Students, parents, local leaders, families and friends in the community filled the Clarksdale High School gym for a celebration of academic achievement.
“Two years ago, when I started this job, we were in the bottom ten percent of schools in Mississippi. No more,” explained Dr. Joe Nelson, superintendent of the Clarksdale Municipal School District.
The improvement of the school and of individual students were the subject of the Data Celebration, held on Thursday, Dec. 9.
The event began with remarks from Dr. Nelson and from Clarksdale Mayor Chuck Espy. Achieving students received certificates, personally signed by Dr. Nelson, recognizing their hard work and achievements. Mayor Espy celebrated the achievements and encouraged students and their families to join together to build on that success.
“I spent a lot of the day signing these certificates,” Dr.Nelson said to The Clarksdale Press Register. “That’s good, because there are so many achievements to recognize.
The Clarksdale High School Choir also performed at the event. Walter Sykes, choir director, became a teacher to help students achieve and earn opportunities that others haven’t had in the past. For him, this night’s event recognized the results of hard work. Those are the moments that inspire him most. “I’ve seen kids grow as people and as students, some even in the last few weeks,” Sykes said.
Growing and succeeding are, to Dr. Nelson, the way to create a culture of excellence. “We’re changing the culture,” he explained. “Getting by is no longer good enough. Tonight, our students will see the fruits of their success, and succeeding will make them want to work hard to continue that success.”
In his choir program, Sykes has seen success inspire hard work in a dramatic and public way. He and three of his students produced a brief video on the TikTok social media platform. The video quickly went viral, gaining over a million views.
So how did producing a video that gained over a million views affect the teacher and students? “I was excited. Of course I was excited. And they were excited too. This has motivated them to do even better and work harder. Succeeding has made them want even more success.”
One of those students responsible for the TikTok video was Jaiden Clark. He and his twin sister, Kailen, sing in the choir under Mr. Sykes. Jaiden likes to kid his “younger” sister because she was born a whole two minutes after he was. They were both excited about performing at the Data Celebration event. They stay excited about singing in the school choir.
“The music is great,” said Kailen. “Mr. Sykes teaches us fun music. And he also teaches us self-discipline and respect for others.”
Jaiden agreed with his sister, and added: “He teaches us how to be better people. How to do our best at everything. He wants us to become self-disciplined and focused on the best that we can become.”
Jaiden said the night was about a renewed commitment to winning. “If we can one day look back and see a long-term improvement in how and what our kids are learning, we will have been successful.
