tank”-style competition. The “Shark Tank” was part of a three-day experience at Cal State Northridge, for about 75 minority teen boys and the men serving as their mentors from June 15-18, 2019. The Southern California Alumni Chapters of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity organized a program this weekend focused on cybersecurity and news production activities, information on college, discussions on mental health and relationships, social events to meet other teens from across Southern Cali- fornia and overnight stays at the college, a first for the vast majority of the teens. Their hosts are alumni of the national fraternity – successful Black men who are community leaders, entrepreneurs, teachers and business managers. Kappa League, a nationwide program for minority high school boys that in- volves volunteerism, preparation for col- lege and leadership skills is a signature component of Kappa Alpha Psi's Guide Right program. The weekend is the first such conference for the western Kappa League groups, said Anthony Lee (Beta Theta 1986), Director of the San Fernando-Santa Clarita (CA) Alumni Kappa League. “It’s designed to give these young men the tools to graduate from high school, then graduate from college. Then we put leaders in communities,” Lee said of the Kappa League. Lee estimated that at least half the teens do not have a dad living at home
with them. Although that’s not the focus of the organization, Kappa League does provide meaningful mentoring relation- ships for these young men, Lee and several other leaders of Kappa League said. Gilbert D. Brown III, Western Province Polemarch, remembers a Black man who was an important role model for him at a crucial time – a high school math teacher who pushed him and believed in him. “I believe, and members of the fraternity believe, that as college-trained men, it’s our obligation to give back to our community,” Brown said. “Someone made a difference in my life by just be- ing there for me, so I have an obligation to pay it forward.” More than teaching leadership, this weekend at CSUN was designed to reach the teens at their level by address- ing concerns important to them, Lee added. On Saturday night, there was a planned forum on mental health, rela- tionships and social media. Teen girls from another youth organization were scheduled to attend, with the aim of sparking discussion on how music and social media affect the teens’ interac- tions and perceptions of each other. “We wanted them to be engaged. We want to provide the information they want to hear and what they need to hear,” Lee said. “Our whole thing is we try to meet them where they are.” Organizers also recognized the importance of the participants to see professional individuals who look like them taking them through a technology- based, rigorous activity like the “Shark Tank” exercise. It reinforces the vision and belief combined with the tactile and kenetic experience of interacting with profes- sionals that better concretizes the likeli- hood that they too, can achieve success as entrepreneurs. Andy Harris, heading into his first year at Morehouse College this fall,
participated in Kappa League as a high school student in Burbank. Harris said he wants to become a sports journalist. “When I joined the program, I was really blown away. Where I live, in Bur- bank, there were not that many people that looked like me, African American,” Harris said. “Being in this program al- lowed me to see people that I want to be and to learn from them.” This weekend's Inaugural Southern California Kappa League Conference was a tremendous success. Kudos to Western Province Guide Right Chairman, Shannon Faulk (Gam- ma Alpha 1986), San Fernando, Santa Clarita (CA) Alumni Chapter Guide Right Chairman, Anthony Lee, San Fernando, Santa Clarita (CA) Alumni Chapter Polemarch, Adam Jackson (Kappa Upsilon 1983), and the brothers of the San Fernando, Santa Clarita (CA) Alumni Chapter on an excellent job.
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