Name: Howard Jean
Age: 30
College: Claflin University
Major: Elementary Education & Teaching
Grad Year: 2004
Masters Degree: Social Philosophical Foundations in Education
Grad Year: 2009
Awards: 2011 UNCF Young Alumni of the Year Award Recipient, 2011 Recipient of the “Key to the City” Award, Columbia, SC, 2010 Community Service Award Recipient from the Germantown Community & Local Churches, 2010 Honoree for the 10th Anniversary of Call Me MISTER Scholars Program at Claflin University
About Howard: Howard Jean has served various roles in the field of education as a teacher, coordinator, consultant, curriculum developer and on-air personality throughout the country. As a mentor and public speaker, Howard has influenced students across the nation with his message of “Embracing your own celebrity, celebrating your own identity” and empowering them to make a deliberate decision to be great and rise above mediocrity.
Howard has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Tavis Smiley Radio Show, USA Today, Associated Press Articles, Jet Magazine, Essence Magazine and was recently featured on the cover of ARETE Magazine for his humanitarian work as an educator. Howard regularly travels across the US speaking to youth groups, professionals in the field of education, parents and related members in the areas of student development, teacher training, community development and self-empowerment.
From 2008 to 2011, Howard served as Director of the Call Me MISTER program at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania. The MISTER (Mentors Instructing Students Towards Effective Role Models) is a collegiate program designed to encourage and support African American males to dedicate their lives to becoming role models in the field of education. As a product and partner with the program for the past 11 years, Jean created a pilot and complimentary program for women interested in teaching Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The program is entitled Teach STEM Scholarship Project (TS2 Project) and is in its 4th year of programming. In 2012, Howard served as the Executive Director of Communities In Schools of Augusta Richmond County in which he supported in increasing the graduation rates of high school students in the Richmond County Public School System, utilizing “Race To The Top” Funding.
Howard is the Principal of SEIL (Success through Education, Inspiration & Leadership); an education based consulting firm and speaking bureau that specializes in working/partnering with organizations and institutions to help develop unique and innovate programs to address multi-faceted issues that affect specific communities. The organizations core focus is program development, leadership training and teaching innovations. SEIL also offers various services that help enhance an organizations profile through branding strategies, marketing and the development of strategic plans to meet the goals of the client.
Howard's accomplishments didn't come without its obstacles. Howard grew up without his father in the home leaving his mother to raise him. "I was blessed to have a mother who did her best to never let me feel the pain of a fatherless home by doing everything in her power to be everything any kid would ever need. Overcoming those hardships were possible because of a sound household, great rearing, a lot of love and discipline. Tragedies have a habit of shaping the person you become. Through the pain and abandonment came a man who only wants to serve, give & love as much as he can during his time on this earth."
Howard currently resides in Philadelphia, PA where he volunteers with educational programs for youth, mentors the next generation of classroom educators and serves on various boards that allow him to give back, empower others and increase entrepreneurship among young people and minorities.
My life’s mission is to build sustainable communities (local & global) through innovative programming, influencing policy decision, philanthropic endeavors and developing leaders who will perpetuate the same.
What does being a black man mean to you?
Being a black man in today’s society means to bear; honor, shame, fear and hope. There’s honor, not only in the uncanny resemblance our President has with the once lauded “lower common denominator” is now at the head of the global table of leadership. The same resemblance of ethnicity cloaks the souls of many ancestors who gave their lives so that we can have a seat on the chariot, bus, board rooms and in the Senate Chambers.
We as black men bear the shame of our families, communities, ancestors and future generations because of the disease stricken seeds we harvest in the lives of our young people; bearers of our darkness rather than our light. We as Black Men bear the shame displaced on us from our former oppressors which we in turn displaced on one another.
We know as black men, it is not enough to go to the best schools, work the hardest, be the smartest, run the fastest, write the best, speak articulately, be the best stewards of our religion and know all the correct answers. We know that hope and faith are the variables that allow us to continue our journey.
The complexities that exist within our culture as men who are black are results of hardships, institutionalized agendas, psychological conditioning and generations of damaged souls. Those same complexities and misfortunes produced some of the world’s most iconic, talented, controversial, dynamic & strongest human beings. America has dealt us an interesting hand that we’ve learned how to manipulate and because I’m a betting man who sees that images of success have an uncanny resemblance to me; betting on black are the only odds I chose to play. I’m playing to win and for keeps.
"The complexities that exist within our culture as men who are black are results of hardships, institutionalized agendas, psychological conditioning and generations of damaged souls. Those same complexities and misfortunes produced some of the world’s most iconic, talented, controversial, dynamic & strongest human beings."
What does being a black man mean to you?
Being a black man in today’s society means to bear; honor, shame, fear and hope. There’s honor, not only in the uncanny resemblance our President has with the once lauded “lower common denominator” is now at the head of the global table of leadership. The same resemblance of ethnicity cloaks the souls of many ancestors who gave their lives so that we can have a seat on the chariot, bus, board rooms and in the Senate Chambers.
We as black men bear the shame of our families, communities, ancestors and future generations because of the disease stricken seeds we harvest in the lives of our young people; bearers of our darkness rather than our light. We as Black Men bear the shame displaced on us from our former oppressors which we in turn displaced on one another.
We know as black men, it is not enough to go to the best schools, work the hardest, be the smartest, run the fastest, write the best, speak articulately, be the best stewards of our religion and know all the correct answers. We know that hope and faith are the variables that allow us to continue our journey.
The complexities that exist within our culture as men who are black are results of hardships, institutionalized agendas, psychological conditioning and generations of damaged souls. Those same complexities and misfortunes produced some of the world’s most iconic, talented, controversial, dynamic & strongest human beings. America has dealt us an interesting hand that we’ve learned how to manipulate and because I’m a betting man who sees that images of success have an uncanny resemblance to me; betting on black are the only odds I chose to play. I’m playing to win and for keeps.
"The complexities that exist within our culture as men who are black are results of hardships, institutionalized agendas, psychological conditioning and generations of damaged souls. Those same complexities and misfortunes produced some of the world’s most iconic, talented, controversial, dynamic & strongest human beings."
