Weequahic High School

Campaign is music to Weequahic High marching band’s ears

Barry Carter | The Star-Ledger | Email the author | Follow on Twitter

The pep rally on Friday wasn’t for the football team. The season has already ended. And it wasn’t for the basketball team, either, even though its first game is just days away.

This midday celebration was for Newark’s Weequahic High School marching band, which was led into the gymnasium by the fire department’s Pipes and Drums band.

“I feel appreciated,” said Aryc Cuello, a 15-year-old sophomore who plays the bass drum. “I feel like people finally care about us.”

The band learned that the city’s fire and police departments, and the office of emergency management are joining a $30,000 fundraising campaign to help them get new uniforms and replace worn-out instruments.

All of this started after I wrote a column last month about the band. The football season was seven games in and the band had not not yet performed on the field because their instruments were in disrepair and there weren’t enough orange hoodie sweatshirts and brown sweatpants for the members to wear. This attire, some of it faded, has been the kids uniforms for the past five years after the actual band uniforms fell apart.

But despite their situation, the young people still wanted to play, encouraged by Darryl Taylor, the assistant band director who has been volunteering to teach the kids how to do so for 28 years.

Many of the band members were recruited by Taylor, some while they were still in elementary school. The students – most are from charter schools without a band program – show up faithfully after school at 4 p.m. every day and practice for two hours. They could have quit, but they didn’t. They see themselves as a family and no one lets members’ bail on the group, even if they felt like leaving.

It’s a good thing they stayed.

Myra Lawson, executive director of the Weequahic High School Alumni Association, said graduates have been calling and giving money after reading the story.

“They were horrified,” Lawson said.

Since then, $6,000 in donations has rolled in.

“It’s been heartwarming because our kids feel the stress of budget cuts around the arts and after-school and cultural programs,” Lawson said.

Readers also called, wanting to know how they could help. Many were directed to Taylor, who was a Weequahic band member during the 1980s.

He’s been the glue for the current band, helping director Michael Page keep the students focused on music, reminding them to be appreciative of the support coming their way. Taylor said his cellphone hasn’t stopped ringing. One reader, he said, purchased $3,000 worth of new drum equipment and had it delivered to the school.

“They (students) have yet to experience what it’s like to have on real uniforms,” Taylor said. ” We want them to experience it.”

Momentum for the band campaign received its biggest boost when Newark’s fire department pledged to get involved with four fundraisers. One of its employees, Patricia Bradford, a program development specialist in community relations, got things moving because the band’s troubles resonated with her.

In the 1980s, Bradford said West Side High School had the same problem when her kids were band members. She helped raise funds back then, and even though she’s not a Weequahic graduate, Bradford said she wanted to do something for those students.

“I couldn’t let it go and not try to do something,” Bradford said. “I have love for children and life.”

All of this fuss has the students giddy, smiling and relieved that someone is finally recognizing them.

“We’ve been working so hard,” said Stephon Waddell, 16, who plays the trumpet. “Usually, the band doesn’t get this much attention.”

The spotlight was on them twice Friday. There was the pep rally to start and producers from “The Meredith Vieira Show” were at the school all day to do a story about the band and the dedication of its directors, Taylor and Page.

Surprised. Wowed. Shocked. That’s how they’re feeling right about now.

This past weekend, the fire department pitched in with the first fundraiser. Four engine companies hit the streets collecting money from motorists in fire boots. You may have seen them on McCarter Highway and Murray Street, Route 280 and First Street, Springfield Avenue and Irvine Turner Boulevard, and Broad Street and Raymond Boulevard.

“Anything you can do to help a kid is a home run,” said Fire Chief John Centanni.

After the pep rally, the band retreated to the band room, where some of them continued to play, not letting up. They were singing and playing drums. One of them was on the tuba, blowing hard. The dancers practiced dance steps.

This is what they do. They play with Indian – the school’s mascot – pride, making as much musical noise as they possibly can, even though they didn’t think anyone was listening.

Somebody heard them and that’s why good things are happening.

View the story on nj.com.

Weequahic Band Members Finally Get Their Day On The Field

Barry Carter | The Star-Ledger | Email the author | Follow on Twitter

The football season was already six weeks old and Newark’s Weequahic High School marching band had yet to play a note at a game.

Darryl Taylor, the assistant band director, knew he couldn’t keep them practicing in the band room, but they weren’t ready to take the field.

“They wanted to play and I can’t blame them,” he says.

But it’s tough to perform with duct tape and superglue holding the instruments together. And it’s embarrassing when there are not enough uniforms to go around – if you want to call faded orange hoodie sweatshirts and brown sweatpants, a “uniform.”

He was about to lose Nadiyyah Smith, 16, who wanted to give up the clarinet and leave the band after five years.

“It hurt to come every day and not do nothing,” she says.

Tahlil Curry, a 17-year-old a drum and tuba player, had thoughts of fleeing, too, with six years invested.

But they couldn’t walk away from what Taylor has brought to Indian nation for the past 28 years.

“We’re not just a band,” Curry says. “We’re a family.”

Taylor, 45, is the true superglue and duct tape keeping this cash-strapped clan together. He’s a die-hard alumnus and band member, whose presence has done more for these students than any song they could ever play.

“Darryl is like that guy and father figure to help us with our problems,” says Jeremiah Downing, 16, who plays drums. “We can talk to Darryl about anything.”

The students appreciate his loyalty –and his honesty even more. They understand there’s no money for uniforms after funding for the band ended years ago.

It wasn’t their fault, Taylor says, that they wound up with sweat shirts and sweat pants after the official uniforms fell apart. Between the athletic and music departments, Taylor says, the uniforms didn’t get cleaned. He and the band director, Michael Page, tried to pick up the slack but it proved to be too expensive.

“Even though we have sweat pants and stuff, Darryl always tells us to make the band sound like something,” Curry says.

They do that – for two hours or more every day after school – in the band room, practicing new material and Weequahic standards that Taylor learned when he was a student. Taylor graduated in 1987, but he stuck around to help then-band director Otis Brown, who had taught him how to read music, play every instrument and lead a band.

When Brown retired in the mid-1990s, Taylor stayed on, while serving as a Newark police officer for 13 years. He left the force in 2011, but continued with the band, believing this is what he should be doing with his life.

“I pretty much do it because I see a lot of what I needed as a young man growing up,” Taylor says. “You need that strong person in your life to keep you on the right path.”

If he’s not listening to students or bending their ear with advice, Taylor has fun with them, but he’s not shy when it comes to discipline. If you play a note past the end of a song, that means pushups. Taylor is not exempt from pushups, either, because he cares in so many ways.

He’s choreographed many dance routines, which surprised the girls in the band when he showed them the moves. “He’s really good,” says Kendra Council, 17.

After practice, Taylor spends money to feed band members or drive them home, even if they live around the corner from school. Not even a surgically repaired right knee will stop him from keeping these kids close.

“They know they can’t get into trouble because I’ll throw them out of here,” he says. “I monitor them when they’re not in the band and when they’re not in school.”

In fact, there’s an entire group looking out for the students. They include Page; Taylor’s son, Darryl Jr.; and Taylor’s brother, Jamal Littles. They all pitch in to guide the kids to behave as ladies, gentlemen and musicians.

Page came on board well after Taylor, and quickly saw the order and rapport he had established.

“Why reinvent the wheel?” he asks rhetorically.

The band is a mixed lot, with 70 percent of its members coming from charter schools that don’t have a band. The rest are Weequahic students – a small group because of the school’s low enrollment and because many kids still think it’s not cool to participate.

So Taylor has been recruiting members early, going into the elementary schools and hoping they’ll stay. Nyla David, 11, joined this year and her mother, Ann David, says the band has been a godsend. Mediocre grades are now A’s and Nyla considers the band members her big brothers and sisters.

It’s game seven on the football schedule and the band is warming up. Taylor and Page have scraped up enough money to repair instruments and pay for half of the dancers’ outfits and shoes.

Finally, they are actually going to perform at a game – at home. The band members march into Untermann Field, smiling, playing and singing a favorite school song after filing into the stands.

“So hard, so hard, so hard to be an Indian.”

Not this night. This was easy. This was all about pride.

View this story on nj.com.

What about supporting us, Newark girls ask

Barry Carter | The Star-Ledger | Email the author | Follow on Twitter

Marisa Sanderson is familiar with the stare of disapproval when someone thinks she’s doing something wrong.

That someone is usually her mother. But on Tuesday, the woman looking at her could was stepping into a new role in Marisa’s life.

Marisa, a 16-year-old sophomore at Weequahic High School in Newark, likes to talk and that’s what she was doing during a program for girls in the gymnasium.

A group of women were there, promising to be mentors, but Marisa was chatting away with a friend and trying to avoid that motherly glare from Flohisha Johnson.

Every time that Marisa looked up, she saw Johnson, a Newark parent, looking right back. The scene was an example of nonverbal communication at its best.

“She kept making eye contact with me, but, in my heart, I felt like she was reaching out to me,” Johnson says.

So Johnson started walking toward Marisa. She was talking loudly, pointing at the girl with each step. You thought she might scold her until everyone heard Johnson say, “You’re going to be my baby.” She was picking Marisa as a student to mentor.

Johnson sat down beside Marisa and gave the kid a hug that only a mother could give as everyone looked on.

She did it so the girls could understand that the contingent of nearly 30 women were serious about being a part of their lives.

Many of the girls say it’s about time an effort like this was geared toward them.

Since the start of the school year, they noticed the fellas getting a lot of attention: Mayor Ras Baraka has visited the school to talk to the boys. Representatives from his My Brother’s Keeper mentoring program were there, too. Then a crowd of men showed up at the start of a school day to greet the boys and speak with them.

It’s all part of Baraka’s campaign to get men involved with young Newark males — to change a culture of violence that many of them get caught up in.

The girls say they understand what the boys are up against, but, hey, being a teenager cuts both ways in their minds.

“Girls need help, (too),” says Hana Covington, a 16-year-old junior.

She and several friends, including Myesha Green, 17, and Kenyetta Baker, 16, approached principal Lisa McDonald and wanted to know what was in store for them.

McDonald says the girls at Weequahic need just as much support as the boys. There’s bullying and molestation, abusive relationships and social isolation when they try to fit in. Some kids are teen mothers, others are homeless or they’re dealing with mental illness.

“We’re reacting to it as a school, but at the end of the day, whose really talking to them to really get them through it?” she says.

That’s where the women come in. Rev. Louise Scott-Rountree, manager of Newark’s Office of Clergy Affairs, heard from the school that the girls felt left out. She got the women together — and there they were at 8 a.m. Tuesday, doling out enthusiastic encouragement at the school’s entrance.

Myesha Green got a hug and a kiss, and described the welcome as sweet and sincere.

Heartfelt stories shared by the women helped the girls to appreciate the visit even more. Among the many messages of inspiration that the women told the girls was to love themselves and that the past doesn’t determine their future.

The girls seemed to be convinced after listening to Valerie Seymoure, of East Orange, who told them of how her father molested her when she was a child. At one point, she explained that she was on drugs, too, but turned her life around through faith. Seymoure now runs “Beauty for Ashes,” a nonprofit community organization that helps the homeless and people with HIV/AIDS.

“So many of them (girls) are being molested and they aren’t telling anybody,” Seymoure says. “If I can help one of them, then may be they can tell their counselor.”

Standing in a small circle of girls after the program, Kisha Baldwin explained how she’s now pursuing her doctorate, despite not being able to read well when she was 13 years old. She is now the executive coordinator of the mayor’s My Brother’s Keeper program.

Alexis Trusty, with tears in her eyes, apologized to the girls — saying the women should have come long before now to be with them. She told them how she once ran the streets of Newark with the wrong crowd, but overcame her difficulties and now serves as a city youth coordinator.

“I love you she,” she told the girls. “You are a reflection of me.”

The girls were looking for this kind of truth, a prerequisite they needed to open up and share their stories.

After being singled out, Marisa says she would like to hang with Johnson. Who wouldn’t? That day in gym was Marisa’s birthday and Johnson had everybody singing to her.

Plus, Johnson kept her word that she would stay in touch.

She called Marisa’s mother yesterday morning to introduce herself and to promise she would always be in the young girl’s corner.

View this story on nj.com.

Weequahic Boys’ & Girls’ Track Teams win NJSIAA State Sectional Outdoor Track Championships


Congratulations to the boys’ and girls’ track teams at Weequahic High School for capturing the NJSIAA State Sectional Outdoor Track Championships on Saturday May, 24, 2015!

Having both genders from the same school win a state track title is a rarity and has not been accomplished in Newark since the 80’s.

Coaches Kycied Zahir, Eddie Greene and Mahdi Sumter should be commended for their guidance in helping the Indians bring home the title.

Check out photos of the Boys’ Track Team and Girls’ Track Team.

Weequahic Girls’ Track Wins First Ever State Relays Title

Congratulations to the Weequahic Girls Indoor Track Team and to head coach Kcyied Zahir on winning the school’s first ever State title in the NJSIAA Group 1 Relays. The victory at the state meet marks the first time a girls team from Newark has won a state relay title since 1997.

The team effort was bolstered by performances from Senior Yaminah Smith’s anchoring of the 4×400 relay team as well as freshman Carla Hines 0.01 second lean-in win over Metuchen in the 4×200 relay.

Capturing the state title follows on the heels of Weequahic winning its second straight Super Essex Conference American Division title in December.

“Everyone has worked so hard for so long for this,” said Zahir, in his 12th year as head coach at Weequahic. “I can’t tell you how much this means to me, the girls, the program and the city of Newark. I am so proud of what these girls did today. They were amazing.”

View this story on nj.com

Weequahic High School’s Sidney Gopre` to Sign to Play Football for Rutgers on National Signing Day

Newark, NJ, February 6, 2014 – Newark Public Schools football star, Sidney Gopre` will sign his Intent Letter to attend and play for the prestigious Rutgers University football team on Thursday, February 6, at 1:30 p.m., at his school, Weequahic High School, 279 Chancellor Avenue, Newark, in the presence of his teammates, head coach and school administrators.

Sidney, who was named the Star-Ledger State Football Defensive Player of the Year for 2013, will have the opportunity to play football for state university Rutgers, which will become an elite Big Ten Conference team on July 1 this year. The signing will be part of a journey which started when Sidney played football for the first time in fifth grade and soon after started studying taped NFL games for the best moves, a practice that has endured.

“We are very proud that Sidney is one of the elite athletes committing on National Signing Day, the day when high school athletes across the nation sign official documents to attend and play for institutions of higher education” said Weequahic High School Head Coach Brian Logan.

WHO: Student football player Sidney Gopre, Principal Faheem Ellis, Head Football Coach Brian Logan, Vice Principal Elizabeth Aranjo, Weequahic HS Football Team

WHAT: Weequahic High School Senior and Star-Ledger State Football Defensive Player of the Year Sidney Gopre, will sign his Intent Letter to commit to and play football for Rutgers University.

WHEN: Wednesday, February 6, 2014, 1:30 p.m.

WHERE: Weequahic High School, 279 Chancellor Avenue, Newark, NJ 07112

(Goldsmith Avenue entrance, proceed to Community Room where the event is taking place)