Mohamed Karim El-Gaili is a proud member of Powerful African American Males About Success (PAAMAS), a skill-building literacy and mentoring program at John R. Lewis High School. “I have been privileged to benefit from PAAMAS at two stages of my life: the first time as an elementary school mentee, and now during my senior year of high school as a mentor of younger males,” said Mohamed.
The PAAMAS program pairs upper-class high school students with a younger mentee for regular sessions devoted to social and academic skills. Often, as soon as the junior or senior mentor is introduced to a new topic or skill, he turns around and discusses it with his younger counterpart, thereby developing crucial leadership skills. Members also participate together in volunteer activities, sporting events like basketball games, and social events such as movie nights and ice skating.
A Lewis H.S. social worker started PAAMAS in 2006 out of concern for underachieving students at risk of suspension, academic failure and worse. The program was designed to help African American males increase school engagement and retention, and explore opportunities for academic advancement, thus closing the achievement gap. Over the years, the program has expanded to several neighboring schools in Fairfax County.
Mohamed has served as a role model by simply providing advice as appropriate or by sharing his knowledge, resources, and experience with younger colleagues including some who have struggled academically. During his junior year, he landed an IT/marketing paid internship by actively pursuing opportunities identified by his teachers and was able to share this experience and explain the process to his mentees.
One of the main goals of the program is to prepare African American males to make a successful transition from high school to institutions of higher education. Mohamed reflected fondly on a field trip PAAMAS members took to Blacksburg for a tour of the Virginia Tech University campus.
The program also brings students together with community leaders. A network of invited businessmen and professionals help students envision a wide variety of leadership opportunities and career possibilities. In addition to striving to develop global citizens and lifelong learners with exemplary habits of the mind, the enterprise believes it provides the promise of chipping away at the nation’s alarming racial wealth gap.
Mohamed said that he and his cohort are daunted by the task of finding more volunteers who can help establish PAAMAS groups at more schools. In addition to expanding the program to other locations, Mohamed and his colleagues would like to assist other ethnic and demographic groups at Lewis H.S., like Latinos and African American women, deal with their own challenges and disparate outcomes.