THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 14, 1995 TAG: 9512120116
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI LEWIS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
A MAN WHOSE VISION has helped bring Bowling Park Elementary School national acclaim has been honored yet again for his work.
Dr. Herman C. Clark was named Citizen of the Year by the Alpha Phi Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity during the 22nd annual Black & Gold Civic Awards Ball held at the Norfolk Airport Hilton on Dec. 1.
Also receiving awards at the ball were Langston Smith, who was named Alpha Man of the Year, and Roderick Taylor, who was named Patriarch of the Year.
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. was organized at Cornell University in 1906 as the first intercollegiate Greek Letter fraternity established for black college students. There are now more than 750 chapters throughout the world. The local chapter was established in 1920 and re-established in 1935.
The Citizen of the Year award is just one of many awards that Clark and his school have received this year.
In February, he received the United Negro College Fund ``Flame Bearer of Education Award.'' In March, Bowling Park was named by Redbook Magazine as one of the best schools in the nation. In July, he received the Patrick Francis Daly Memorial Award for Excellence in Educational Leadership from the Yale Child Study Center's School Development Program in Stamford, Conn. And in November, he was named the Citizen of the Year by the Lambda Omega Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc.
Clark has been principal of Bowling Park, one of the city's 10 community schools, for 14 years. Despite the surrounding poverty and social problems, the school's students consistently score above the national median on standardized test scores in science, English, math and social studies.
Some of Clark's innovative approaches at Bowling Park - which has 600 students in pre-K to fifth grade - include same-gender classrooms, school uniforms and the Adopt-A-Child program. In that program, every faculty member adopts at least one child and serves as that child's mentor during the year. Last year, Clark himself adopted three boys. This year, he has adopted two girls.
Clark credits most of the school's success to a ``strong voice of parental involvement.
``Parents know every move we make, and if parents are behind it, you can do anything,'' he said.
Clark is a product of the Norfolk public school system himself. He attended Diggs Park and Abraham Lincoln elementary schools, Ruffner Junior High School and Booker T. Washington High School.
``I feel like I had a very sound and strong educational upbringing,'' he said.
Ironically, Clark, at one time, has ended up being principal to two teachers who formerly taught him. Clark received his undergraduate degree from Norfolk State University, one master's degree from Old Dominion University, another from the University of Virginia, and his doctorate from Nova University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
``In my earlier years, I had plans to go into marketing or consulting,'' he said, ``but as I began to work with children at the university, I changed my major to general education, then secondary education.''
His first job, however, was at an elementary school, so he went back to school to be certified in that area. He has been with younger children ever since.
Before coming to Bowling Park, he was principal of Roberts Park Elementary. He also teaches at the graduate level in early childhood education at Norfolk State University.
He and his wife, Reuthenia, live in Virginia Beach. They have two children, Johanna Joy, a pre-med student at Norfolk State University, and Victor Pierre, a junior at Tallwood High School.
The teachers he hires at Bowling Park must share his ``vision,'' he said.
``They must be able to deal with children from the inner city,'' he said. ``And they must understand my parents - what they go through, how they live.''
That includes being comfortable enough to visit the parents and children in the neighborhood.
``They need that willingness to go,'' he said.
Clark said his major challenges don't come from the parents or the students but from ``outside'' - curriculum requirements and test scores, for instance.
``We've done fairly well,'' he said, ``so our challenge is to stay there.''
His vision also includes the expectations he has for his students.
``Any child can learn,'' he said, ``if we just take the time to understand that child. Understand his home life, his social life and his inner being. And if we just take the time to listen, we can.'' MEMO: If you know someone whom you feel is deserving of a Thumbs Up! feature,
call Vicki Lewis at 446-2286. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by BILL TIERNAN
Dr. Herman C. Clark, a product of the Norfolk school system, has
been the principal at Bowling Park Elementary School for 14 years.
by CNB