Stone Academy mentoring kids at Booker T. center

A handful of children holding report cards gathered in the hallway of the Booker T. Washington Center.

In the middle of the group stood Stone Academy Executive Director Tony Lowden, who teased one young man, asking him: “Are you sure you didn’t print this report card yourself? What did you get, all A’s?”

“I got one C,” the student admitted.

“I’m proud of you,” said Lowden, who pledged to help him improve on that grade.

Close to 200 students are now enrolled in the Stone Academy after-school program from mid-afternoon until early evening at the community center.

“We believe what we’re doing here will help our schools and change our community,” Lowden said.

Marjorie Almand, director of Bibb County’s Department of Family and Children Services, agrees.

Almand said she’s seen children jump multiple grade levels in nine weeks through concentrated, innovative learning techniques now being used at Stone Academy.

DFACS and the Economic Opportunity Council partnered with Lowden to start the program last fall after he left First Presbyterian Church’s Campus Clubs.

“Tony’s the best I’ve seen with the children and getting things done,” Almand said.

The timing was perfect for the Booker T. Washington board. The building sat empty for months as board members struggled to find financial backing.

The board had a building but no program, and Lowden had a program with no building.

With help from a corporate donor and friend, Lowden and other volunteers cleaned walls from top to bottom, made repairs to the playground and the pool, and got the old center re-licensed to launch Stone Academy shortly after school began.

This summer, Stone Academy could be working with up to 520 children on the grounds and inside, he said.

“I think where my vision bumped heads with Campus Clubs is they wanted to stay small,” Lowden said. “But we have an 800-pound elephant in the room, and you can’t tame an elephant with a fly swatter.”

Lowden said his personal experiences fuel his passion.

“I grew up in north Philly, one of the worst ghettos in America. Most of the males in my family are either dead or in prison,” he said. “Growing up without a dad, I know exactly what they’re going through.”

His mother used to beat him with extension cords, he said, maybe because he looked too much like his absentee father, who was a singer on the road.

“The challenge we have in Macon because of its economy, we have a lot of kids in broken homes who may wind up latchkey kids vulnerable to gangs and teen pregnancy,” he said.

Lowden’s aunt promised him some banana pudding if he’d start going to church with her.

“I found that light on the inside. Every child has a light,” he said.

A recreation center director befriended him and pushed him toward sports in the afternoon.

A baseball scholarship to the University of Southern California led to a brief stint with a Los Angeles Dodgers minor league affiliate.

Lowden realizes sports are not the answer to the challenges facing many inner-city youths. So few can make a career out of athletics. They need education and help from mentors, he said.

He wants to secure grants for science, technology, engineering and mathematics -- or STEM programs.

“The children in India are studying nanotechnology, and we’re having a hard time here in Booker T. Washington getting our kids trained on Microsoft.”

He has a staff of 15 full-time employees and four part-time workers.

“These folks have just bought into the vision that we can change Macon by changing the kids. That’s what it’s all about,” Lowden said.

“If they feel like they can do it, no telling where they will go.”

This story was originally published February 26, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Stone Academy mentoring kids at Booker T. center."