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Jeff Millner is seeking a few good men. Well, 100 of them, to be exact.
Millner isn’t a Marine Corps recruiter, though he is hoping to attract a small army of professionals to help address a critical need: presenting positive male role models for middle- and high-school boys.
Millner, the assistant principal at The Academy at Virginia Randolph in Glen Allen, created the 100 Men Challenge as a way to connect successful men with students at the academy, which serves teens who have had behavioral or other roadblocks to learning in traditional school settings.
Seventy-one percent of the students are males, and many of them lack a regular male presence in their lives. A number are from Highland Springs, which is among the nation’s leaders in households with “missing black males” – men who are either deceased, imprisoned or otherwise absent.
Through the program, which will start Nov. 16, 100 professional men from the community will spend one day each month at the school – greeting male students as they arrive at school, eating breakfast with them and having conversations, walking with them to their first period classes and then remaining in touch with them until they meet again the following month.
“Right now, our kids are formulating their own stories,” Millner said. “We’re trying to build relationships, and it also gives them an opportunity to meet people who can possibly give them jobs down the road.”
The idea sprouted from an event the school held on the first day of classes in 2015, in which parents, staff and other stakeholders gathered to cheer students as they got off their buses and encouraged them to start the year on a positive note.
“The principal [Jesse Casey] and I were having a conversation,” Millner recalled. “He said, ‘I would love to have some men on campus for our guys to see that.’”
The school already participates in Henrico County Public Schools’ mentoring program, Henrico Heroes, and its impact has been noticeable, Millner said.
“It’s had a huge impact – one of the main things is minimizing [students’] discipline issues and negative behaviors in class.”
He and other school officials hope that the 100 Men Challenge will build on that success in an even more focused way for the boys who need it the most.
“I think it’ll give our kids the opportunity to see men in an educational environment, to help them stay focused,” Millner said. “We’re starting to raise the bar here, and we want other men to say, ‘Hey, you can do it – we’ve got your back.’
Participating students will be selected by staff members, Millner said. Following breakfast, the middle-schoolers and high-schoolers (and their adult mentors) will be divided into two groups for “power hour” sessions, which will feature speakers and the chance for discussion about important or relevant issues.
Pairing students who may not have successful male role models with men who are should also help provide some accountability for students, Millner said. He’s even been in touch with several alumni of the academy who may be participating as mentors.
“They want to give hope to these young men, build partnerships with these young men, give them an opportunity to say ‘Whatever has happened in my past doesn’t control my future.’”
Male volunteers still are needed for the 100 Men Challenge. Volunteers will meet at the school from 8:15 a.m. to about 9:30 a.m. on each of the following dates: Dec. 14, Jan. 18, Feb. 15, Mar. 15, Apr. 19 and May 17. To learn more, call Millner at (804) 261-5085 or e-mail him at jamillne@henrico.k12.va.us.
