The old school spirit is strong in this Calvin Coolidge High alum
It was a poster that Frank Jones III saw 30 years ago that prompted him to help create a different kind of high school alumni association, one that was more about the future than the past.
The poster advertised a St. John's College High School alumni event at the old Walter Reed Army Medical Center featuring Joe Gallagher, the school's famed basketball coach. Jones didn't go to St. John's, but he worked at Walter Reed - he ran the hospital's extracurricular programs for patients and their families - and decided to go. Gallagher was a fine speaker, but what really impressed Jones had nothing to do with basketball.
"I listened to the alumni association from St. John's talk about strategy, what they were going to do with their school and their kids," he said. "I couldn't believe all the stuff. It made me realize how schools like St. John's were always more successful than we were."
Jones was a 1975 graduate of Calvin Coolidge High School in the District's Takoma neighborhood. It was a fine school but St. John's seemed to exist on an another plane altogether.
"They talked about getting their kids ahead in terms of academics and athletics," Jones said. "It just gave me an idea of trying to do something similar." And so - with the help of James A. Scott Jr. and Barrington D. Scott Sr. - Jones founded the Calvin Coolidge Alumni Association.
"We're not talking about reunions," Jones said. "We're talking about an alumni association that comes back and does after-school programs. Or maybe there's students who don't have clothes for their proms. Or when the school wants to do an incentive program." Jones said that since 1986, CCAA members have raised $2.2 million in money and in-kind donations for Coolidge. "That's not a lot of money for 30 years," Jones said. "But that's a lot for an organization that does nothing but volunteer work."
Among its activities, the group has given out 140 college scholarships, funded a student exchange program with a school in the Dominican Republic, helped bankroll a greenhouse garden at Coolidge and hosted career days. On Oct. 8, the Coolidge alumni group will hold a 30th anniversary fundraising event. (Info at www.cchs-aa.com .)
Jones - a commissioner in Advisory Neighborhood Commission 4B - is a fierce advocate for Coolidge. He's impatient that it hasn't undergone the modernization that every other District high school has enjoyed. And he bristles whenever there's been talk of shutting down Coolidge, which was founded in 1940 as a whites-only school. "You can't have an alumni association without a school," he said.
While the alumni group strives to keep the focus on today's students, it also celebrates past students, a group that includes such success stories as Ted Wells, the high-powered attorney who investigated "Deflategate," local magazine publisher Bill Regardie and Washington Informer publisher Denise Rolark-Barnes. Former National Basketball Association player Kermit Washington went to Coolidge. So did sportscaster Warner Wolf and former Montgomery County executive Sid Kramer.
Five U.S. ambassadors attended Coolidge. One of them was Patrick N. Theros. When he finished his stint as U.S. ambassador to Qatar in 1998, he was replaced by Elizabeth Davenport McKune. She went to Coolidge, too.
28th Ann
ual Alumni Scholarship /Awards Benefit Breakfast
CCAA held its 28th Annual Awards / Scholarship Breakfast and Class Reunion Gala Dinner on Saturday October 11, 2014 at the Washington Navy Yard Convention & Conference Center. The alumni honorees were Frances Luckett Hunter('65), Sonia McKinney Swayze ('66), Eugene Wright ('73), and James Proctor ('74). The CCAA Founders Award was presented to Trayon Brady, current school counselor, Major Allen Banks, current ROTC Leader, and Benjamin Sands, Jr., Band Director. The event was sold out with over 300 alumni members and friends in attendance.
View a slideshow of our 28th Annual Awards \ Scholarship Breakfast
2013 CCAA Alumni Honorees
Dennis L. Chestnut was born in Washington, DC and is a lifetime resident of Ward 7 in the far-northeast section of the city. One very important phase in Dennis' life came in the 1960's when he enrolled in Calvin Coolidge High School. He was a standout three-sport athlete, Junior ROTC Officer and a member of the dynamic class of 1967. Dennis acknowledges that his experiences at Coolidge not only provided him with a great education, but also enriched him socially, culturally and emotionally.
Chief Judge Tamia N. Gordon is a native of Washington, DC and a proud graduate of Calvin Coolidge Senior High School Class of 1987. She attended the American University on a full academic scholarship and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry. Judge Gordon was awarded a Master of Science degree in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania. She was also awarded a Jurist Doctorate degree in Law from the University of San Francisco School of Law, where she served as the Managing Editor for the Maritime Law Review Journal.
Charles D. Hill, II a 1963 graduate of Calvin Coolidge High School, continued his education attending American University where he earned a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in accounting in 1967. He married LaVerne Woody (Class of 1965) on August 12th and on August 22nd, he entered the Air Force's Officer Training School (OTS) at Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant on November 17, 1967 and attended Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) at Laughlin AFB, Del Rio, TX from 1967 to 1969.
Dollars for Scholars® Founder Featured
on the Katie Couric Show
Katie Couric recently featured our founder, Dr. Irving Fradkin, on her nationwide daytime talk show, Katie! In addition to a video profile and in-studio interview, the show provided Dr. Fradkin a surprise: scholarship recipients from 1961 to the present came out to thank him for his life's work.
Katie and Dr. Fradkin also spoke with Hannah Truong, the 2013 Scholarship America Dollars for Scholars Student Volunteer of the Year. Hannah was an active volunteer with Bellingham Dollars for Scholars in Washington state and is now attending college at Yale.
Here at Calvin Coolidge Alumni Association Dollars for Scholars, we also have some amazing volunteers and students. Ms. Tensaye Dagnachew is one such student who shines particularly bright. Tensaye, claimed the second highest Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.88, and graduated from Calvin Coolidge High as the 2013 class Salutatorian. Destined to be a future leader, she achieved the rank of Brigade Commander, the highest ranking officer in the District of Columbia Public School's (DCPS) ROTC Program of over 1600 cadets. During her high school years Tensaye was an extraordinary community service worker; having posted over 600+ hours of community service, which stood at the top of all her fellow 2013 Coolidge graduates. Not only did she tutor 9th and 10th grade students in AP courses, she also tutored English to students in the Dominican Republic during a study abroad opportunity. She was a founder and organizer of the Student Multiethnic Action Research Team (SMART), a student club that works toward a better and more inclusive education for English language learners, and she was a team planner for the Architecture, Construction and Engineering Team, a mentoring program for design, engineering and construction students. Further, Tensaye was an officer of the school's chapter of Future Business Leaders of America. Tensaye is now studying engineering at Pennsylvania State University, which is far removed from her village in Ethiopia, where she studied by moonlight when the village's lights were turned off.
We are so grateful to Katie for her support of Dollars for Scholars and our national organization, Scholarship America. To find out how you can support Dollars for Scholars here in Washington Metropoltian Area click here Scholarship Donations. To help us support our local students and continue the legacy started by Dr. Fradkin, click here [insert link to Volunteer tab] for volunteer opportunities.
Calvin Coolidge Alumni Association Dollars for Scholars
11006 Veirs Mill Road Suite L-15, #149
Silver Spring, Maryland 20902
