Community in Action: Paige Academy
Two weeks ago I visited Paige Academy in Boston as a part of my Global Advocate fellowship.
As part of the Global Advocate program, we ask you to get to know a local organization in your current home area that is working in an area or on an issue similar to that of your Mama Hope partner community. This relationship and study serves to deepen your understanding of the importance of context, underscore the crucial role of centering local knowledge, and teach you the value of different perspectives in program and project design.
Located in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Paige Academy has been community inspired and organized throughout its 42 years of existence. The founder of the school, Dr. Angela Cook (known as Sister Angela at the Academy), is an incredible force.
I was actively involved in the Black power movement of the 1960s. This was during my undergraduate years at a historically Black college, Fisk University, in the southern town of Nashville, Tennessee. My primary objective, as I worked along with a group of fellow students who had opened one of the first so called “Freedom Schools”, was to teach young Black children who lived in the inner city of Nashville. My colleagues and I taught them their history and helped them develop a sense of pride in themselves and the work of their ancestors because public education did not teach these concepts.
She then earned her Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education at Wheelock College, served as an Urban Studies Fellow at MIT, and completed her Ph.D. focused on Leadership in Urban Education at the University of Massachusetts. Her dissertation was on the importance and effectiveness of a cultural resonant curriculum in African American communities.
During her tenure as a substitute teacher in the Boston Public Schools, Sister Angela noticed that it was typical for black boys to be categorized as having special needs when that wasn’t really the case. Other teachers would label the boys as having a bad home environment and used their assumptions as a predictor for the boys’ success. Sister Angela said, “teachers didn’t expect much so they didn’t get much”. There was an acute need for a school where these kids could go and be respected.
Paige Academy started with 5 kids using space in a church. The teachers lived communally for the first 10 years of the Academy’s existence and made $25-$50 a week.
Paige Academy’s Approach
Paige Academy’s educational Mission and lifestyle provides an environment that fosters individual worth as well as collective responsibility. This African-American philosophy promotes the following seven principles: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. (link to full explanation here)
Using the Nguzo Saba, the 7 principles of Kwanza, which, Sister Angela notes, is something everyone can relate to, Paige Academy strives to educate students holistically with an awareness that is consistent with the cultural life force of their community. According to Sister Marie Firmin, a teacher at the school and board member who has been with Sister Angela since the beginning, reciting the principles brings everyone in the building together and encourages unity, spirit, and a sense of purpose. Sister Marie also notes that the leaders at the Academy are unbelievable. “There are no dead-beats here. Everyone is working constantly.”
Beyond traditional academics, Paige Academy immerses students in art, performance, music, yoga, cooking, computer programming, gardening, and much more! According to their website, “these programs are vital to preparing children for life, teaching valuable life skills and exploring the real world.”
Community
Sister Marie describes Paige Academy as “an icon for Roxbury. Everyone sends their kids here and they never forget their experiences. Especially for children of African descent, it is the best program for character, integrity, and self-esteem.” Parents are also very involved in the school — they have their own committee and run fundraising events for the school.
The school isn’t afraid to use Boston’s resources. During the summer, they go on field trips every week, taking public transportation and visiting places like the Museum of Science and the New England Aquarium. According to Angela, it gives students a sense of ownership and belonging to the greater Boston community.
Challenges
As revolutionary as Paige Academy is, its existence is not without challenge. When I asked Sister Marie what she thought the school’s biggest challenge was she sighed and said that the school is constantly raising money and that teachers need to be paid more. Although she followed up that salaries do not affect the teaching of the kids and that teachers sometimes use their own money to bring in materials.
She also explained that the money is a constant battle but the school is very fortunate to have political people as advocates. Referring to their current fundraising goal, “Believe me,” she beamed, “we will get the million dollars. When [Angela and Joe] set out to do something, it will get done.”
Paige Academy Today
Despite the challenges, Paige Academy is a beautiful and inspiring institution. What started as a 5 student school in a church is now bustling with children and teachers with a waiting list for new students.
I left the school building in awe of what they have accomplished and will continue to accomplish. Students turned teachers raved about how Paige Academy positively impacted their lives.
My own thoughts
I was challenged to think about how my experience may have expanded my perspective on my own community. This is a difficult inquiry for me simply because I’m not a POC and am barely a Bostonian but what I can comment on is just how incredible community leaders and organizers are in the Boston area.
Having just recently attended Boston’s counter protest and resistance rally against white supremacy on 8.19.17, I had the opportunity to listen to organizers and learn about issues in my adopted community that I have rarely experienced first-hand (more info on the rally and its organizers here)
From both the protest and from Paige Academy, I learned more about the experiences of POC in education and how grass-roots, community-led organizations are fighting every day to give people equal access to resources that I rarely think twice about. I am inspired by these organizers and especially Paige Academy for seeing inequality and working tirelessly and mostly thanklessly to rid Boston of such injustice.
A word on Flying Kites
When visiting Paige Academy, I saw a lot of similarities between their approach and that of Flying Kites. Most notably, the emphasis on the arts, holistic education, family-oriented environment, after-school programs, and offering students nutritious food from their own farm made me realize how simultaneously unique and complementary these two programs are. At the same time, there is a lot Flying Kites can learn from Paige Academy and vice versa such as community outreach, fundraising strategies, and curriculum that would mutually benefit both schools. This is something that teachers at Paige Academy emphasized when I visited — they said when I come back from Kenya we could exchange stories and learn from each other.
Gratitude
I am incredibly humbled and honored to have been invited to this school. I’m especially grateful for Sister Angela and Sister Marie who took time out of their busy schedules to talk to me about Paige Academy, for the opportunity to experience a school assembly, and for the tour of the campus.
You can find Sister Angela’s dissertation and other works at the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.
You can donate to Paige Academy by contacting Aziza Robinson-Goodnight at argpaigeacademy@gmail.com .
