CLEVELAND — The countdown to summer break is always a time full of excitement and energy, and it’s no different at St. Thomas Aquinas School in Cleveland's St. Clair-Superior neighborhood.
But it’s not just the students and staff who should feel proud of what they accomplished this year. Three fathers were there from recess, to lunchtime, to the moments in between. Students and staff at the school say their presence was a game changer.
Ricardo Richmond, Alex Afzal and Jeffrey Allen are the backbone of the Stand Together program. They regularly come into the school to serve as role models, supporters, and mentors for the kindergarten through eighth grade students there. All three also have children of their own at the school.
"Wherever they need me is where you can find me," Richmond told 3News' Isabel Lawrence in a recent interview.
"We're just trying to be whatever they need in whatever capacity," Afzal added.
They may not be in the yearbook, but the fathers spending time here, sometimes all day, everyday, has given these students a sense of stability.
"I'm proud to be able to walk in and see these kids. I got kids running up to me, 'Mr. Richmond, good morning', giving me a hug," Richmond said. "That makes me feel good. That makes me feel like I'm actually achieving something in this program.”
These fathers say they're happy to provide some guidance, a pep talk or high five, but also, correction when needed.
"We're helping other kids," Richmond said. "We're trying to show them the right and the wrong way, instead of these kids doing [it] the wrong way and a tragedy or something like that happens. We try to prevent it at an early age."
Even when they don't have all the answers, the fathers acknowledge the power of just being there to listen, and to let the students know they are seen.
"I watch these children come in these doors and I can tell that they're going through all different things," Mr. Allen said. "Am I God? No. All I can do is what I can do. So far, [sometimes it means I] just stand. Sometimes, standing is just powerful enough. I don't have to do anything but just be here. And they run and hug."
The fathers realize not all of these students may have that kind of support or guidance at home.
"That father's supposed to be there," Richmond said. "But unfortunately it's not all like that.”
That was the reality for Afzal, who also works at the school as an Operations Assistant Manager and basketball coach.
"Maybe you just give them some insight, [and tell them] 'I understand that. I understand what you're going through and if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here,'” he says.
All three of these men’s paths to parenthood looked different, but something they say they all understand is what it means to show up.
"I believe that anybody can be a dad. A biological dad can birth a child and bring them here," Allen said. "But it takes a father to raise a child, to love a child, to nurture a child, to protect a child, to be with a child, day and night. Dads and fathers are two different things.”
Tali Collins, the school's Academic Dean, saw an opportunity to engage the community with the school, leaning into the idea that it takes a village to raise a child. She organized the first Stand Together meeting in March, and says in just a few short months, the program has surpassed her expectations.
"We have an opportunity for young men and women, but especially young men, to be able to see that there are men in their lives who are here and ready and willing to do what it takes to encourage their success," Collins said.
Collins said she's seen the way students open up to and respond to the three fathers, and the way the fathers have opened up and been vulnerable and honest with the students, as well.
"I think that it was an opportunity and is an opportunity for us, our younger students, to see men and recognize that this is who they might aspire to be like, or who they might look up to, and who they can rely on as an extra set of listening ears while they're here at school," she said.
Students Elijah Butler and King Dudley say they have experienced that personally. When Elijah was having a tough time with some classmates, King took him to the office to speak with Mr. Richmond.
"I feel like he's a great man," Butler said. "[He always makes sure] I'm okay."
As these fathers help students, they’re also helping each other. Afzal says that while their primary focus will always be the kids, he's finding fulfillment from the other fathers too.
"We have to be able to get replenished from all of the outpouring that we do also," he said. "And that's where we all come into play and support each other as well.”
The fathers have seen the ways they can learn from one another, but they are also learning from the students they interact with.
"[I'm giving] some life experience to these children, I'm sharing, and sometimes they're teaching me," Allen said. "I'll just sit back and look through the class, look through the windows and just be awed [at] what some of these students can do."
As the St. Thomas Aquinas School community finishes another year, these students are walking away with lessons on everything from math, to morals, and the power of a father’s love.
“I want the community to see right here, in this community, we don't have the big pretty school," Allen said. "We don't have all the money. A lot of times you can't get champagne with beer money. But we are here we are to prove that it's here, there is a diamond in the rough.”
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