Walk with Excellence celebrates graduating Black high school students in Toronto's west end

June 9, 2023

There was a time when Muhammad Abdul felt lonely and unsure there was a place for him in this world.

Those fears were allayed last year after participating in the Walk With Excellence for graduating high school students in the city’s west end.

“Before the walk, I saw students who attended middle school with me that I had not seen for quite a while,” he said. “It was great seeing them again. Then when I looked around and realised there was a community of support, including teachers that were pulling for us to do well and celebrating our success, I felt good.”

The one kilometre walk starts at C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute, where Abdul graduated from, and concludes at York University with a celebration of student success.

“During the walk, I remember thinking this is the future and the generation who will bring change,” said the Queen’s University Mechanical Engineering student. “It was really impactful to me.”

Ivan Correa, who just completed his first year of post-high school studies at the University of British Columbia (UBC) where he is pursuing Biomedical Engineering studies, also represented C.W Jefferys in the 2022 celebratory walk.

Ivan Correa (Photo by Ron Fanfair)

“I felt uplifted as I made that trek with fellow graduates preparing to make their mark in this world,” said the recipient of a UBC Beyond Tomorrow scholarship that supports undergraduate students with funding up to $20,000 annually. “I understood that I was among students doing great things and that there are people in our community who have our backs and are letting us know that in a public way.”

As the host school, C.W Jeffreys Principal Shelina Kassam is proud of the honour.

“This is a way to walk into the future,” the six-year Principal said. “It is also an opportunity for the community to celebrate along and besides the schools. I know the students in our school look forward to this and can’t wait to participate. There is a buzz and they are excited. It is not just the ones that are graduating but those whose time will come in a year or two to be part of the walk.”

There are 180 graduates this year.

Of the student population of just over 800, about 33 per cent are Black and 26 per cent observe the Muslim faith.

Shelina Kassam (Photo by Ron Fanfair)

After graduating from York University, Kassam started her teaching career at Oakdale Park Middle School before going to Emery Collegiate where she spent 12 years.

Promoted to Vice-Principal and assigned to Westview Collegiate Institute, she was also at Central Technical School and L’Amoreaux Collegiate Institute before joining C.W Jefferys two years ago.

“To have the opportunity to come back to this community, be a Principal at this school as the second Black female to hold the position after Charis Newton-Thompson and be part of a monumental event celebrating student success is remarkable,” she added.

The other participating schools are Emery, Westview Centennial and Downsview that all have Black female Principals.

“This walk creates the opportunity for the four schools in this community to come together,” said Downsview Principal Saraya Elwin. “Often times, we hear of so many things happening here and students are separated. This is a platform to celebrate the greatness here which there is a lot of and we want to continue to highlight it. It takes a village to raise our students and we work together to make sure our students are doing well.”

Saraya Elwin (Photo by Ron Fanfair)

She has been associated with the Walk With Excellence since the beginning 10 years ago.

“It started when I was a teacher at Westview and continued when I was a Vice-Principal at C.W Jefferys and now I am at Downsview,” Elwin pointed out, “It’s pure joy for me. For us as staff, it’s great to see such a high level of happiness and enthusiasm among the students in a positive space.”

The other Black female Principals are Rosalie Griffith at Westview Centennial and Maria Palermo at Emery.

Author and bookstore co-owner Itah Sadu conceived the idea for the Walk With Excellence while working on a United Way Toronto Youth Challenge Fund Initiative – Educational Attainment West.

“The agencies in the west end of the city were looking for new ideas to celebrate student success,” she recalled. “They came up with a job fair to be held at a fancy downtown hotel. After some thought, they realized they were not doing anything different. All that was happening was that this fair was coming from Jane-Finch to downtown.”

Itah Sadu (Photo by Ron Fanfair)

That idea was scrapped and a decision was made to devise a new plan.

On the drive home from that meeting, Sadu and community liaison Shannon Ashman paused while driving through the Jane-Finch community.

“In our imagination, we could see Charles Roach and Dudley Laws walking by saying, ‘public demonstration, public demonstration’,” the raconteur said. “But in the words of the Toronto District School Board, what was actually being said is ‘the Board demonstrates student student excellence and academic achievement’.

“When we thought we saw that, we went to C.W Jeffreys and asked a student if he would take part in a parade if there was one planned to celebrate him. ‘No Miss, nobody is ever going to do that for us’ was his quick response. Assuming there is a parade, I inquired if he would participate and he said he would not and nobody was going to pay for that. Assuming all the conditions are met, I asked what he would want to see. Popular and smart kids speak and not adults and real food instead of box lunches he told me. We went to Downsview and Westview and the students said the same thing.”

Sadu visited Monday Gala, who was the Principal at C.W Jefferys, and made a compelling case for the Walk With Excellence.

“He loved the idea but advised me to sell it to educators as something that would involve a lot of work from them and there would be a cost attached to it,” she recounted. “He said just communicate the idea. I went to the schools without an appointment and asked the Principals if they would be okay if we were to do this with their schools. They all said yes and the rest is history.”

In the last decade, the York Centre for Education and Community, York University Faculty Association, CUPE Local 4400 and the Festival Management Committee (FMC) have supported the walk that takes place on June 13 this year.