Alan T. Sugiyama was a civil rights chief within the Asian American neighborhood. The school named in his honor is working to provide all college students a good probability.
SEATTLE — A high school program in south Seattle renamed after an area Asian civil rights chief is aiming to bridge fairness gaps for at-risk youth – nevertheless, many individuals do not know the school even exists.
Alan T. Sugiyama (ATS) High School does education to its personal beat. The school was named after a outstanding determine from Seattle’s Central District. It sits on the nook of Rainier Avenue and South Cloverdale Street.
The Sugiyama household lived via the Japanese incarceration camps, which helped form Alan Sugiyama to empower these in want of a second probability.
“He was always trying to pave the way for Asian Americans,” stated considered one of Sugiyama’s daughters, Alysa Sugiyama.
Sugiyama was the primary Asian American elected to the Seattle School Board in 1989.
“Alan Sugiyama set the bar,” stated Dr. Joe Powell, the principal of ATS.
The district modified the school’s title from South Lake High School to Alan T. Sugiyama High School through the pandemic, but it surely didn’t get a variety of consideration. “No one even knew for a long time we existed,” stated Powell.
Powell stated Seattle Public Schools noticed a necessity to make sure racial equality of their school rooms.
“We can’t keep doing it like we always done it, it’s broken,” stated Powell. “The inequalities that historically plagued us as a country.”
He believes arising with new methods to study, just like the work they’re doing at ATS can result in “educational justice.”
“We are remixing education, we are correcting what has not been successful for all of our young people,” stated Powell.
“Knowing you got people that look like you, it’s like a little bit of a community,” stated Genesis Clark, a junior at ATS. He believes the school is an incredible place for college students who’ve lots happening at residence.
“They actually care about what you have going on outside of school,” stated Clark.
ATS gives a nontraditional academic expertise.
“We all know that, that we have now a variety of college students which are falling behind, falling via the cracks that we’re dropping, which are disconnecting from our colleges of studying,” stated Powell.
He believes the school addresses the wants of scholars furthest from academic justice by offering a various school, smaller class sizes and a give attention to the humanities.
“We got to make it right,” stated Dr. Powell. “We got an obligation to fix it.”
Seattle Public Schools estimates on common ATS ranges from 80 to 115 college students yearly; round 99% of them are college students of colour and 93% are experiencing poverty. Compared to the Seattle Public School District general, practically half of the greater than 52,000 college students are white.
“If issues had been all good, proper? We would not even must remix education,” stated Powell. “For us to say that. We’re all good. That could be a lie. And I’m not going to sit down right here and lie.”
Powell is vital of the district he works for as a result of he is aware of that education is important and transformative.
“I grew up in Detroit,” stated Powell. “They gave me a diploma and I could barely read.”
After he graduated, Powell enlisted within the navy. At simply 20 years outdated one thing particular occurred. He met a instructor that believed in him for the primary time. “First teacher. Been married to her but 31 years,” stated Powell. “Yup, I’ve been married 31 years.”
Powell stated his spouse satisfied him to use to Seattle Central College and he initially threw the appliance within the rubbish. However, she dug it up and satisfied him to provide education one other probability.
“The similar lady who reached within the rubbish is standing by my aspect whereas I’m getting my doctorate,” stated Powell. “It doesn’t get any better than that. That’s real.”
Powell’s story conjures up his college students. “He tries to make things comfortable, fun and engaged,” stated Clark.
Sugiyama’s daughters, Alysa and Mari Sugiyama stated ATS is serving to to maintain their father’s legacy alive.
“He was the dad that cooked us breakfast every Sunday,” stated Alysa Sugiyama. “He was the enjoyable dad, who needed to go do the whole lot, ran out to the ice cream truck to get ice cream.”
Super Al, as he was identified, was identified with most cancers in 2014.
“Just to see someone go from Super Al to someone that can’t eat,” stated Alysa Sugiyama. “Food was his passion. He said, ‘If I can’t eat then there’s no point in living.’ For him to need help was really hard.”
Alan Sugiyama died in 2017, at simply 67-years-old. In his honor, Alysa made a reminiscence of a lifetime on the school named after him.
“I had my wedding there,” stated Alysa Sugiyama. “I wanted someplace significant as a result of it was COVID.”
Even although their father by no means stepped foot in ATS, each daughters imagine he could be happy with what the school brings to the neighborhood, because it continues to “remix” what education may appear to be.
“Our dad by no means did something for the glory, but it surely was at all times about how can we assist others,” stated Mari Sugiyama. “Sometimes your legacy is that you helped others who came after you and you didn’t even know it.”