‘A positive force’: Men of Travis Elementary serve as role models, mentors for students

The Men of Travis Elementary come from different backgrounds, ethnicities and ages but their goal remains the same — to be a positive role model.

Coach Albert Lott said the men in the group all have different dynamics in how they approach the students. As coach he sees the kids on a different level than the teachers and custodial staff or even Principal Israel Taylor.

“We all try to be on the same page in how we teach the kids and what we say to the kids and how they go about everyday life,” Lott said. “We try to be a team but at the same time do it in different ways because we’re all different people.”

Taylor said the goal is to educate and make an impact over the students’ lives. He credits now retired principal Sharon Adams who was his boss when he was at Washington Elementary School years ago with helping set that vision.

“She said young children need to see men in their lives, positive influences, because we were going into the age where kids were not in the traditional two parent home, or maybe they were being raised by grandparents,” Taylor said from inside the Travis school library this week. “She said they needed to see a stable force, a positive force, a professional force in their lives that they could count on and something to aspire to.”

Adams instilled in Taylor and about six other males early on the importance of being this role model because not everyone has a dad to go home to or an uncle or someone they can rely on.

This is why Taylor decided to keep Adam’s legacy as he moved from campus to campus continuing to the group at Travis.

A group of male employees at Travis Elementary are working to make a difference in the lives of the students as role models. (Mary Meaux/The News)

For fourth-grade social studies teacher Aaron McClendon, school was a safe space while growing up. He didn’t have a male teacher until the sixth grade.

“Even my P.E. coaches all through elementary were all women,” McClendon said. “A lot of people (when they) think of someone nurturing and supportive, most people immediately think of a woman in their life. And I think it’s really nice to have students that are able to say ‘I can find nurturing and support from a male figure in my life just like I can from a woman.’”

The men make a difference in the children’s lives in different ways.

A few years ago third-grade science teacher Jackson Calhoun had a student who had a reputation for visiting the office often.

“One day he came up to me and asked if he could just have lunch in my room because his grandfather had passed away,” Calhoun said. “Knowing he felt like he could confide in me, that maybe he couldn’t connect to one of the female teaches in that way, meant a lot to me.”

Custodian Clyde Robinson explained there is more interacting than what one would expect. The kids have more at home problems, some of which are relatable.

“I’ve been there. I did that. We don’t have to do that. I can show you new dynamics to that,” Robinson said.

Sometimes the task means being attuned to the child’s physical needs. That may mean keeping an eye out for the child who arrives late and needs breakfast; Robinson is known to make sure those children can grab a bite to eat even when breakfast is over.

Travis school works to nurture the whole child academically and socially, Taylor said.

Second-grade social students/science teacher Harvey Bowden knows the young males that enter his classroom need a male mentor.

“They need a male mentor and they need to look up to someone that’s going to give them a solid foundation of how a young man should act or present himself,” Bowden said.

Taylor said this approach provides a positive outlet the children can actually see — men in a professional role and how they can aspire to be a professional themselves.

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