by S. Rotan Hale
Jeff May is a dynamic speaker, workshop facilitator and a multi-level consultant and mentor. But most of all he is a tireless crusader for the education of area youth.
Former Westside Elementary School principal Cedric Williams hired May in 2010 and together they formed the Westside Debaters, an innovative program that concentrated focus on student intellect.
In his present position as student mentor, May provides support for the school’s administrative staff. He is also debate and step coach at Westside, Addison Middle School and William Fleming High School.
The Detroit native has an enthusiasm that is infectious. As coach, he transmits an energy that arms his 10-member elementary school debate team with the confidence they’ll need as they face off April 16 in a debate against middle school students at Tanner Duckery School in Philadelphia, PA. The topic will be “Whether or not police should carry fire arms.”
The adventure will carry the students on a 4-day trip that May says will be a “tremendous opportunity for us and I have no doubt in my mind that we as a team will do well.”
This year the team, consisting mostly of 5th graders, includes a 4th grader. “I‘ve always had 4th graders who will come up the next year as understudies but this year I have a 9-year-old who is an active debater. This young brother is so intellectual and so impressive that he is one of the main debaters on this trip,” said May.
The Westside Debaters are the only elementary debate team in the nation and their success has been chronicled in various stories through local media. Under May’s direction, the program has made great strides that have enhanced student and staff morale at Westside and reportedly raised grade scores school-wide.
In its second year, in 2011, the team took an extraordinary trip to debate at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas–the home of the debate team that was the subject of the feature film The Great Debaters.
The group was also invited to present their debate on the 60th anniversary of Brown v Board of Education by the Virginia School Board Association in Richmond, VA.
Later the team made local history, for Roanoke City Public Schools that won a National Magna Award based on the program’s accomplishments. It was one of the program’s most crowning achievements. The coveted award sponsored by the National School Boards Association (NSBA) recognizes school districts across the country for outstanding programs that advance student learning and encourages community involvement in schools. “Last year it was a great trip to Washington DC where the kids connected with the Howard University debate team and now its off to Philly,” he said.
May is deeply rooted in his passion for empowering kids through education and understands the critical importance of measures and individuals that promote such ideals. He bases his strategies on an approach that is clear, powerful and centered in a genuine concern for human development in the formative stages. “These kids are empowered by the fact that their intellect lifts them to great heights and not how they play ball or dance,” he said.
The program has received considerable financial support, for their trips, etc., over the years from such contributors as Verizon Pioneers and others to which May is extremely grateful.
“Our plans to go to Philly were announced to the public and amazingly the kids started raising money and additional donations began to pour in,” he said. “This is the first time we have ever had this level of support, its impressive and the kids made it happen.”
May talked considerably about how the students publish their own newsletter “The Westside Press.” “We have an editor and an assistant editor who are responsible for all phases of the publication,” he explained and proudly spoke of the staff of kids that edit the stories, discuss the content and select the pictures that are taken with the school camera.
“What can’t they do? These kids are writing newspapers, debating all over the country, stepping all over the Commonwealth, talking to the media and they haven’t even started yet,” he said overjoyed.
May and Melissa, his wife, and partner for 13 years, came to the area from Detroit, MI 6 years ago. “People ask me how I do all that I do and I tell them that you have to have a strong and supportive woman that will put up with the schedule and the kind of dedication my mission requires,” he says.
All things considered, Jeff May is a man truly on a mission as he enriches the lives of youth in a big way. His Westside Debaters are proud products of a remarkable and essential program. With a little help and assistance from like-minded souls, these young scholars will soon enter the real world not unequipped but as brilliant, intellectual champions.
