Yevola Peters: At 86, Still Dedicated to Helping Annapolis Youth and Families
Yevola S. Peters has been working to combat racial and economic disparities and mobilizing people in the Annapolis community for over half a century. At 86, she is serving a new generation with the same passion that she had in the 1960s when she was at the forefront of desegregating education there. She began as a music teacher in local schools, but her firm, calm, humble, and warm approach led her away from her career in education and into the leadership of the nonprofit Community Action Agency of Anne Arundel County. From that position and others to follow, she played a critical role as a force for local change and as a mentor to rising Black leaders– all the while making time to play the piano at church every Sunday. Now, with an Annapolis street named after, her commitment to service and to mentoring others is as strong as ever. She is a living legend and a great example to the next generation of community leaders. She was born in Orangeburg, South Carolina to two teachers at Claflin University. Peters had the unique experience of growing up in the presence of young adults. She would go to church with them, run behind them on the campus, and even play the piano for them. She watched her parents empower the next generation through their teaching and, unbeknownst to her, Peters would find herself doing the same thing. Although she enjoyed her childhood, Peters knew that after her second year of college she needed to leave the nest and attend a school where her parents had no chance of being her teacher. So, she traveled 500 miles north to Morgan State University. Though she was out of the deep south, she learned quickly that her Blackness still came with a price. “I was so shocked… I come to Baltimore, you can’t even go in the store, in order to buy clothes. So that’s when I call my father, I say ‘Daddy, you know you can’t go in the store?’ he said, ‘You certainly didn’t study your geography because you below the Mason Dixie line.’ “ Despite the racism that she faced in Maryland, she would ultimately settle there after graduate school with a degree. Her plan was to take this degree to teach music. However, she would face a hurdle standing in her way. “I applied for a teacher position in the school system and the only openings were in all-white schools. That was when I realized that integration actually hadn’t taken place yet,” she said. “They weren’t hiring Black teachers in predominantly white schools.” So, it wasn’t until three years later, in 1966, when Peters was given the opportunity to teach in a predominantly white school. “The children had all of the impressions that their parents had taught them.” Her white students, who didn’t know any Black people personally, believed Black people were inferior to them. Their parents taught their children these bigoted values and they trusted them. However they also trusted Peters, so she started to teach her students about African history through music. The students were incredibly receptive and she received no negative feedback from parents. As the school continued to desegregate, Peter’s focus would shift to her new Black students who needed an advocate. The Black students boycotted their school because of a lack of diversity and some would even face expulsion. Once again, Peters was there. She would help to reinstate some of the students, all the while, balancing her teaching and personal life. Her work would eventually begin to shift out of the classroom and into her community. Peters started working as a volunteer for the Community Action Agency which aimed to provide the necessary resources for children and parents in low-income communities. Here, it is where she was able to use her knowledge about the educational system in combination with her natural leadership skills to mobilize her community. Though she is modest about her impact, just this month, she received a letter from someone who worked with her in the late ’70s thanking her for her support. Today, Peter’s work is centered around combatting the systemic challenges that Black people face today. “The low self-esteem of our children and the struggles of households and families and the deterioration of families… Mass incarceration things that separation of families, all these things really play into where we are today,” she said Peters also heavily emphasized the importance of straying from individualism and buying into collaboration in order to help advance our communities. “Getting other community people to be mentors to both, not just the children, but the whole family. Once people feel good about themselves and have very good self-esteem… then attitudes and behaviors change. It is going to take that to overcome what the system is throwing at you anyway, if you don’t have strong faith in yourself and now you gotta deal with the system you are starting off in a deficit.” Peters has seen different systemic disruptors infiltrate her community and has recognized that over time, it has created overt discouragement amongst the people in her community. Attacking issues that have blossomed into generational shortcomings, at the root, is fundamental in creating generational growth. Yevola S. Peters is the definition of a servant leader. She sees a gap and fills it, or trains someone else to. Her work is ever-evolving, yet her mission has stayed the same for over 50 years. She has trained up young people, who are now training their own young people. Her impact is unfathomable, her passion is resilient, and her wisdom is immeasurable.
K-Pop and Volunteering … How I came to Become a DCTMI Intern
With COVID-19 crippling Fall 2020 plans and in-person schooling, I did not have much luck with my internship hunt. I was grappling for opportunities with big name companies to jump-start my professional development, but received few calls back and was ghosted by countless interviewers. After expressing this disappointment to a friend, she referred me to DCTMI, striking a personal chord within me. In my first year of high school, my mother forced me to volunteer at our local library. I despised shelving books and organizing CD disks for an hour every Wednesday, thinking it was a waste of time. I would always think, “ this better look good on my resume.” But as the months and eventually years passed, I returned each season with increasing enthusiasm. I befriended other volunteers and was sent Christmas cards from the staff. Every March there was a party hosted specifically to celebrate the volunteers with cake, free books, and bingo. And during every shift, folks young and old would politely ask me to help them find the picture book section or where large print text was. A set of exchanges that I will never forget was with this young woman who frequented the library. During the period that I volunteered, my music taste was very uncommon but a very big part of my life. I loved Korean pop music, most specifically EXO and BTS. I would stay updated with the bands on social media, watch their live streams, and buy their albums. But I never met another person that shared this passion, especially considering how popular American pop and the Top 40 Hits were in my small town. When I saw the woman watching videos of the Korean bands on the library’s public computer, looking just as fascinated as I was, I approached her. We gushed over the music and the idols then we parted ways. This went on for months. We would cross pathways as I was shelving books and she would slip me sheets of paper scrawled with songs that she recommended to me. Eventually, she stopped coming to the library and I ran out of new tracks to listen to, but the bond that we had over this band was something special; so special that I did not even need to know her name. When senior year rolled around, I was asked to speak at the high school’s National Honors Society’s induction on volunteerism because I had the most volunteer hours in my graduating class. As I addressed the audience that night, I stressed the importance and simple beauty of genuine community interaction and cross generational connection—volunteering is more than a resume section to check off. Meeting and developing relationships across interests and generations, I learned a lot about unique individuals in my area. I also learned a lot about my own values, one being my passion for volunteerism. With DCTMI, their emphasis on civic leadership and community engagement greatly aligns with my personal beliefs and builds on my previous experiences. As a York, Pennsylvania native and DC transplant for college, I did not have many opportunities to become more involved in the local DC culture as a full-time student. But now with all classes moving online, I want to dedicate my energy to inspire and show others the beauty of volunteerism and community building, even if it is from a computer 80 miles away.
How Being a Tutor or Mentor Corresponds with Being a Civic Leader
Written by: Fatima K M Pinkney Being a tutor or mentor is a way to help individuals whether it is children or young adults in need of some guidance or assistance in different aspects of their lives; whether it is with school or personal issues. When I decided to tutor it was because I wanted to share my knowledge with my students in the hopes that they would take something out of what I taught them. In high school I went to math tutoring during lunchtime and after school. Also in my second and third year of college I needed a tutor again in my math classes. At first, I was embarrassed and even reluctant because I felt like I should already know this from high school, but math was always difficult for me. I realized having one on one assistance from somebody to help me with my work was better for me because I am the type of person who needs individual assistance since most of the time I learn better that way. Throughout my years of going to school I learned that is okay to need help once in a while. It takes a big person to admit that they are having trouble. Mentors have a way of showing complete honesty towards you and give you constructive criticism where it best fits. They do their best to help you see things from their perspective in hopes that you can finally see things that you could not recognize before. In a way, being a mentor or tutor has a way of showing people you have the ability to be a leader. In other words, a civic leader who is a person who spreads community awareness and courage throughout the community in different forms of knowledge, wisdom, and skills with the hopes of making a difference in not just the community, but the world! I learned that to become a civic leader you must be aware of the world around you and the issues this world is facing that is why tutors and mentors play a key role in that. A leader thinks beyond themselves and acts in a selfless manner. My job at DCTMI as a civic leader is to show the people who are less likely to step out of their comfort zone and become part of something bigger than just themselves a way to become involved in their community. When canvassing I noticed how people tend to stick to what they know and leave it at that instead of doing more for their community, but change will never be made unless someone steps up and be brave enough to want to change the dynamics of the world we live in.
A Deeper Calling
Written by: Molly Stawinoga My original plan and reason for coming to D.C. this summer was to work at the U.S. Department of State, in a high-level office with access to information that impacted national security. While waiting for my security clearance, I continued interviewing with organizations in Washington in case I found a better or more inspiring offer. Clearly, I am not working at the Department of State — rather, I found that “more inspiring offer:” working in the community for a mission I am passionate about and for an organization that I am dedicated to. The passion for bettering education and focusing on youth to better entire communities is something that runs deep in my family, in my blood. My great-grandmother, Bonnie Kuehl, taught in a two-room schoolhouse in Ogallala, Nebraska, a minuscule town with vast farm fields as far as the eye can see. Included in her classes were several of her own children. That includes my great-aunt Bonnita, who was inspired to become a teacher herself. My great-grandmother had to do her own janitorial work and they had no indoor bathrooms or running water. This means Bonnie’s children (the equivalent of uncompensated teacher’s assistants) had to haul water each day to the school. My grandmother’s sister, my great-aunt Bonnita Sherburne, spent 45 years teaching in public schools in Nebraska. She taught in special-education classrooms, even securing funds in one district to purchase a home to teach those of her students who were young adults how to cook, clean, do laundry, and so much more. Today, she is retired and focuses on her grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. My mother has been teaching elementary school in District 428 of my hometown, DeKalb, Illinois, for 25 years. She started in kindergarten and moved to second grade just a few years later before landing in a third-grade classroom for the past decade. She might be counting down the days until retirement (just 9 more years!), but she loves her children like no other. You would think that with the deep history of educators, my mother would have been ecstatic when my sister thought she wanted to go to college to become an early childhood educator. Instead, my mom convinced my sister to pursue engineering. This wasn’t because my mother hates children. It wasn’t for the fact that my sister would not be able to find a job in education. No, my mother believes that the American education system in its current state is failing — and I do not disagree. With a lack of support from the most powerful administrators and officials, lack of government funding, reliance on property taxes (leaving the poorest neighborhoods with the worst schools), low salaries and poor benefits and overall dysfunction, my mother sees that teaching for a career is often detrimental. This was the reason I decided to pursue the “more inspiring” offer for my summer in D.C. If we live in a world where young adults are frightened to enter into the education workforce, we have deeper problems that require a deeper societal fix. This fix is a complete change of mindset. The global community must be more involved in and attuned to in the welfare of others, most specifically children. This is what we are aiming to do at the D.C. Tutoring & Mentoring Initiative. Engaged and inspired children grow up to create an engaged and inspired community. If each child could be paired with an adult to look up to, to help them grow, to aid in times of fear, this could truly become a reality.
Civic Leadership and Reflection
Written by: Rebekah Karth Chojnacki An important quality for my internship site this summer with D.C. Tutoring & Mentoring Initiative is taking the time to exercise, meditation, and reflection, along with the efforts that we do to recruit tutors and mentors for the two out of three students in the D.C. area who are below grade-level in reading or math. Getting acquainted with the community and the real-life experience of people who live in the District was an important part of my internship search while looking for a site to fulfill my internship requirements for the Archer Fellowship program. While I looked at other locations for an internship at larger organizations and on Capitol Hill, I was drawn to D.C. Tutoring & Mentoring Initiative because I wanted to make a difference in the Washington, D.C. community and improve the educational prospects for the children in the area. In addition to loving the mission and idea of finding mentors and tutors for local students, the internship also came with the advantage of having ready access to one of the most beautiful locations in the district with the proximity to Meridian Hill Park/Malcolm X Park. The site for reflection that I have chosen is directly across the street from my internship site, which is housed in the historic Josephine Butler Parks Center building. On the other side of the street is Meridian Hill/Malcolm X Park, which is technically a national park, but mainly functions as a gathering site for the community. Spending time in this spot helps center me and keep me grounded, but it also gives me a chance to interact with the community and meet people who live in Washington, D.C. and the surrounding area. Meridian Hill Park/Malcolm X Park is an ideal place for meditation and reflection. There is a large grassy area surrounded by benches around the perimeter. Throughout the day, passersby can often see children playing, people walking dogs, drum circles, and yoga practitioners finding inner peace on the beautiful green lawn. In addition to all of this, there are several pieces of public art, including statues of former president James Buchanan and feminist icon Joan of Arc. However, the signature piece of the park is the cascading fountain, which is my favorite area for quiet meditation and reflection. The water provides the perfect atmosphere and keeps me centered on our mission of making the world a better place through civic engagement and leadership. While my time in Washington, D.C. this summer is short, frequent time at my reflection spot in Meridian Hill Park/Malcolm X Park has not only made me feel peaceful and more grounded, but it has also given me the opportunity to have a taste of what the experience is to live, work, and play in the heart of the nation’s capital.
The Power of an Hour
By Gabrielle (Gabby) Wszalek We take it for granted the impact an hour can make. We carve out specific hours in our day to workout, meditate, cook, spend time with others, the possibilities are endless. While many hours are spent on ourselves, we find that many hours of our weeks are spent with others, playing with our kids, having a meal with family members, or taking a walk with a spouse. While these hours may be taken for granted spending an hour to improve the lives of underprivileged kids is never taken for granted. Tutoring and mentoring for as little as an hour a week can make a huge impact on the lives of others and your community. We have a responsibility to improve the lives of our future generations, to ensure that they are shown love and are cared for. An hour a week can do just that. We all lead busy lives, our hours are full of stressful activities, volunteering is a proven remedy. Studies have shown that volunteering for as little as an hour a week helps boost self-esteem for you and your mentee, reduces stress, and combats depression. University of Pennsylvania business professor Cassie Mogilner has done extensive research on this topic. Her research has shown that people who volunteer their time feel as though they have more of it. “The results show that giving your time to others can make you feel more ‘time affluent’ and less time-constrained than wasting your time, spending it on yourself, or even getting a windfall of free time.” People who gave their time were more likely to continue volunteering regardless of time constraints. It is as simple as an hour a week to enhance young lives. Our time is enriched when it is spent serving others. We have a responsibility and privilege to give to our communities. When we give our time for the benefit of others, our hours never go to waste. [1]Giving Time Gives You Time
“Students Learn From People They Love”: Joanna’s Reflections
Growing up I had severe ADHD and I would often find my name always on the red section on the behavior chart… However, in fourth grade, I had a great teacher, a teacher who didn’t believe I was a “bad” child.
“Students Learn from People They Love”: Tynetta’s Reflections
At my work at DCTMI, I was recently introduced to an article by New York Times columnist David Brooks called “Students Learn From People They Love: Putting relationship quality at the center of education” and the title itself made me reflect on my own relationship with education. In my personal experience, being taught five subjects at once made it difficult for me to grasp information. I would come home and not know how to do my homework, which concerned my parents. My parents would email the school asking, “Why isn’t my child getting all the information she needs from her teacher?” but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that I couldn’t grasp the information because I had no emotional relationship with my teacher. The environment my teacher created made it hard for me to learn. I was not the best student, so I always felt like my teacher was out to get me. On top of that, she was very strict and had little patience. It was not until fifth grade when my parents decided to get me a tutor. When I first met the tutor, I wasn’t too confident in him or in myself. I would meet the tutor every Monday and Wednesday evening at the center where he worked. How is someone going to teach me something in three hours that I couldn’t learn in six? Little did I know, it was very possible to do that. My tutor’s name was Mr. Monty. I remember him being very kind and patient. If I did not understand something, he made sure to continue to go over it until I did. Mr. Monty was teaching me the same content as my teacher, but something was different. He created an environment where failure was okay, but he motivated me to overcome those failures. As David Brooks puts it, “Information is plentiful, but motivation is scarce” (2019). So yes, I was receiving the information just like every student in the class, but I was not motivated due to the disconnect between me and my teacher. Unlike my teacher, Mr. Monty was able to repeatedly explain things to me. He also took the time out to help me identify the areas I struggled in, so that I could understand the underlying concepts. I believe the interpersonal connection I built with him helped me perform better academically. Today, I am a graduating senior at Trinity Washington University, and I got here with the help of a tutor who I needed in a critical stage of my life. There are so many children with the same story as me, but who do not have the help of a tutor or mentor as I did. DC Tutoring & Mentoring Initiative is a way to get people involved who can play that role, so that they can have their own success story.
Yuka’s Story “Everything you achieve comes from something you attempt”
If you knew me when I first studied abroad in Canada, you would be surprised that since I came back from Canada, I have studied abroad in Ireland for a year and now am in Washington DC, doing the internship. I studied abroad in Canada because I wanted to change myself. I was the kind of person that always compare myself to others and got disappointed with myself. My mom was worried about me and suggested that I study abroad and see a totally different world. I remember the day when I met my tutor Emily for the first time. That was my first day of school in Canada. Emily was a school assistant and became my tutor because at that time I could not speak English and I needed academic help. I was fortunate enough to have great teachers and a host family, but I felt like nobody would listen to me because of my bad English. For the first couple of months, I was always alone in class with nobody to talk to. Initially, I thought that Emily was going to give me a lecture, but the first thing she asked me to do was call her by her first name. I met with Emily every day and instead of her giving me English lectures, we read books together as well as finished my homework. Sometimes we even practiced how to start talking to classmates, too! I told Emily that I was very scared of talking to someone. What if people reject me? What if people make fun of me? I always hesitated to ask questions and talk to people because I thought nobody wanted to talk to a person who had no confidence in English like me. One day we were reading a book about Martin Luther King and after we finished reading, she said to me, ” Even though you feel like nobody listens to you, if you keep telling your thought and your story with your own words, there is always someone who will listen to you and stay by your side.” She made me realize that I didn’t have to be perfect. As long as I tried to tell my story from the bottom of my heart, there would always be someone who would listen to me and cared about me. Whenever I needed help, Emily was always there for me. Her words of advice kept me going. “Never think that you are not good enough to try. Everything you achieve comes from something you attempt, so make the attempt.” That reminded me why I came to Canada and made me think what I have to do to change myself. After a lot of meetings with Emily, I joined some sports clubs such as basketball and dance at school and started to talk with classmates and my host family. As I started talk to them, I noticed that they were really friendly and always happy to talk to me. I spent such a great time with my friends and host family while I was in Canada. At the end of my stay, I received a student of the month award as well as an outstanding performance award for the international students in Manitoba. The impact Emily has had on me as a tutor will forever be something I am grateful for and my stay in Canada would never have been the same without her. I want every child to have someone that they can trust and rely on. It has been four years since I left Canada, but I still keep in touch with Emily. When times get tough and I need someone to talk to, I always ask Emily for advice. Now, I want to give something back to society. Thinking back on my life, I have never done anything for my society or country. All the things I have done are for myself. In the world, there are a lot of children who do not have access to education. I want to do something for those kids who need help just like Emily did for me. That’s how I connected to DC Tutoring & Mentoring. Sometimes things get tough and I wonder if I am good enough to make a change in the society, but I am reminded of what Emily told me: Everything you achieve comes from something you attempt. I strongly believe that if I want to change the world, I have to be the change that I wish to see in the world.
CivicFest 2018: Here comes the sun!
After several days of heavy rain and overcast weather, Meridian Hill/Malcolm X Park came alive during CivicFest 2018! Last Saturday, DCTMI was joined by over 30 nonprofits – from tutoring and mentoring organizations, to environmental advocates, to fitness groups. Throughout the day, attendees learned about the critical issues facing our community and the work that needs to be done to build a safer, more equitable, and more compassionate DC. Many reported signing up for multiple volunteering and advocacy opportunities. “We ran out of [promotional] literature, which is a good problem to have,” reported one empty-handed partner organization. In addition to learning about local nonprofits, attendees picnicked under the trees, chatted with fellow community members, and visited the Kids Zone to see “the world’s best face painter” (according to one confident six-year-old). On the perimeter of the park, CivicFesters munched on sweet and savory crepes, pizza slices larger than their faces, and several different kinds of chicken. “Holy crepes,” in addition to being the name of one of the food trucks, was a common utterance among satisfied customers. This civic movement was set against the backdrop of Heal & Release DC, led by DeepJust, Aphrosoul, and Jahsonic. (DeepJust expanded Heal & Release to DC last year from New York, Boston, and Atlanta with the help of Aphrosoul.) Heal & Release combined wellness activities such as reiki, yoga, and qigong (tai chi) with “an eclectic blend of deep metaphysical alternative dance music that fed the soul.” To Aphrosoul, the connection between CivicFest and Heal & Release DC was clear: “In the words of the late Michael Brody, ‘If we can dance together, we can live together.’” Participants sang, danced, and sweat together in temperatures that topped 90 degrees. DCTMI hopes this shared experience – humid as it was – will support its long-term goal of getting people to work together across class, race, and ideology.