WHY I SPEAK

Anthony Jones - Arlington County (Va)

For Anthony Jones, joining the Speakers Bureau was a natural extension of the community service he had been doing for years. Jones is a retired Lieutenant Colonel of the US Air Force, for which he did civil engineering and construction. He now does the same kind of work for the Arlington County, VA government, as well as some private land development and home renovations. He is a graduate of James M. Bennett High School and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, which he attended with an engineering career in mind. He was also shaped by the 1960’s ideas of self-awareness in cities and black awareness, specifically.

Before joining the Speakers Bureau, he had spoken in high schools on his own, and at career days. While at a school one day, he saw a flyer for the Speakers Bureau and with some encouragement from neighborhood kids, he signed up. He liked the structure the program provided, and felt that the possibilities of scholarships and other rewards would back up his messages.

When he speaks, he tries to connect to students by framing the talk in the context of the class he’s visiting. If it’s a Physics class, for example, he’ll throw in some number crunching; in a Literature class, he’ll discuss poetry. He also prefers to go into a school with five or six other speakers, because “kids talk to each other” and will have conversations about what they learned. Since each speaker discusses the same thing from a different perspective, students in different classes will each have something unique to share.

For Jones, speaking to students is about opening “their eyes to another perspective” and showing them how much they have in common with each other. He likes the challenge of getting through to students, who at first “are not willing to communicate with you.” He’ll begin a session by asking the students to write their three main goals in life. He asks them to share, assuming that few, if any, will jump at the opportunity. Jones goes on to pose examples, such as finishing high school and getting married, and asks who included them in their lists. He says that by the time he’s finished, he will have covered the goals of 80% of the students. This helps them understand that their classmates are in the same situation they are.

Throughout his talk, he discusses themes like personal development and creating a framework for excellence, as well as the more down-to-earth concept of financial responsibility, which he takes very seriously. He tries to find out what students want to do with their lives, especially whether they really want to go to college, and helps them get over the academic and financial barriers to accomplishing those goals. Part of this is having them take ownership of their futures by doing things such as qualifying for Maryland Scholars if that’s what they want, and “making that a part of their master plan.”

As he speaks, Jones thinks back to his own childhood, and tries to give young people a foundation to be bold and assertive. “If someone had spoken to me early on, I would have gotten a better perspective of what I need to do instead of playing catch-up,” he says.

 

Join Anthony in the classroom this year >