Nicholls-Douglass Alumni create board to keep legacy alive

11th March 2019   ·   0 Comments

By Morgan Jackson
Contributing Writer

Family, friends, students and alumni celebrated the installation of the first alumni association board of directors of the former Francis T. Nicholls High School, now known as KIPP Renaissance High School in the Lower Ninth Ward on Feb 16.

The board of directors were sworn in by Orleans Parish civil district court judge Nakisha Ervin-Knott at the ceremony and fundraiser aimed to support current students. The event was the start of future efforts to raise funds to support purchasing the building, which used to be the St. Claude General Hospital and to convert it to a Nicholls Douglass Renaissance Bobcat Community Center, and to repair the auditorium for the high school. The association awarded more than $3,000 to the Renaissance Legacy Choir and revealed their official Bobcat design for the organization at the event.

“We are the BOBCATS, three schools as one! We work together to get it done,” the alumni chanted at the event.

The land on which the school location stands was originally part of the Louis Barthelemy McCarty plantation, and until 1939 was named McDonogh No. 12. Although the school after 1939 was initially named after Nicholls, a confederate general, the name was then changed to Frederick Douglass High School in honor of the African-American abolitionist in the 1990s, after desegregation. More recently in 2010, the school became a public charter and was renamed again as KIPP Renaissance.

The alumni association set as its mission to advance the legacy of the Bobcat family by connecting alumni, the school, and the community throughout the different phases of the school. The organization announced seven purposes at its event: unity, joy, prayer, faith, truth, provision and love.

The alumni said they hope to help sustain an institution that is striving for excellence, and fostering alumni involvement through advocacy and volunteerism. They also plan to offer financial support and lifelong commitment to the Bobcat student body and promote lasting relationships among graduates.

The effort to support the legacy of the school was spearheaded by Lisa Arcenaux Cobb, the president of the association, who grew up in the Lower Ninth Ward and was educated in the Orleans Parish school system. Cobb graduated from Francis T. Nicholls in 1981 and said she wants to give back to her alma mater. In March 2018, Cobb reached out to Renaissance High School inquiring about starting a “Go Fund Me” scholarship on Facebook. Through this inquiry, the idea of an alumni association was born. Cobb’s leadership of this fundraiser led to the creation of the association to bring the three schools – Nicholls, Douglass and Renaissance (NDR Bobcat alumni) – under one umbrella.

“I knew nothing about starting an alumni association; I made so many mistakes. I made so many people angry and did not think I would have 50 members to date,” Cobbs said. “Our main goal is to have a system set up where students who go off to college can have alumni to call on to get them through their four years of college.”

She said that she wanted to start with one scholarship, but from that, a larger vision formed.

Michael Gordon, the vice president of the association, saw Cobb at a Sunday service and from that point on they started working together. He attended Francis T. Nicholls from 1977-1979. He said he was a star athlete in both football and track and field at Nicholls. He has since launched his own businesses: Captain Mike Deep Sea Fishing Service and Captain Mike New Orleans Cuisine Catering.

“I remember when we used to have basketball games in the gym and we also graduated in that gym. These kids today do not have the privilege to use the gym due to Katrina,” Gordon said. “My goal, once we get that 501©, is to go to some of these multi-million-dollar corporations that I deal with on a daily basis and get the funds we need.” He added that corporations will invest in organizations that want to do good within their community.

“If we walk up to City Hall and say we are 2,600 strong, that auditorium must be fixed. Change will not come if we just sit down. We can make a difference. It’s time for us to roll up our sleeves and do the right thing,” Gordon added.

Some of the alumni recalled having to endure the tough times of racial tension in the south.

Alvarez Stampley, a graduate of the class of 1974, said at the event that he remembered what it was like to be spit on. He said he believes that children today need to understand the struggles the average Black child went through during that time. Black children of the seventies, he said, were assaulted in schools due to desegregation. Black students had to walk to school in groups to avoid harassment, he shared. Most of the area was still white-owned at the time, and he said he was part of the group who renamed the school mascot from “Rebels” to “Bobcats.”

“I remember the school was divided. We had two entrances. The white students had to go on one side and the Black kids on the other. We were always separated. The tension got so bad one day that a riot broke out. They started throwing tables and chairs,” Stampley said. Stampley added that even in school Black students had to walk in groups just to go to the restroom or locker room.

The alumni vowed to keep the school’s rich history and legacy alive, even with the latest name change. The board said it wants to maintain this new start by asking that more alumni join as members. They are a now a non-profit organization and will expand its fundraising on behalf of the school, hosting a dance on June 21 at 6227 St. Charles Ave. All the funds will go toward students and the cost of the auditorium for the KIPP Renaissance High School.

“We are stronger in numbers,” Gordon said.

This article originally published in the March 11, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.