Crossing The Bar 2017 (Photos by photographer Alvin Swilley) - The Golden Fold

The Crossing The Bar ceremony is both the year ending ceremony for The Golden Fold's Mentorship program and the Scholarship Award Banquet for Virginia Beach's Gamma Xi Chapter of Omega Psi Phi. During this event we celebrate the members of The Golden Fold who are graduating from High School and we provide $1000 minimum scholarships to Virginia Beach male students who completed the Gamma Xi Scholarship Application. Here are some photos:
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Crossing The Bar Emcee Arthur D. Ricks, known as King Arthur, has been a Bridge Builder (Community Volunteer) for The Golden Fold for two program years. In addition he volunteers with other activities of the Gamma Xi Chapter of Omega Psi Phi. He heads up a youth foundation named “Novel Views.”

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Singer of America's National Anthem followed by Lift Every Voice and Sing Trequan Manning is an 18 year old 2017 graduate Green Run High School in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He is headed to Hampton University to study Psychology. He has participated in numerous Gamma Xi activities and volunteered as an entertainer for community events sponsored by The Golden Fold. During this event Trequan received a Gamma Xi scholarship in the amount of $500.

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Starr Armstrong, the 2017 Crossing The Bar Commencement Speaker is also a blogger and motivational speaker with a passion for social change in the community.  She has been featured in multiple print and digital publications, and also has appeared on several radio shows. In 2012 Starr founded Clever Communities In Action (CCIA), a results driven organization that focuses on youth and community empowerment.  In addition to the annual Youth Book Drive, CCIA has partners with Solar Natives to provide the Hip Hop Youth Initiative Program teaches that critical life skills to teens through engaging activities and workshops that are centered around hip hop music and culture.  CCIA also provides impactful youth and family-oriented programs through partnerships with multiple community civic leagues and partners. The video of her speech is below:

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Family members of a $1000 Gamma Xi Scholarship recipient participate in the "Blessing The Head" ritual which is an integral part of the Golden Fold Movement's Crossing The Bar event.

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(Left to Right) Jerry Williams, Brian Savage, and Felecia Savage-Williams participate in the "Blessing The Head" ritual which is an integral part of the Golden Fold Movement's Crossing The Bar event. Brian is a three year member of The Golden Fold Movement and a $1000 Gamma Xi Scholarship recipient for his academic achievements.

Brother Richard Green, a staff member of the Virginia Beach, Virginia branch of the Golden Fold Movement, and the founder of the Suffolk/Chesapeake, Virginia Branch of The Golden Fold Movement administers the Charge entitled "I Dare You" which is the ending ritual of the Golden Fold's Crossing The Bar event.

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2017 Recipients of the $1000 Gamma Xi Academic Scholarship. These young men are soon-to-be graduates of either Chesapeake Public Schools or Virginia Beach City Public Schools who competed and won the coveted Gamma Xi' academic scholarship. Two members of The Golden Fold (the gentlemen on the far right) won the scholarship.

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(Left to right) Jorden Bennett, Cynthia Kindred-Bennett, Jaden Bennett. The twins won the Dr. Martin Luther King Pillar Award of Uplift. The Golden Fold has 4 Pillars, Sound Adulthood (Dr. Ernest Everett Just), Scholarship (Arturo Schomberg), Endurance (Thurgood Marshall), and Uplift (Dr. Martin Luther King). Our hidden 5^th Pillar of Consciousness has an award called the Golden Ankh Award which is reserved for the Parent of the year.

All photos by photographer Alvin Swilley.
Here are photos of the event in sequence:

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The Golden Fold Mentor Movement serves 6th - 12th grade youth by providing seminar based Big-Brother-type activities in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Contact: thegoldenfoldmovement @ gmail (dot) com or call 757-932-0177. The Golden Fold is a "Brothers and Others" Community Improvement activity of the Gamma Xi Chapter of Omega Psi Phi and the Gamma Xi Uplift Foundation.