At a newly opened charter school in Raleigh, 10 miles northeast of Rhodes, Lynx pride walks the hallways. Memphis Scholars Raleigh-Egypt, located in a middle school that failed last year under Shelby County Schools, is a labor of love for four Rhodes graduates, who bring collegiality, can-do enthusiasm, and the tools they learned as undergrads to the classroom each day.
The school opened in August under the Achievement School District, a charter school system. “The kids are the same. The building’s the same. The atmosphere is totally different,” says Aaron Brame ’99, who teaches language arts to eighth graders. Rounding out the alumni foursome are Larry Hurd ’09, who leads the special needs department; Desmond Hendricks ’09, who teaches social studies and sciences; and Derek King ’10, the director of culture/assistant principal, who is responsible for taking all the new ideas, putting them in motion, and holding people accountable.
“We’re part of a rather small faculty that is instituting new school policies and rolling out an entirely new curriculum, with the hope of assisting an underserved community in the Memphis metro area,” Brame explains.
Jerry Sanders, the school’s director, commends the four. “They all have a lot of love for these kids. You have to have love to turn this school around.”
“I love to help those who thought they never had a chance,” agrees Hurd. “I feel like it’s my duty to help one child do something he or she felt was impossible.”
Adds Brame, “My classes aren’t easy, for sure. I give them tough love, but definitely love.” Brame’s curriculum is intentionally challenging. His students get articles from the New York Times and Washington Post, and read outstanding literary works for young adults like Sharon Draper’s Forged by Fire and S. E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, books in which the main characters struggle, as do these students. In the months since the school began, Brame sees changes is his students—one change in particular: Kids retreat to a quiet section of his classroom and get lost in a book until the class ends.
King reflects that his Rhodes education shows up in many ways at Raleigh-Egypt. “I constantly use behavior modification techniques I learned in Dr. Bette Ackerman’s health psychology class. Dr. Janet Panter’s educational psychology class gave me a foundation in child development. The work I did in Dr. Luther Ivory’s and Dr. Charles McKinney’s classes helped me form my perspective on black life in America and how we are situated within society.”
Brame retains his excitement about teaching, even after 16 years in the classroom. Part of teaching includes inspiring students and exposing them to new experiences, and he plans to bring some Raleigh-Egypt students to Rhodes’ Cajunfest in November to show them Lynx pride in action. “It’s the only job I’ve ever found that pays back what it should,” he says. “I’ve dedicated my life to it.”
—By Robin Gallaher Branch