Going beyond a typical back-to-school program, series aims to give practical lessons

A doctor, NBA players, ministers and counselors are sharing their stories and tips for success in a series of educational sessions that a local church is offering to students heading back to class.

Fifth Street Baptist Church's "Excellence Through Exposure" conference began on Tuesday and continues through Thursday for students in fifth through 12th grades. The Rev. A. Byron Coleman, Fifth Street's senior pastor, said the leadership team at the predominantly Black church wanted to go beyond the typical back-to-school program to offer young people practical lessons designed to help them in school and in life.

"The basis of this is to expose kids, not only to knowing themselves, not only to knowing God, but also here are some opportunities that you might want to consider pursuing," Coleman said. "Like, if I knew then what I know now, freshman year of high school, I would have wanted to make some key decisions."

Some of the sessions were geared specifically for the predominantly Black group of young people attending the program. These included a session entitled "It's OK to be Smart and Black" and a session called "Who Am I," designed to educate participants on African American history. Coleman said all of the guest speakers like Dr. Corey Finch of Oklahoma City are African Americans because church leaders wanted to expose students to professionals who looked like them and individuals who could share their personal stories of success and the realities of their career and life paths. Other sessions included life skills and, academic excellence. A financial literacy class was scheduled for Thursday evening.

Coleman, who is a chaplain for the OKC Thunder NBA franchise, had current NBA player Jeff Green and retired NBA star Andre Iguodala speak to the students as part of two special virtual sessions.

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Finch, a native of Washington, D.C., told the students he didn't grow up in a wealthy household and his parents didn't go to college. Finch, 45, said he was an athlete and became a member of his collegiate football team until an injury his freshman year derailed his dreams of continuing to play college ball and ultimately going to the NFL.

The doctor said he enlisted in the Army Reserve while continuing college and he got a conditional release from the Army to enter the Air Force, and it was the Air Force that paid for him to attend medical school at Howard University, a prestigious Historically Black College and University in Washington, D.C.

"Never feel like you've learned enough. Be a lifelong learner," he said, as he encouraged students to consider the consequences of pushing their education and studies to the side in favor of other activities.

Finch said he saw the value in Fifth Street's program because he had participated in programs designed to help young people became successful in school and pursue higher education. He said as a young student, he participated in Upward Bound, a federal program that prepares young people for college.

Finch also said being helped by a Black doctor when he was young allowed him to envision himself as a doctor. He said he hoped that his presentation had a similar effect on young people attending the Fifth Street conference.

"I hope to get a phone call one day from someone saying 'hey, you remember when you spoke at Fifth Street?" Finch said. "I can't wait."

Coleman said he hopes to extend the conference programming by offering sessions at least one or two Saturdays a month throughout the coming school year.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Fifth Street Baptist offers lessons for life as students head to class