Collegiate 100 collecting neckties for eighth grade boys in Nashville
Kim Chaudoin | 615.966.6494 |
Dressing for success is an important factor in seeking a job and gaining respect from others.
Lipscomb University’s Collegiate 100 organization is on a mission to make sure a group of young men in Nashville learns this lesson early in life and that they are equipped with a fundamental staple of business attire — a necktie.
During the month of November, Lipscomb’s Collegiate 100 Chapter is conducting a drive to collect neckties. The tie drive began as a way to support the Young Men of Valor's Tie Tuesday/Thursday initiative, which aims to provide neckties for eighth grade boys at select middle schools in the Metro Nashville Public Schools system.
“The purpose of the drive is to help encourage and inspire young men in the eighth grade to understand professionalism,” said Christian Monyei, president of Lipscomb’s Collegiate 100 organization.
The goal of the drive is to collect 150 ties. To date, Collegiate 100 has collected 89 ties. The final necktie collection will be Thursday, Nov. 31, and Friday, Dec. 1, from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. in the Bennett Campus Center. Monyei said all ties — neckties, bow ties and “all ties across the tie spectrum” will be accepted. Once ties are collected they are sent for cleaning before being distributed.
As ties are collected, Collegiate 100 members have delivered them to various middle schools in Nashville to be distributed to young men in the eighth grade.
“We want to talk to them about why professionalism is important,” said Noah Kimbrough, vice president of Collegiate 100. “That’s the mission for this whole project. We also believe that talking to young men when they are nearing the end of middle school is important because that’s a time when children are impressionable and are influenced by those around them. So, if they see positive role models talking to them about something like professionalism, we believe they are more likely to follow that as they grow older.”
On Thursday, Dec. 7, Collegiate 100 members will deliver ties to Head Middle Magnet School and will hold a clinic on how to properly tie a necktie.
“We are going to demonstrate how to dress professionally and show them how to tie a tie,” said Monyei. “We will share with them what it means to be a professional. We also want to impress upon them that ties are cool. Being professional is cool. Sweat pants are cool, too, but when you want a job, it’s better to wear a suit and a tie!”
Lipscomb University launched a chapter of Collegiate 100 this fall. Membership into the Collegiate 100 —C100 for short — is drawn primarily from African American students through chapters on college campuses across the country. Members of the organization assist local chapters of 100 Black Men, which sponsors the Collegiate 100 program, with its programmatic initiatives that support the development of youth who have few or no positive role models in the communities in which they live.
“Our mission statement is to set a generational precedence of leadership through the accounts of mentorship, faith, diligence, and service to the community,” said Kimbrough. “The tie drive is one example of the way we want to serve the community. We also plan on having a toy drive later in the year to collect items to take to children in the hospital. We also want to have other events on campus and out in the community to bring people together to teach younger men that it is possible to attain their goals. It’s not impossible.”
“We especially want to reach out to lower-income families who may not always have the opportunity to hear about colleges or learn about higher education,” he said. “Our main goal is that mentorship aspect of our mission – showing kids who come from places outside of an academic bubble that they can also get out of where they are, get a degree and make things better for themselves and their families.”
Monyei said he hopes members of the Collegiate 100 are role models to the young men they will meet in the community.
“We want to show them that we are just like them,” said Monyei. “We’re just in college and pursuing a degree. It’s possible to achieve your dreams. That’s what we want to show others when we go out into the community.”
Lipscomb’s chapter of Collegiate 100 is sponsored by Reggie Blair, director of admissions; Josh Shaw, marketing videography manager; and James Bush, outreach and admissions counselor in the College of Professional Studies.
“What we hope to do through this organization is to reinforce positive images of African American males and to help the younger ones understand that it is possible to go to college,” said Blair. “Unfortunately if you are looking at demographics, African American men are the lowest as far as college degree attainment. Often, that’s a result of them not seeing examples of people who look like them actually making it.
“So one of the things Collegiate 100 tries to do is to provide mentors to African American males primarily in the community and to also provide community service,” he continued. “This tie drive achieves both. It helps by providing ties, but these college students are also going to be there at the middle school on Dec. 7 tying the ties and being a mentor. We look for opportunities like that.”
Lipscomb’s Collegiate 100 chapter offers members a variety of benefits including resume-building experiences, fostering friendships and camaraderie with other members, the opportunity to mentor young African American children in the community, access to networking and career-building opportunities, seats at the annual 100 Black Men of Middle Tennessee gala, to help reshape the perception of African American males in the community and to create social and educational change through community service, Blair said.
Want to know more? Contact Blair at reggie.blair [at] lipscomb.edu; shaw at josh.shaw [at] lipscomb.edu or Bush at james.bush [at] lipscomb.edu.
NOTE: Lipscomb University underscores that membership or participation in Collegiate 100 is not limited by sex, race or ethnicity and is open to all students regardless of sex, race or ethnicity.