Decades of service resonate with 2023 Patron Award winners Channing and Dina Cox

Channing and Dina Cox in 2006 wanted to improve the educational lives of the next generation.

Now nearly two decades later, the couple is being rewarded the Patron Award by the Topeka Public Schools Foundation.

The Cox couple successfully guided and educated children in the community starting in their fifth-grade year until they graduated college. The couple has remained close with many of the children they mentored.

"The impact they had on these young people and their families is immeasurable," foundation president Janel Johnson said. "And they would say that these young people and their families had an impact on them as well. It is an honor to recognize Channing and Dina Cox for their contributions to Topeka Public Schools."

The award will be given to the couple during the annual foundation community breakfast on Tuesday.

What was the College Prep Academy?

The College Prep Academy was founded with the idea of bringing up a generation of kids and ensuring they have a successful future.

"We all sort of stand on the shoulders of other people," Channing Cox said. "So, remember that because someone may want to stand on your shoulders, and that was the whole idea of giving back. Helping that process is why we did it."

The first group the Cox couple began working with in 2006 included 16 fifth-graders, and the couple mentored a second smaller group in 2010.

The couple would take the kids on trips to art galleries and other educational opportunities. They provided classes on manners and etiquette and even took the youths to Europe.

"So, the fact that we took a group to Europe for almost two weeks, was a real eye-opener for everything," Channing Cox said. "But the whole idea was to expose them to other people's views on places, experiences, broaden their horizons."

Dina Cox said the second group was all boys. The couple included such lessons as how to tie a necktie and how to shine shoes.

"These are life lessons that many of them weren't learning at home for a variety of reasons," Dina Cox said. "Either their parents are working two or three jobs or they just didn't know maybe what the proper etiquette was in some cases."

The program is a nonprofit that ran off donations from Topeka and Shawnee County community members. The funds were used for various activities and lessons — and to provide college scholarships.

"So, it was a bare-bare-bones operation," Channing Cox said. "But I think that was appealing to donors."

After serving two different groups, Channing and Dina Cox decided to retire the program.

Influencing the next generation of community leaders

Both groups of students have since graduated high school and college. Some are choosing to continue their education while other have entered the workforce.

One former student is doing research for the Gates Foundation and another is a librarian.

"Now they're doing great things and those are the rewards that feel better than these kinds of awards (the Patron Award)," Dina Cox said. "Not to diminish them."

As part of the program, the students agree to come back to Topeka and provide community work as a form of repayment of their scholarship.

"Their motto, 'It's not where you're from, but where you're going; it's not who you are, but who you are becoming,' exemplifies what they wanted the academy to do — prepare these young people for college and the future," Johnson said. "And, they did just that."

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Decades of service resonate with 2023 Patron Award winners Channing and Dina Cox