Ricardo Lewis

Associate Editor

There is one thing that Marilyn Rahming loves more than music and that is children. For the last 14 years she has exhibited her passion for children by leading the staff and faculty of Pineview Elementary School to heights that some disbelievers thought could not be achieved.

“Yes we are a Title I school,” Rahming admitted. We are not supposed to be making grades like this.”

Rahming is referring to the grades issued by the state of Florida. These grades measure a school’s level of performance based on several criteria, including their FCAT scores. Rahming is happy to exclaim that in her 14 years as principal, the grades for the school have included only two Cs, one B and the rest, including the one released this year, have been As.

“When I was told that we can’t, I said oh yes we can, and we have!” Rahming exclaimed. “I just needed a staff that was going to work with me. It has taken a lot of hard work. I have had to drive and drive, and drive and push, and push and push the staff to go places we have never seen before, but if it’s for my children, then I will drive and push.”

For 29 plus years, Rahming has worked in the Leon County school system. She began her career in education as the chorus teacher at Nims Middle School. From there she landed an assistant principal’s position at Chaires Elementary School, before she received her current appointment as the passionate and motivated leader of Pineview Elementary.

Rahming developed a passion for learning and teaching early on in her life. Her mother Rena Jackson, a retired educator herself, recalls Rahming’s action as a child.

“When she was a little girl, she would come to my classroom. When we would get home, she would find whatever little book she could and imitate me teaching. I always told her and my other two girls, that if you are going to do anything, then be the best at what you do.”

Jackson remembered the days when Rahming and her two sisters, Cassandra Poole and Peggy Wright formed the musical group the Jackson Sisters.

“They were extremely talented musicians,” Jackson said.

Music was Rahming’s major as an undergraduate student at Florida A&M University, where she received her bachelor’s degree. She went on to receive a master’s in music and a doctorate in supervision and administration from Florida State University.

“I started in music because I love to sing!” Rahming exclaimed.

Rahming attends church where her sister Cassandra is the minister of music. She admitted that her family was her motivation and her building block.

“Without my family I could not do what it is that I am doing now,” Rahming said. “My husband is very supportive, and of course my mother, father and sisters are always there for me.”

Jackson explained that her daughters have been successful because they have always been obedient.

“You don’t find them any better. I never had any trouble out of any of my girls. They have always done as I have told them to do,” Jackson said. “I am very proud of them, and I love them to death.”

Rahming stated that it is very hard maintaining the level of dedication. She said that there are four things that keep her going: her family, church, pastor and love for the children.

“I don’t know if I could do anything else; I like the intimacy level I have with the children. I like the ability to reach out and touch them, to hear their voices, their laughter,” Rahming said.

Rahming’s husband spoke of his wife’s work as an educator.

“She is great; I rate her work at 100 percent. She puts everything into it,” said Nicholas Rahming, “and that is every day. She gives her all to those kids, the school and the community every day.”

Lanell McCaskill has been the assistant principal at Pineview for the last four years. She commends Rahming for her hard work and loyalty to Pineview Elementary School.

“Dr. Rahming gives of herself 100 percent when it comes to her staff, faculty and students. She often says and I quote, ‘When I arrive at Pineview Elementary School (usually at 4:30 or 5:30 a.m. daily), I am at the service of the students, teachers and staff.’ She will literally give this school the shirt off of her back if it is for the children. She is a very good role model and an exceptional leader. When you follow her, you are almost assured of success.”

Youthful View

It was mid- 2007. I was an eighth grade student at Fairview Middle School. I had long considered the “man behind the baton” to be one of my most treasured heroes of Florida A&M University. I was always an avid reader of local newspapers when I came across the obituary of Mary Ann Foster, the wife of Dr. William P. Foster and a dedicated employee of Florida A&M University, who was long considered the university’s “band mother.”

Dr. Foster, known to many as America’s “Dean of Bands Directors,” and the founder of Florida A&M University’s famed “Marching 100,” passed away on the morning of Aug. 28. Dr. Foster was the director of bands at FAMU from 1946-1998. He was 91-years-old. After Mrs. Foster’s passing, I decided to wait a few months to visit the icon, who’s projected genius has long been a widely used household epitome. He had been a resident of the Centre Point Health Center for quite some time. I phoned Doc to insure it was ok. “You may come to visit me,” he responded in a weakened voice, though still in excellent health.

When I arrived in his room, Dr. Foster sat comfortably in his wheelchair, sporting a designer FAMU jacket. I explained to him that I was his biggest fan. He quickly responded: “Are you making good grades?” “Yes sir,” I said. He signed a photograph for me that I still have in my room. Suddenly, during our long and spirited talk, he began to cough uncontrollably. “You may have to come back when I am done with my coughing spasm,” he said. And that I did.

Dr. Foster’s passing, though at a very fulfilling age, is personal for me. He stormed onto the scene and for 52 years, he transformed the “Marching 100” into the number one collegiate marching band in America. A deep loss is being felt not only in the Tallahassee community but throughout the nation, as we are saddened by the answer of his heavenly father’s call, though satisfied that the 91 cherished years that he spent here on earth were filled with commitment and joy.

As a successful high school student, Dr. Foster became interested in musical education. His desire to become a director of bands, stemmed in part from the determination of the man himself, who wouldn’t take no for an answer. After being told that he couldn’t join his college marching band because of his color and to forget about his dream of directing because there were no such jobs for African- Americans, Dr. Foster quickly proved his teacher wrong.

He became director of bands for Fort Valley State College after earning recognition as a choir director in Missouri. Later, he became director of bands and orchestra at Tuskegee Institute, before matriculating to Florida A&M University. Highly recognized on the national level with Dr. Foster at the helm, FAMU’s marching band has appeared on several nationally syndicated television programs, been mentioned in magazines and newspapers, performed in France for the French Bicentennial and at three presidential inaugurations, including that of President Obama, under the tutelage of current director Dr. Julian White.

Perhaps his fame originated when Dr. Foster coined the 90-degree knee-lift marching style, which is imitated throughout the country. Dr. Foster is the author of a college textbook for band etiquette and “The Man Behind the Baton,” the story of his life. He has been given numerous awards and honors, including induction into the National Association for Distinguished Band Conductors, the Florida Artists Hall of Fame, the Afro-American Hall of Fame and the Florida Music Educators Association. Other honors include the naming of the Foster- Tanner Fine Arts Complex and Foster-Tanner Drive.

He is survived by sons Anthony and William P. Foster, Jr.

Ricardo Lewis

Associate Editor

In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. The act’s passage, sparked Sarita Carter to jump into action by helping out the people in her community.

Carter founded Step One, a temporary placement agency that was designed to help disadvantage workers find employment in 1998. The agency took upon the task of helping people to develop the skills necessary for today’s demanding employment market.

“My desire was to help welfare to workforce recipients get back to work,” said Carter. “We had our first graduating class in 2001 and from that class, 93 percent of them are currently employed.”

Carter attended Florida State University before relocating to Atlanta, Ga. While in Atlanta, she worked for CNN Headline News, where she did video and copy-editing. She returned to Tallahassee in 1989, where she worked for the state of Florida, until she resigned in order to focus on starting her own business.

Since opening its doors, Carter said that Step One has helped nearly 800 people from the community become employed. Step One maintains a working relationship with several local businesses in order to help find quick and continuous placement for the people who seek placement services from the agency, including FAMU and Florida State University.

Part of the mission of Step One services is to help strengthen the African-American community in Tallahassee and the surrounding areas. In order to achieve that goal Step One partners with several different community organizations in an effort to help those who otherwise are unable to find employment.

“We currently work with the Tallahassee Homeless Coalition in an effort to try and help the homeless gain employment,” Carter said.

Carter sponsors a free clothes closet on the outside of her building located at 1102 S. Adams Street. She said that she believes that it is imperative for the people in the community, especially the African-American community to help each other.

“I once heard that you should be afraid to die until you have done something for your community,” Carter said.

The idea of strengthening community is something that Carter said can be done by allowing people the opportunity to gain employment. She explains that she plans to lobby for ex-felons to be allowed to return to the work force upon their release for prison.

“I think that a system that frowns upon convicted felons returning to the workforce is keeping a lot of people out of work, especially a lot of young black men,” Carter said.

Step One has adapted to the needs of society and is providing a new focus on helping people to find work in the construction market.

Carter stated that part of her vision is to have Step One programs up and running throughout the states of Florida and Georgia within the next five years. Her ultimate goal is to open up branches of the business throughout the United States.

According to Carter, Step One has 32 full-time employees. These employees provide services, ranging from clerical to janitorial, throughout Tallahassee and the surrounding areas.

Marian Wright Edelman

NNPA Columnist

Children have only one childhood and it is right now. Millions of children in our nation require emergency attention in our recession ravaged economy as poverty, including extreme child poverty, hunger, and homelessness have increased, if irreparable harm is not to be inflicted on them and on our nation’s future.

The greatest threat to America’s national security comes from no enemy, but from our failure to protect, invest in and educate all of our children who make up all of our futures. Every 11 seconds of every school day, a high school student drops out of school; every 32 seconds, a baby is born into poverty; every 41 seconds, a child is confirmed abused or neglected; every 42 seconds, a baby is born without health insurance; every minute, a baby is born to a teen mother; every minute, a baby is born at low birth-weight; every three hours, a child or teen is killed by a firearm. A majority of children in all racial and income groups cannot read or do math at a fourth grade, eighth or 12th grade level. Over 80 percent of black and Hispanic children cannot read or compute at grade level. These numbers are a moral travesty, and an impending national disaster requiring priority attention at the highest level of decision making.

If the foundation of your house is crumbling, you don’t say you cannot afford to fix it. Children are the foundation of America’s future. We need to invest now in their health, early childhood development and education. Today is tomorrow.

Children are the poorest age group, and the younger children are, the poorer they are. We rank highest among industrialized nations in relative child poverty and in the gap between rich and poor, which is the highest ever recorded in America. In the 1960’s, when the economy was expanding, about two-thirds of the nation’s income gains went to the bottom 90 percent of U.S. households. In the first half of this decade, it was just the opposite: the wealthiest one percent reaped two-thirds of the income gains. In 2007, the income share for the wealthiest 10 percent of households, 49.74 percent, was the highest ever recorded. It is obscene for anyone to advocate for continuing the unjust Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans at a time of economic downturn, and escalating child poverty and budget deficits.

Where is our anti-poverty movement at a time when one in 50 Americans, according to a New York Times front page story, has no cash income? “Almost six million Americans receiving food stamps report they have no income. They have described themselves as unemployed and receiving no cash, no welfare, no unemployment insurance and no pensions, child support or disability pay. About one in 50 Americans now lives in a household with a recorded income that consists of nothing but a food stamp card,” the New York Times’ Jason DeParle reported.

This shocking New York Times article provoked no public outcry, action or shame. It did not stop most Republican political leaders from trying to block or resist extension of unemployment insurance, investing more federal dollars in creating jobs, expanding tax credits for working families desperately trying to feed, house and clothe their children, or investing more in stimulating an economy slowly struggling to recover with 14.6 million workers still unemployed, and massive state deficits which will cause more job loss. How morally obscene it is that a nation with a GDP exceeding $14 trillion cannot find the will, common sense and decency to provide a safety net to protect its over 14 million poor children—the number before the recession, which is expected to push millions more children into poverty and extreme poverty, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Brookings Institution. Now is the time to correct the laissez-faire federal policies that enabled the few to run roughshod over the life savings of many hard working Americans, and wreck the lives and dreams of millions of children.

Marion Wright Edelman is president of the Children’s Defense Fund whose Leave No Child Behind mission is to ensure every child a healthy start, a head start, a fair start, a safe start and a moral start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. For more information go to www.childrensdefense.org.

Gary L. Flowers

NNPA Columnist

Much as the Emmett Till murder did 55 years ago, Hurricane Katrina pulled back the cultural curtains and revealed the intersecting roads of race and poverty in the United States of America. In both cases, America’s egalitarian myth of civility to all her citizens was shattered by the photo of Till’s open casket in Chicago (Jet Magazine) and news images (CNN) of African-Americans treated as animals and “refugees” in New Orleans.

Before and after Hurricane Katrina, the city of New Orleans has been a case study in the oppressive confluence of race and poverty on African-Americans. Prior to Katrina, New Orleans had the highest percentage of public housing residents in the nation, many of whom were allowed to live in poorly policed, sub-standard living conditions.

Three days before the Category 5 hurricane named Katrina came ashore from the Gulf of Mexico, those who could evacuate from New Orleans made plans to do so. However, the most vulnerable citizens—nearly all Black and elderly—were left to negotiate the storm and its aftermath on their own. Despite the presence of a fleet of public buses, no provision was made to direct poor people of pigment to higher ground. With no credible evidence, city officials would later contend that the black poor ignored directions to evacuate because the storm arrived at the end of the month and two days before government (public assistance, social security) checks arrived. Fact is, there were no buses deployed, and the fleet became submerged under water.

With no plans for the poor, the days immediately following Katrina and the levees were compromised. Black students at Xavier and Dillard University were stranded in dormitories. In fact, while vice president to Reverend Jesse Jackson and Rainbow PUSH Coalition, I remember assisting in rescuing African-American students with the help of privately funded buses.

As people found their way to the New Orleans Superdome and Morial Convention Center, no guidance or direction was provided by city and state officials. Predictably, conditions worsened, and over 1,300 people died (by official numbers); some African-American men were shot by police for attempting to flee to the higher ground of Jefferson Parrish. There was no government for the people. People were treated as animals.

In the ensuing weeks, state officials refused to utilize vacant military bases within Louisiana and forcibly relocated the black poor to 44 states around the nation.

Predictably, according to a report by the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center, five years after Katrina, New Orleans is a smaller and richer city per capita. Duh: most of the poor were removed.

In fact, today:

• The nearly all-black Lower Ninth Ward seems conspicuously passed over for reconstruction

• Louisiana residents remain located in 55,000 cities across the nation (59% of who are female headed families

• There has been a 75 percent reduction in the number of public housing apartments available (formerly 98 percent African-American)

• 5,000 people remain on a waiting list for public housing

• 28,000 people remain on a waiting list for public housing vouchers

• 58 percent of New Orleans’ renters pay more than 35% of their pre-tax household income for housing

• The number of public school students (90% African-American) have decreased by half

For those who contend that race did not play a major factor I say: seriously?

Truth be told, if the students, residents and poor in need were white, the federal, state, and local government would have treated them better. Moreover, if private real estate developers had not influenced government policy decisions, more people of color would have returned to their homes in New Orleans (see Washington Post 08-22-10).

Therefore, the Black Leadership Forum, led by the Hip Hop Caucus will return to New Orleans on Sunday, August 29—the fifth-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina—to raise righteous voices of indignation for the right of return and the rebuilding of housing for the poor.

For more information visit www.HipHopCaucus.org or email Darryl Perkins at Darry@HipHopCaucus.org. Join us.

Gary Flowers is executive director and CEO of the Black Leadership Forum.

DELAITRE J. HOLLINGER
Youth Editor

In 2004, when he graduated with honors from Martin County High School in Stuart, Fla. at age 16, Adner Marcelin knew he wanted to make a difference in young people’s lives. In 2008, Marcelin became co-founder, president and chief executive officer of the Marcelin & Mason Community Outreach Group, Inc., a non-profit organization designed to uplift and encourage young people and families through the acts of community education, empowerment and service.

“There are different aspects to our goal; service is essential and necessary to the progress of tomorrow’s leaders,” exclaimed Marcelin. “The purpose of Marcelin and Mason is to better our community, and in any one of our programs, education is number one.”

Marcelin, who is the third child of Anselme and Alerte Marcelin, graduated from Florida State University in 2009, with a bachelor’s degree in criminology. He is a paralegal in the law firm of Parks and Crump, LLC and currently attends the Florida Institute of Technology, where he is pursuing a masters degree in business administration. In January 2009, Marcelin was elected secretary of the Tallahassee Chapter of the NAACP. He also serves as advisor to the NAACP’s Youth Council. In his role as an active community member, Marcelin has lobbied for health care legislation, advocated for decreased violence among youth in the state of Florida, and has worked personally with state NAACP President Adora Obi Nweze to demand austere penalties for those who provide weapons to youths. Recently, Marcelin accepted the position of secretary with the Tallahassee branch of 100 Black Men of America Organization, Incorporated. The mission of the organization is to improve the quality of life within the community and to enhance educational and economic opportunities for all African-Americans.

“When you take a look at organizations such as the NAACP and the 100 Black Men, it is our job to speak out equally, to work for fairness and to work for prosperity in our community,” said Marcelin. “In my mentoring initiatives with Big Brothers, Big Sisters, I feel that we have to put what we have into today’s youth, so that they can become tomorrow’s leaders.” In no way, does Marcelin’s civic activism stop with the NAACP and 100 Black Men. He is the immediate past president of the Multicultural and Black Student Assembly at Florida State University, in which he was charged with accounting for thousands of state-allocated dollars to student organizations placed under the FSU Student Government Association program.

His awards and honors include being a recipient of the Haitian Cultural Club of Tallahassee’s Youth Leadership, the Tallahassee Branch of the NAACP’s Youth and College Leadership Award, and he was elated to be an honoree for Tallahassee Community College’s tenth annual African-American history calendar. “He is a stick-to-it person, and he won’t abandon any of his projects,” said Anita Davis, past president of Tallahassee Branch of the NAACP. “He has a great understanding of the needs of youth, and he has shown that through his development of programs involving our young people. Adner is a young person who will capture an ideal.”

RB Holmes, Jr.

Capital Outlook Publisher

It is time for a serious and sustained effort to strengthen small businesses in general, and African-American businesses in particular. Several weeks ago in this column, I stated that economic development and entrepreneurship would be a major initiative.

We feel strongly that a strong economy, a growing economy and a stable economy will create hope and opportunities. In this community and really in most communities, small businesses are the most viable and vibrant economic engines. Small businesses create over 70 percent of our jobs.

This weekend Live Communications, inc. will host a Business Summit. We will bring together over 25 businesses to begin a unique and live discussion focused on how this community can help grow and sustain minority businesses. We hope that this summit will generate a workable strategy where about we will support and strengthen businesses.

This is why this election season is critically important. The Capital Outlook Editorial Board was and is committed in supporting candidates who understand the power of wealth building and job creation. This is why we are extremely committed to the candidacy of Kristin Dozier.

Ms Dozier, is vice president of Mad Dog Construction. She has values and a clear vision when it comes to economic empowerment. Moreover, this Sunday at the Bethel Church will be Small Business Appreciation Sunday. During the service we will honor the Tallahassee Greater Chamber of Commerce, the Capital City Chamber of Commerce, and the Economic Development Council. These business organizations understand the importance and significance of developing an infrastructure that will spur a stable economy.

Also, we will salute and recognize many small businesses for their unwavering commitment to business excellence and ethnics. Starting the first week in September, the Capital Outlook will recognize a Business of the Month. It is our sincere goal to partner with the business community in a renewed effort to generate more jobs for our people.

Let me be clear, when people are employed they will be able to stay in their homes, stay in the community, spend money in our communities and enhance the overall quality of life. Please join us as we move forward to build a better economic climate in our beloved city and county.

Be Encouraged!

Marian Wright Edelman

NNPA Columnist

In late July, both President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan spoke to the National Urban League’s Centennial Conference about what the President called “an issue that I believe will largely determine not only African-American success, but the success of our nation in the 21st century — and that is whether we are offering our children the very best education possible.”

Right now, of course, the answer is no–so President Obama and Secretary Duncan were there to speak about the administration’s plans for education reform. American education, which used to be the envy of the world, is in dire straits. The United States ranks 21st among 25 developed countries on overall educational achievement for 15-year-olds. Many public school students are struggling; minority children and poor children are struggling most. Too often they fall behind in school and drop out, increasing their risk of entering the cradle to prison pipeline.

Staying in school and receiving a quality education are the best deterrents to juvenile delinquency and the surest route towards responsible, productive adulthood. But 46 percent of black high school students, 39 percent of Hispanic, and 11 percent of white students attend the 2,000 “dropout factories” across our country, where less than 60 percent of the freshman class will graduate in four years with a regular diploma. The U.S. spends almost three times as much per prisoner as per public school pupil every year. When it comes to preparing our children to compete and succeed in a rapidly globalizing world, we are falling behind.

As President Obama said, “I know some argue that as we emerge from a recession, my administration should focus solely on economic issues…But education is an economic issue — if not ‘the’ economic issue of our time. It’s an economic issue when the unemployment rate for folks who’ve never gone to college is almost double what it is for those who have gone to college. It’s an economic issue when eight in 10 new jobs will require workforce training or a higher education by the end of this decade. It’s an economic issue when countries that out educate us today are going to outcompete us tomorrow.”

President Obama continued, “Now, for years, we’ve recognized that education is a prerequisite for prosperity. And yet, we’ve tolerated a status quo where America lags behind other nations. Just last week, we learned that in a single generation, America went from number one to 12th in college completion rates for young adults. [We] used to be number one, now we’re number 12. At the same time, our eighth graders trail about eight [to] 10 other nations in science and math.

Meanwhile, when it comes to black students, African-American students trail not only almost every other developed nation abroad, but they badly trail their white classmates here at home — an achievement gap that is widening the income gap between black and white, between rich and poor. We’ve talked about it, we know about it, but we haven’t done enough about it. And this status quo is morally inexcusable, it is economically indefensible, and all of us are going to have to roll up our sleeves to change it.”

Secretary Duncan explained that the Department of Education is creating an Equity and Excellence Commission to address the critical problem of fiscal inequities in K-12 schools and how these inequities lead to the achievement gap. He also made similar observations about the need to change the current status quo as he spoke about the reform measures the administration is putting into place as part of the Race to the Top initiative. He correctly argues that they are bold and ambitious, as they need to be: “Our children are at risk. Their future—and ours— is at risk.

We must prepare them to compete in a global economy, and that requires all of us to move outside of our comfort zones. We have to challenge the status quo, because the status quo in public education is not nearly good enough—not with a quarter of all students and, almost half, 50 percent of African-American and Latino young men and women dropping out of high school. How many good jobs are out there today for high school dropouts? What chance do they have to build positive futures?

Our nation’s young people deserve dramatically better than we are giving them today—they deserve a real chance in life. This issue is even bigger than education—it is an issue of social justice and economic security. We have a moral obligation to change these outcomes, and it won’t happen unless we start doing things differently. Not just talking about it, but actually doing it.” The President and secretary are absolutely right that the current state of American education is “morally inexcusable” and “economically indefensible”— and that the time is now for our nation to stop talking about doing things differently, and actually do it. Millions of child lives are at stake. It’s time for every parent, educator, community and political leader to put children first.

Marian Wright Edelman is president of the Children’s Defense Fund whose Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a healthy start, a head start, a fair start, a safe start and a moral start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.

GAYLE ANDREWS
Special to the Outlook

Reapportionment is not a sexy issue…no one knows what it means or cares for the most part. And that’s why politicians from both parties have taken advantage of that fact. But the end result of this unfamiliar process essentially determines whether our children have a fair shot at equality in the realm that governs our daily lives.

Every 10 years, the Census tells us how many people, what race, how old and where they live in order to “reapportion” or divide communities into districts. One man one vote kicks, in and candidates “stand for election” allowing us to tell them what to do for us. That’s how it’s supposed to work in our great democracy.

The Census and the handing over of information functions well enough, but the dividing up of districts is totally compromised because it’s done by the people who have everything to lose and everything to gain. That would be the state Republican legislative leadership. The political party in power draws their own state legislative districts and congressional seats for everyone. The process is clearly flawed, and the safeguards protecting our interests have disappeared. For the African-American community, it becomes an enormous problem.

Often times representation is brokered and minimized, because blacks are not a constituency of the folks in charge. So the current reapportionment process, not the people, controls the future, and the public has no say, least of all blacks. When constitutional amendments five and six made it on to the November ballot earlier this year, through the difficult petition process no less, well, that caused a very large implosion among the legislative leadership. It was very large indeed because voter approval will change the rules significantly.

Since the state Constitution Revision Commission began in the late ‘60s, non-partisan organizations dreamed of doing what amendments five and six would do: minimize the political influence that envelopes the reapportionment process. With the advent of amendments five and six that fair reapportionment process could be realized. The reapportionment process is so essential to maintaining power that the legislative leadership will launch a media campaign like no other to kill Fair Districts and protect their status. That’s because these amendments for change are an enormous threat to their control over who’s elected to the Florida legislature and the Congress. So be ready for the deluge to come.

Gayle Andrews is a former member of the Capitol Press Corps and was the former press secretary to Senate President Gwen Margolis during reapportionment in the 1990s.

RICARDO LEWIS
Associate Editor

When Marci Stringer was a young child her mother asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. Her response was that she wanted to be a movie star. Not only has she stuck with that dream, but she has accomplished it and is now helping others pursue their dream of stardom as an adjunct theatre professor at Florida A&M University.

“I really believe that acting was implanted in me from a very young age. My mother told me that if being a movie star was what I wanted then that is exactly what I should do,” Stringer said. “When I was in fourth grade, I was encouraged by my teacher to participate in the Tropicana Speech contest at my elementary school. I loved to write, memorize and present the speeches for the contest. The contest solidified what I had been feeling on the inside; I wanted to be a performer.” At Rickards High School, Stringer enrolled in drama classes. Students of the drama class would often attend plays at Florida A&M University’s Essential Theatre.

“When I got to high school, my drama teacher said ‘you know you can major in this?’ That was all she wrote for me. I would sit in the audience at the FAMU theatre and I would say, I’m going be on that stage one day,” Stringer said. Stringer made it to the FAMU stage and beyond. She graduated from the university with a Bachelor of Arts degree in performance and went on to receive her master’s degree in acting from the University of Florida. She explained that her desire to further her education was prompted by the pregnancy of her now nine year old son. “I wanted to be a good example for my child. I wanted him to understand that no matter what hand life deals you, you still have to put your best foot forward,” Stringer said.

After graduating from the University of Florida, Stringer studied television and film with Evonne Suhor at Orlando’s Art Sake acting studio, where she is a resident ensemble member and a certified substitute instructor. Director Debbie Allen chose Stringer to play the role of Tess in the film The Fantasia BarrinoStory: Life is not a Fairy Tale, which aired on the Lifetime Channel in August 2007. She also has acted in stage plays such as Crowns, Two Trains Running, and From the Mississippi Delta. She recently completed filming the movie, Just Another Day, where she co-stars alongside Jamie Hector and Wood Harris. Hector and Harris are known for their roles on the HBO series, The Wire.

“In the movie I play the addict mother of Jamie’s character. It was very challenging because I had to go from zero to 60 in like five seconds during one scene, and I had to keep doing it take after take. It was probably one of the most challenging roles I have ever done,” Stringer said.

When Stringer is not filming movies or acting in plays, she takes on the role of teacher. “Marci is very confident as a professor and instructor,” said Dr. Valencia Matthews, the director of theatre & assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at FAMU. “She is just a breath of fresh air. The young energy that she brings to the department is just so amazing.”

Matthews said that she has had the opportunity to see Marci grow and develop. “I taught her when she was a student here at the university. She was extremely talented. She had so much positive energy and was always inclusive of others. She was very supportive of those around her. She is the same way with her students now that she has returned here to teach,” said Matthews. “She is very caring toward the students, and she inspires them. She challenges them every chance she gets. She energizes all of us with her passion and spirit.”

“I was on my way to California when I got the call from Dr. Matthews. I was a little nervous when I walked into my first class as a professor. I got in front of the class, and it was almost as exhilarating as being in front of the camera.” Stringer attributes the success she has experienced to her faith. “I believe that this is what God wants me to do,” Stringer said. “I am blessed with the opportunity to teach what I know and love at the same university that nurtured me. I love FAMU, and I love the people that I work with. They were my teachers, so I feel that I can brag!”