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.

A short review of our 2016 - 2017 Golden Year

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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.

Project DADDYMAN 2017 - 5/23/2017 @ 6:30 pm @ Green Run High School

Author Bobby Huntley’s book, Mothers Please, helps single mothers to raise “boys to men” instead of “raising boys to inmates”. Author Eddie Howard, formerly an inactive father and habitual criminal, guides men to successfully re-enter the community and the lives of their children. Coach Elisha “Cadillac” Harris helps teachers, coaches, and other male mentor figures to understand, embrace, and utilize their positions as the “New Fathers”.

On Tuesday 5/23/17 at 6:30 pm Author Rev. Bobby Huntley, Re-entry Specialist Author Eddie Howard, and Coach Cadillac will address young men and their parents during the May session of the Carter G. Leadership Lecture Series held at Green Run High School in Virginia Beach. The session, entitled Project DADDYMAN, is focused on helping Single Mothers, guiding fathers to successfully re-enter the lives of their children, and leading coaches, teachers, and mentors to utilize the fatherly impact that they have on the lives on children.

The Carter G. Leadership Sessions, named in honor of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, are Leadership presentations designed for young men and their parents. The events are sponsored by Green Run's male mentorship club G.M.A.C. (Gentlemen Making A Change), and supported by The Golden Fold, a Virginia Beach male mentorship program. Entertainment by the renowned Step Team, The ICONZ, will round out the event.

The Project DADDYMAN event is tailored for young men and their parent(s) and the event is free and is open to the community. For additional information email seko.varner@vbschools.com or call 757-932-0177.

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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.

04 25 2017 Carter G Leadership Series "Mentored by Millionaires"

Members of The Golden Fold will provide a presentation at this event.

The Golden Fold Mentor Movement serves 6th - 12th grade youth by providing seminar based Big-Brother-type activities in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Contact: thegoldenfold @ yahoo (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.

03 28 2017 Carter G Male Leadership Series "Building your Inner Hero"

Having a troubled childhood doesn't mean you can't grow up to be a hero, leaders say...

As a small boy, Kenny Miller (photo above) watched his mother cry when she saw police brutalize civil rights workers on television, and he promised her that he would become a police officer so that he could stop the abuse.

The problem, he said, was that an African American boy growing up in a poor neighborhood in New Jersey during the 1960s didn’t have much of a chance becoming a police officer. Still, Miller persevered, and today he a captain in the Virginia Beach Police Department.

Miller shared that story with teens and their parents who gathered at Green Run High School for a March 28 gathering of the Carter G. Leadership Sessions, a motivational series targeted to middle and high school boys.

“Building Your Inner Hero” was the topic; and the speakers, including Miller, spoke of the need to develop goals, to persevere despite setbacks, and to help others.

“A hero is someone who steps up when everyone else backs down,” said Jason Bosko, a Coast Guardsman who spoke of the courage of members who perform rescue operations or who intercept drug smugglers. (above photo - Officer Kenny Miller, Golden Fold member Zyon Adams (Green Run High), GMAC member Trequan Manning (Green Run High), Lt. Jason Bosco, Officer Filippone, and Mentor James Morton from The Golden Fold Mentor Movement.) 

“I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for the heroes in my life,” said Green Run football coach Justin Conyers, who shared some insight into his own troubled youth.

Both parents were drug addicts, he said, and his family often lacked the money to pay the electric or water bill.

“But my parents taught me that ‘if you want to have the same results that we’ve had, make the same choices,’” said Conyers. So, he sought positive role models in teachers and others who worked with youth. “These are heroes,” Conyers said. “And you can be a role model, too, so that every day you’ll have to be that hero.”

Sometimes, it takes awhile to learn what you really want, said boxer and Virginia Beach police officer Frank Filippone.

As a teen growing up in Norfolk, Filippone got into so much trouble that the neighbors didn’t want their own kids hanging around with him, he said. (Above photo - Bover Frank Filippone in the gym).

His juvenile record made it difficult for him to get a job as a police officer, but he was finally hired by Newport News, then by Virginia Beach, and was named “top cop” by Crime Line for Virginia Beach and Hampton Roads in 2016. (above photo - Officer Filippone)

As a boxer, Filippone received championship belts in the World Boxing Federation and the United States Boxing Union.

“Live the dream, no matter what it is,” Filippone told the attendees. “Now it’s your turn to take it and run with it.”

The Carter G. Leadership sessions are a series of presentations developed by Gentlemen Making a Change, a male mentorship program at Green Run High School, and by Golden Fold, a male mentoring program of Gamma Xi chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.

https://pilotonline.com/news/local/having-a-troubled-childhood-doesn-t-mean-you-can-t/article_344a3cfc-2986-5f92-8c45-ffdceb683d42.html

Scenes and audio from our March 2017 Leadership Session.

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 . 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.

2/21/2017 Carter G Leadership Series event 1 of 4

Tuesday 2/21/17 from 6:30 pm until 8:30 pm at Green Run High School in Virginia Beach. Green Run’s choir, JrROTC, and ICONZ Male Step Team will be providing motivation, and we’ll enjoy great guidance from three short presenters. Dr. Carter from Longwood University, provides male High School students with a FREE week-long experience at Longwood University in addition to providing sizable scholarships to minority males who study education. Be there !

The Golden Fold Mentor Movement serves 6th - 12th grade youth by providing seminar based Big-Brother-type activities in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Contact: thegoldenfold @ yahoo (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.

Virginia Beach, Virginia's African American Male Summit

Four of our Young Leaders were presenters at the African-American Male Summit !

The Golden Fold Mentor Movement serves 6th - 12th grade youth by providing seminar based Big-Brother-type activities in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Contact: thegoldenfold @ yahoo (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.

01 25 2017 our annual 1st aid / AED / CPR training

Photo of some of our Young Leaders training in our three day 1st aid/AED/CPR training.


The Golden Fold Mentor Movement serves 6th - 12th grade youth by providing seminar based Big-Brother-type activities in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Contact: thegoldenfold @ yahoo (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.

01 10 2017 Viewing Hidden Figures in Virginia Beach, Virginia

We saw Hidden Figures in January. This event was with our Young Leaders and their parents.

The Golden Fold Mentor Movement serves 6th - 12th grade youth by providing seminar based Big-Brother-type activities in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Contact: thegoldenfold @ yahoo (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.