CNN’s Steve Perry to speak at Carnegie Mellon’s Black History Month celebration
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Student Senate, Student Dormitory Council, Student Affairs, and much of the student body are buzzing with excitement about this year’s Black History Month keynote speaker at Carnegie Mellon: CNN Education Contributor Steve Perry. Perry has been revolutionizing education in America and is particularly influential in the African American community.
Born on his mother’s 16th birthday, into his family’s third generation of poverty, Perry personifies his belief that the success of a life is determined by where one ends, not where one starts. The first in his family to receive a high school diploma, Perry also went on to graduate from college, obtain a master’s degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania, and later recieved a Ph.D. in education.
Perry is on a mission to close the achievement gap and transform the lives of underprivileged and minority children by providing tools to gain access to a college education.
Perry’s visit is sure to attract a diverse crowd of students and faculty. M. Shernell Smith, the director of multicultural initiatives in the Office of Student Affairs, has been instrumental in bringing Perry to campus.
“For the last few years, Carnegie Mellon has wanted to redefine the way we celebrate Black History Month and focus it less on race and more on empowering our students to act and make a positive impact in their community. I believe Perry will be the catalyst for positive discussion and action on campus,” she said.
Perry was featured on the 2009 CNN special Black in America, which showcased Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford, Conn., which Perry founded and where he now acts as principal. U.S. News and World Report cited Capital Preparatory as one of the best high schools in the nation. Perry’s school has sent 100 percent of its low-income, minority, first-generation high school graduates to four-year colleges every year since its establishment in 2004.
His segment on CNN during “Black in America” was so well received that Perry was asked by CNN to become the education contributor and is frequently on AC360 with Anderson Cooper and other CNN programs discussing national education-focused initiatives.
Stephanie Schneider, a sophomore business administration major and Student Senator, said that she is looking forward to the event. “Coming from a school with people from so many backgrounds, I hope Dr. Perry can share with us how he encouraged people to live against stereotypes and understand they can be anything they want to be. It’s something we will be able to carry on wherever we go in life,” Schneider said.
“My hometown has a huge achievement gap and the administration have [sic] not been able to encourage its closure. I am excited to see how he motivated his students, since it is something so many people have been trying to do for years,” Schneider said. “I wish I could bring my hometown administration to come, and see what he has to say. It’s a serious issue where I come from that nobody knows how to fix.”
Carnegie Mellon Student Body President Rotimi Abimbola is also very enthusiastic about Perry’s lecture. “I think it’s important for people like Dr. Perry to come to speak at Carnegie Mellon during Black History Month so people can understand how far the black community has progressed,” Abimbola said.
“He’s not just coming to talk about education for inner-city black kids; he’s coming to talk about education in America.... What’s really important to understand is that Dr. Perry’s impact on education is impacting the future of America.”
Perry will be speaking at McConomy Auditorium at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
RoseMary Mendelsohn
You go, Steve Perry! Your life experiences, observations, comments and work are an illuminating contribution to the evolving American culture. Ignorance (and therefore, racism) is still an unfortunate component of this society. It will be thoughtful, intelligent, sensitive folks such as yourself, who will make a positive difference. I'm a middle class, white, Italian American who is sickened by "man's inhumanity to man"...and the saddest part is, that many of these racists actually call themselves "Christian"...what WOULD Jesus' response to these people be, if He were to walk among them, now?
Unlimited Education: After a couple years of serious research, we've developed a plan to open a model school in the Chicago Area that includes Morals, Values and Ethics as part of the cirriculum, Mandatoray Extracirricular Activities, as well as Mandatory and Scheduled Parent/Teacher Communication.
No longer can we afford Education to be limited to Math, English, Social Studies, Science and Physical Education. Health Education, How to Balance a Check Book and How to Handle Credit, as well as How to Interact with People who Look Differently than you; are also required. Continuous Mentor Visitation and Field Trips to Places that Inspire are also important. More Education is required...
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Dr. Perry is to be commended on his accomplishments towards helping to reduce this country's horrendous and insidious cumulative deficit or Black/White Academic Achievement Gap. This gap between the have and have-nots, between Black non-mainstream inner-city and White mainstream students continues to widen..We still have such a long way to go towards eliminating this gap, "Between the Rhetoric and Reality" of education in this country!..Black students on the average, graduate three years behind White kids..Black students have a drop-out rate of 53%.. If we combine this drop-out rate with the highly conservative estimate that 16% of these students will fail to pass state required exit exams, we arrive at a figure, indicating that only 37% of Black students will receive high school diplomas..Functional illiteracy is one indicators of the demise of a community..The Black community presently has an adult illiteracy rate of over 44% and climbing..A great deal of young adult and juvenile Black male offenders are incarcerated within our correctional institutions at alarming rates.. A large percentage of these offenders are "functionally illiterate"..If you don't read, you don't know and will never find out"..(Green)..Illiteracy remains that villian which continues to cause so many of the problems of the Black community and problems confronting other minorities.."Between the Rhetoric and Reality" Lauriat Press;Simpkins&Simpkins,2009..written by two concerned African American brothers, can be previewed on either "Amazon.Com, or Borders".
John Garfield
Seriously, why is Steve Perry given such a wide pass on his comments? Doe he have anything positive to say about the teachers who helped him turn a school into a success? He talks as if he did this himself. Teachers have something in common with congress, as a group we are mistrusted and disliked and have become the problem with education. Thank god for Steve Perry, he'll weed out all of what is bad for education.
I would like information on the school where Mr. Perry founder and principal. How to apply?
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