East Community Learning Center proves that sports make an impact
Words by Ile-Ife Okantah
Podcast by Brad Hamilton
In 2016, East Community Learning Center, formerly known as East High School, had a football team that averaged about twenty-five players with a ten game losing streak. That was before coach and athletic director Marcus Desmond Hayes was hired at the school.
In 2017, the East Dragons claimed their second consecutive City Series postseason title. Coach Hayes said the team now has 53 players and averages about eight wins.
“It’s because of the relationship me and my staff had with the guys,” Hayes said when asked about the team’s improvement. “We let them know that it’s not just all about football, we’re going to try and grow you guys as young men. And when they started believing in that, and knew that we were honest and true, everything just took off from there.”
Coach Hayes stresses that this about more than football. Seven of his players have received college football scholarship offers this year alone. As the team improves, so does the future of the players.
“It’s going to start in the classroom,” Hayes said. “Let’s make sure we get our A’s B’s and C’s and get everything in order, and then after that I’m going to show you everything else that you need to do to make this happen.”
For more on Coach Hayes listen to this podcast about his work at East:
For the 2016-2017 school year, East Community Learning Center received an F in Achievement, Gap Closing, Progress, and Preparation for Success for their school report card. Basically, the school is not known for its successes.
“For many of our students, sports are necessary in order for them to find the motivation to even want to be at school,” said East social studies teacher Keisha Lewis. “Especially a school like East where the kids don’t have a lot to take pride in.”
East has a predominantly black demographic with around 62% of the current students identifying as African America. The school is also considered low income with 93% of students being eligible for free lunch.
In addition to these statistics, East High School also participates in Project Rise, a program that assists homeless students with transportation to receive an education.
In addition to the less than impressive numbers, East lost many students to other schools, like St. Vincent – St. Mary, Hoban or Copley, that had better academics and more competitive athletic opportunities.
When schools lose students they also lose federal funding, so sports often have direct a correlation with the amount of money a school receives.
“Because our football team has gotten so good, a lot of kids now want to come to the school,” Lewis said. “Either they want to play football or they want to be a part of the team that’s winning. And so our enrollment numbers have increased which increases the federal dollar that we are given.”
Donovan Jackson, an alumnus of East High School and a resident of the Akron area, has been acutely aware of how sports affects the community.
“I played basketball in high school and my cousin is Romeo Travis who played closely with LeBron at St. V,” Jackson said. “I definitely saw and felt the attention Rome and Bron got at St. V. But we are all from the same neighborhood. It was crazy because all this money went to St. V and all of those kids who didn’t need the help and not to our community, but they were our boys.”
Switching schools to achieve a brighter athletic future has become such a trend in the Ohio area that the Ohio High School Athletic Association passed a bylaw in 2013 preventing transfer students from playing sports during the first year they transferred.
This bylaw was created to help prevent coaches from recruiting star athletes. Had this bylaw been added in 2000, LeBron may not have played for St. V.
Regardless of the bylaw, Coach Hayes is excited about the future of not only the football team but the entire school. Although the report card provided by Akron Public Schools still shows room for growth, people around the community have felt the difference.
“Overall, school pride gets better as your sports teams get better,” Lewis said. “As those social pieces improve, then the overall climate of the school improves because the kids have something to take pride in. It’s not just ‘Oh, I have to go here,’ type situation. It’s an ‘I belong here and I contribute here and I’m glad to be here,’ type situation.”
@ileifeo and I got a chance to sit down with Coach Hayes with Akron East HS. What a truly incredible story and something we all can draw inspiration from #JMCRPP
— Brad Hamilton (@Bhamilton1530) March 14, 2018
Would LeBron James still be The King if he stayed in his school district? Find out more about the impact of sports in the Akron community later tonight. #JMCRPP
— princess ife (@ileifeo) March 14, 2018