Photo: MPYD
MPYD celebrates ten years of success mentoring young men at Muir High School. But there’s still more to do.
by Timothy Rutt
Ten years ago, Eddie Newman, principal of Muir High School, was looking for a few good men.
Back then, Muir was having a problem with the football players, said one of the men she recruited, Tecumseh Shackelford. After football season, the players were skipping class, wandering the hallways, and creating problems. “The way that the athletes go, that’s the way the student body goes, so she was having a challenge,” Shackelford remembered.
Newman came to the Black Males Forum in Pasadena, a group of community leaders and activists who would meet to talk about issues in Altadena and Pasadena. She wanted some men to walk the hallways.
“She just needed some men to walk the campus,” said Shackelford, “so we just walked the campus. We started walking the campus at lunchtime — we weren’t security guys, we just walked. But you know when the kids see men walking around, they say, ‘What are these men, walking around?'”
MPYD is formed
The men would meet the boys in the hall and talk — just talk. Ask them why they weren’t in class. These men weren’t teachers or administrators, who might get some guff from somebody showing off to his friends — they were adult men the kids might have seen in the community. Some were their pastors or deacons. They’d talk. Then the students would go back to class.
From left, MYPD co-founder Altadena Town Councilman Tecumseh Shackelford with Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard at an MYPD lunch talk.
After awhile, some of the key men — Shackelford, Gene Campbell, Velton Paggett, Johnnie Driver, Del Yarbrough and Gary Moody — decided to form a formal organization, and down in the Pasadena NAACP office Mentoring and Partnership for Youth Development (MPYD) was born.
Photo: MPYD
MPYD celebrates ten years of success mentoring young men at Muir High School. But there’s still more to do.
by Timothy Rutt
Ten years ago, Eddie Newman, principal of Muir High School, was looking for a few good men.
Back then, Muir was having a problem with the football players, said one of the men she recruited, Tecumseh Shackelford. After football season, the players were skipping class, wandering the hallways, and creating problems. “The way that the athletes go, that’s the way the student body goes, so she was having a challenge,” Shackelford remembered.
Newman came to the Black Males Forum in Pasadena, a group of community leaders and activists who would meet to talk about issues in Altadena and Pasadena. She wanted some men to walk the hallways.
“She just needed some men to walk the campus,” said Shackelford, “so we just walked the campus. We started walking the campus at lunchtime — we weren’t security guys, we just walked. But you know when the kids see men walking around, they say, ‘What are these men, walking around?'”
The men would meet the boys in the hall and talk — just talk. Ask them why they weren’t in class. These men weren’t teachers or administrators, who might get some guff from somebody showing off to his friends — they were adult men the kids might have seen in the community. Some were their pastors or deacons. They’d talk. Then the students would go back to class.
From left, MYPD co-founder Altadena Town Councilman Tecumseh Shackelford with Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard at an MYPD lunch talk.
After awhile, some of the key men — Shackelford, Gene Campbell, Velton Paggett, Johnnie Driver, Del Yarbrough and Gary Moody — decided to form a formal organization, and down in the Pasadena NAACP office Mentoring and Partnership for Youth Development (MPYD) was born.