When DeAndre Nixon returned to Akron about 20 years ago after leaving the U.S. Navy, he was deeply disappointed in the city’s education system. So in 2006, he started iN Education, an education nonprofit supplementing Akron’s youth with leadership and creative skills to find work.
The nonprofit is now entering its 20th year, and Nixon says more still needs to be done to help Akron students leave school prepared for the workforce.
After you left the armed forces, you entered the world of education. Why?
Well, 1996 is when I left the military. I was on my journey trying to find my way and I knew I wanted to be a business owner. So I immediately emerged into event production. I did Seattle Fashion Week over in Seattle for seven years and my grandmother had passed. I went ahead and made the decision to come back to Akron.
From there, I dissolved the company in Seattle and went off into education because when I got back, seeing the state of where [the Akron school district] was 15 years previous and the state that it was when I came back, I almost fell to my knees. The education levels were very low and it seemed like we didn't really advance in time.
Talk to me about the work that you do and how it supplements the work that is done in the Akron schools.
We're not trying to muddy the water. We're trying to have a supplemental education thing.
We do a lot of personality testing, human design and things like that. I don't care if you're from the 'hood, I don't care if you're middle class, I don't care if you're suburban or whatever. It doesn't matter. You need clarity. And that's what makes us unique because we start with that, and then they can explore other career opportunities, other ways that they can contribute to society and to impact the world.
So starting with that clarity gives people the confidence to go about finding their own careers?
Well, the confidence and also the direction. You know, because we're a guide. I'm a certified master life coach and we are a guide for them. If you don't have a network of people that's coming together, you just fall behind because we're gonna need it more and more today. We say education is an individual sport. Okay, this is your sport, but fall in love with it. Fall in love with it and let that be your guide there.
In September, Ohio released report cards for schools across the state. And Akron's rating increased from 2.5 to 3.5 out of 5 stars. Are you seeing that improvement in the schools?
Well, we're not in the schools directly, but we do have students that are from the schools. So remember we're supplemental. I congratulate the Akron Public Schools for increasing that score. I think any improvement would be great.
I'm not happy with it. If you're looking at a school at a 3.5, that's probably a C school in other countries. Nigeria is very, very nice, as far as their education levels. So I'm looking at it, I'm pretty global, is what I'm saying.
And so again, my measure is clarity. My measure is their mental health, the state of their mental health. If we were to look at the students at that school district and say how are they mentally stable and ready to move into these careers and everything, I like to challenge that because it probably wouldn't be that great.
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