The Seattle King County NAACP had two teen vocalists bring home medals from the NAACP’s national ACT-SO competition recently held in Detroit.
National NAACP ACT-SO Medalists Jaydon T. Beleford, left, and Sydney Coleman, right.
Sydney Coleman competed in the musical vocal contemporary category at this year’s national conference, and was awarded a silver medal for her performance. Jaydon T. Beleford competed in the musical vocal classical category, where his opera rendition landed him a bronze medal.
ACT-SO, which stands for the Afro-Academic, Culture, Technology and Science Olympics, is billed as a battle of brains. The year-long achievement program is meant to foster academic, artistic and scientific prowess and expertise, where Black youth can garner the same recognition that is often reserved for entertainers and athletes.
The students trained for weeks between April and July through a series of workshops to hone their skills to compete at a national level. At the workshops, they practiced instrumentation, were coached on vocal inflection, volume and stage presence. Mentors, including Seattle NAACP ACT-SO co-chairs Carolyn Riley-Payne and Darci Henderson, as well as observers who rivaled them at the local ACT-SO competition, offered feedback and constructive critiques to ready them for the national competition.
According to Henderson, the time the students and their mentors spend together throughout the year was mutually beneficial.
“For the kids, it helps to build a confidence that even some adults are not able to show,” Henderson said. “Through this program, by getting on stage somewhere they’ve never been before, it really grows their self-esteem.”
“Personally, I’ve had the greatest mentor in Carolyn [Riley-Payne], but I also learned from the kids,” added Henderson. “[The students] taught us again the importance of being unique, being forgiving and having an understanding of other’s circumstances. It also brought out the kid in a lot of us, it taught us how to have fun.”
One of the initiatives of the program is to celebrate intellectual talent just as much as athleticism in Black youth. Henderson believes that many beleaguered teens are plagued by the mentality that they can only experience success through sports.
“We’ve got to stop putting in our kids minds that they can’t be more than athletes,” Henderson said.
“We can focus on our academics and be very successful in it,” continued Henderson. “We need to broadcast that. It’s okay to be an athlete, and it’s okay to be an academic, too.”
By not highlighting their intellect and creativity, Henderson compares the plight that today’s youth suffer to that of an iceberg: where the misconception is that all there is to a thing is what you can see at the surface.
“All you see is what’s on top, but you don’t see the depth of them,” she said. “And the depth of them is mighty and strong. I use that example because there’s so much in us.”
Henderson also said the ACT-SO competition celebrates the many facets of their being by giving them a platform to exhibit their talents. She believes this program just scratches the surface of what they could be, and hopes it leaves a lasting impression.
“When you start to get to know these young people, you see their creativity, their curiosity, their commitment to become better,” she says.
The ACT-SO competition was founded by esteemed journalist Vernon Jarrett, with the intention to highlight the intellect and creativity in Black youth that is often underappreciated. One reason he is quoted to have begun the program is because of his personal experience coming from a family of educators.
Both of Jarrett’s parents were school teachers; his older brother became a visiting professor of literature at England’s Oxford University, and later was named chairman of the Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee’s U.S. Southern Region. C. Stone Brown wrote in an article for The Crisis that Jarrett understood “early recognition for scholastic achievement can have an immeasurable impact on self-esteem, ambition and drive.”
Riley-Payne, who has served as chairperson for the Seattle King County ACT-SO since its founding in the 1980s, agrees that this is true for the students in the program. She said being able to exhibit their creativity and intellect and to compete at such a high level creates a boundless confidence that will serve them for a lifetime.
“I believe the reason the program is successful and the students gain so much is that it’s a new avenue for them,” Riley-Payne said. “It allows them to showcase their talents on a larger scale, outside of Seattle, against other students of color. I think that is the key: When you start with them early, they develop a stronger sense of self and a stronger sense that they can do anything.”
The program is funded completely through donations. Henderson named Seattle Seahawk Bobby Wagner as one benefactor who helped get Coleman and Beleford to Detroit for the national competition.
Sadiqa Sakin, President of the Seattle/County NAACP, expressed her pride in Coleman and Beleford for bringing national recognition to the chapter and in the community for rallying behind these students.
“We’re grateful for community,” Sakin said. “So many people stepped up for these students. I’m looking forward to next year’s competition. We’ll be bigger and better, with more kids and more medals.”
The NAACP has already begun recruitment for next year’s program, which begins in September. Talented youth are encouraged to contact the branch for more information.
By Asia Armour
The Seattle Medium
Comments