Save the Children
By Kimberly Harrington

Anson County NAACP Press

It was an academic pep rally of sorts.

Speaker after speaker went to the microphone last Wednesday at the Anson High School football stadium to enthuse the entire student body about the importance of education and learning.

“Some of you may ask why we are here, why we have come outside and why we have the radio station here,” Principal Michael McLeod, the first to speak, said. “The reason … is because we love you. Sometimes love comes in mysterious ways.”

The Anson County Branch of the NAACP’s Save the Children Campaign spearheaded the march and rally after learning that 46 percent of Anson High’s students are not performing at grade level.

The group also enlisted the help of Charlotte ’s popular WPEG FM 98 radio station, which broadcasted live from the stadium.

The event drew about 50 people who first marched through the campus carrying posters with encouraging messages such as “A Mind is Still a Terrible Thing to Waste” and “HOLLA – Helping Our Loved Ones Learn and Achieve.”

Subrina Hough, a child advocate and co-organizer, pumped up the students by having them repeat the slogan HOLLA and what it meant.

“I’m not here to get down on you. I’m here to get with you,” she said. “HOLLA!”

“HOLLA!” the students repeated.

This unprecedented movement was the brainchild of Leon Gatewood, the local NAACP first vice president and chairman of the Save the Children Campaign.

“I’ve been a proud Bearcat and I want to stay a proud Bearcat,” he said. “You have to remember that when you come to school, you come to learn.”

The crowd pleaser by student reaction was sixth-grader Lydia Williamson of Ansonville Elementary School, who oozed confidence in her remarks to a near-full stadium.

She called the alarming percentage of students at grade level sad, adding “You guys are the high school students, the so-called big dogs. How are we suppose to look up at you if you’re not doing what you’re suppose to.”

She told the students to feed their brains with knowledge just like they feed their bodies with food.

She shared something that one of her teachers tells the class each day: Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours. “But I say,” she said, “Make it a great life or not.”

The Rev. Walter Ellerbe, pastor of New Parker’s Grove Baptist Church in Wadesboro, said statistics show that African-American students score consistently lower in subjects than whites.

“If you can’t read, you can’t lead,” he said. There are many reasons children can’t learn and this group wants to find out why.

Originally from Cleveland , Ohio , Minister Tim Adams of Harvest Ministries in Wadesboro, a self-professed proud Ansonian, said students can change the statistics.

“You’ve been given talents and destiny, you’re delay is not your denial. Today is your day,” he said. “Let’s let them look at Anson County and say that’s where smart people are.

Students’ apathy toward education is not just an Anson County problem. It’s a growing nationwide trend, which is one of the reasons the Charlotte radio station wanted to observe what Anson County was doing about it.

Kim Richardson of WPEG FM, the daughter of former educators Frank and Marlene Richardson of Wadesboro, said when she was approached by Gatewood, she was more than willing to help the place where she grew up.

“I brag about Wadesboro all the time,” she said.

  Richardson told the students if they improved on their test scores, she would try to get the radio station back here to throw a big celebration party.

Ending the rally was student J.J. Tillman, dressed in a stripped black suit with a pink shirt and gray shoes.

 “It’s not about the clothes, but what’s in the mind. You’re not worth two cents being a cool dummy,” he said.

Other speakers on program were pastor Priscilla Durkin; high school student Jaleesa Marsh; and Dr. Lawrence Elliott of READ Inc.

Student Casey Pegram said she was shocked to hear the statistics. She thought students were doing much better.

Alicia Kersey, a student, said it will take more parental involvement to help students succeed in school.

A parent who attended the rally said it would take more caring teachers.

McLeod said he thought the students were receptive at the rally. Now, it will take them to put it in action.

“We do believe in you,” Dr. George Truman, Anson County Schools superintendent, told students in his remarks.

“You may not be able to change the world, but you can change a corner of it.”