Cape High celebrates black history

From appearing before the Supreme Court to the “American Idol” stage, black graduates of Cape Henlopen High School are making their mark.  So are the graduates who have returned to the district as teachers, coaches and administrators.

The high school celebrated their achievements in February.

High school guidance counselor Terry Sutton said students researched contributions of Cape grads, including Bryan Stevenson, executive director of Alabama-based Equal Justice Initiative, which defends disadvantaged clients, and Jimmie Allen, who competed this season on “American Idol.”

She said students also focused on more familiar graduates: assistant principals Janet Maull and Jackie Briscoe, school board President Spencer Brittingham, former school board member Esthelda Parker Selby and Dean of Students and football coach Bill Collick, among others.

Collick, a 1970 graduate of Cape Henlopen High School, was voted into the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Hall of Fame.

Senior Bethany Flowers said, “Mr. Collick’s story was kind of cool.  For him to be the top football coach – that’s pretty big.”

Collick praised the local-connection black history program.

“It’s great to be recognized and thought of in that light,” said Collick.  

“I hope I have a relationship with all students.  I have a thing – when minority students never see anybody who looks like them making any decisions or in positions of authority, they start to think they can’t do that,” he said.  The same is true for all students, he said.

“It’s wonderful to come here and make a difference, bring out the best in students and people,” said Collick.

District administrators featured in the program say they try to set good examples for all students in the district.

Senior Moniere Maye said it was surprising to learn what Cape’s black graduates have accomplished.

“Every morning on the announcements, we recognize a Cape grad who is doing something for Cape or the world,” Sutton said.

“Stell would have been a Cape grad, but she wasn’t allowed to go to school here,” Sutton said of  Esthelda Parker Selby, who graduated from the William C. Jason High School in Georgetown.  She was later hired as a paraprofessional and remained in the district as a teacher and administrator.

Sutton said the home-grown Black History Month program highlighted teachers and support staff as well.  “It’s all part of our positive-behavior support program, supporting Cape and who we are as a district,” she said.

Maull worked in the district for 31 years and retired in 2006.  She’s returned to the high school as interim assistant principal after Brian Curtis left for a position in the Department of Education in January.  

“I see myself as a role model for all students, but because I am an African-American, I try to set a standard in how I carry myself.  Because I do this, they can,” said Maull, noting that role models are crucial for young people.    

Maull’s first seven years in school were in segregated schools, where all students and teachers were black.  “That’s where I got my foundation,” she said.  The move into integrated schools was not smooth, and it took work on everybody’s part, she said.

Athletics helped pave the way, she said, because people of different races developed camaraderie on sports teams.
Next generation of leaders

Sutton said minority students in the high school are setting the bar high for their peers in academics and sports, and she expects the school will be highlighting their achievements in years to come.

Senior Taylor Harris said she tries to set a good example for underclassmen by being on time and having a pass.  “I just focus on doing what’s right,” she said.

Maye has been accepted to Temple Univeristy, where he plans to study physical therapy before starting a city practice.  

Maye played football as a freshman and junior; as a senior, he plays tennis.  He’s also a member of Key Club and a member of the Spanish Honor Society.

Jerome Johnson, a junior, said the school looks to him and to his peers to be leaders among the minority students who aren’t on the right path.

Maye agreed, noting he is one of the few minorities doing Advanced Placement (AP) coursework.  “I took three AP courses last year and two this year,” he said.

Stevenson was in Gary Wray’s AP history class – the first AP class ever offered at Cape, Sutton said.

Bethany Flowers is also an AP student.  She and Harris are members of the high school’s Best Buddies group, which pairs students considered typical with students with disabilities from the Sussex Consortium programs.  

“I’m going to Del Tech for two years then to Wilmington University for special education,” she said.  Flowers wants to be a special education teacher, then become an administrator.  “I love working with kids,” she said.

Flowers, who plays trumpet in band, said she’s been inspired by her dad, who works at the Stockley Center in Georgetown.  

Maye, Johnson, Harris and Flowers are all in the high school’s Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program, which helps students improve their academic performance while preparing for college.