GUIDE RIGHT
THE NATIONAL SERVICE
PROGRAM
Guide Right is the program for the educational and
occupational guidance of youth, primarily inspirational and informational in
character. Its reach extends to
high schools and colleges alike. In
the latter, giving due attention to the needs of the undergraduate Brothers.
Conceived in 1922 by Leon W. Stewart, and suggested at the
twelfth Grand Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi, Guide Right became the Fraternity’s
National Service Program. Jesse
Jerome Peters, later to become the eighth Grand Polemarch, was the chairman of
the committee, during the administration of W. Ellis Stewart as Grand Polemarch.
Guide Right is administered by a National Director and a
Guide Right Commission. The
Commission consists of a Director and 12 Provincial Coordinators.
This Commission serves to evaluate the needs of the African-American
community and address them with service.
A.
Kappa League
The Kappa Alpha Psi Instructional
League is primarily alumni chapter projects but many undergraduate chapters have
taken on the same task. It is an
organization oriented toward helping young men of high school age to grow and
develop their leadership talents in every phase of human endeavor.
It provides challenging and rewarding experiences both through academia
and sport. Since the fundamental
purpose of Kappa Alpha Psi is ACHIEVEMENT, it is the Fraternity’s purpose to
help these young men to achieve worthy goals for themselves and to make
constructive contributions to their community when leadership roles become their
responsibility.
There are three Kappa League
awards named after Brothers who have been outstanding in their Guide Right
efforts. The awards listed below
are presented at Provincial meetings:
·
The Leon W. Stewart Award for the most outstanding individual
Kappa League participant.
·
The Bert V. Wadkins Award for the most outstanding Kappa
Brother, who is the Director of Kappa League Club.
·
The Jay Crosby Award for the most outstanding Kappa League
Club.
B.
Student of the Year Pageant
The Student of the Year Pageant is
given to both undergraduate Brothers and Kappa Leaguers who are achieving above
and beyond the rest. There are
certain characteristics prevalent in all men destined to achieve in life.
They include scholarship, talent, community involvement, poise and
appearance, career preparation, and awareness.
The high school participants are to be sponsored by an Alumni Chapter and
Undergraduate Chapters sponsor their own Brothers.
C.
Guide Right on Campus
In the infancy of Kappa Alpha Psi
Fraternity, Incorporated, when chapters were blossoming and flourishing
throughout the length and breadth of the United States, both individual and
collective efforts were being made to incorporate meaningful programs into
various local chapter activities.
The very foundation of Guide Right
can be traced to the St. Louis Alumni Chapter and Leon W. Stewart, who
rightfully id dubbed “the Father of the Guide Right Movement.”
According to THE HISTORY OF
KAPPA ALPHA PSI, soon after the St. Louis Alumni Chapter’s beginning in
1921, Brothers Leon W. Stewart and J. Jerome Peters were assigned to study the
needs of active chapters for guidance and funds to devise a “meaningful and
practical” approach to the problem.
Ultimately, Brother Stewart, a
YMCA secretary, proposed a program of guidance to be designed as Guide Right,
with the purpose of assisting high school males to choose and pursue useful
careers consistent with the Fraternity’s purpose.
This program was immediately adopted at the local level and the 12th
Grand Chapter adopted Guide Right as the national service program.
The focus of Guide Right, from its
inception, was to provide scholarships to the needy and talented students, and
to inform young people in the professions and career options.
The basic concepts of Guide
Right may be summarized as follows:
1.
To help youth, especially those of high school age, in the selection of
courses leading to vocations compatible with their aptitudes, interests, and
personalities.
2.
To assist students, while they are in training, to get started in
employment, and to progress successfully in their chosen fields.
3.
To assist parents in the handling of their children by giving them
opportunities to talk over their problems with those whom know and are
successful in their chosen vocations.
4.
To afford the less fortunate youths a respite from the drudgery of the
streets, through sponsored entertainment and cultural enrichment.
5.
To inform youth of the values of higher education, of assistance
available for continued pursuits, scholarships, loans, professional counseling,
fellowship, etc.; of various occupational and professional opportunities; and of
current lab or demands and the trends on the labor market, supply rewards, etc.
Kappa Alpha Psi’s commitment to
young people is well established, and our Guide Right efforts, both individual
and collective, can continue to serve as a mechanism to “inspire service in
the public interest.”
Pine Bluff Chapter of Kappa Alpha
Psi Fraternity, Inc.
Guide
Right Program Pine
Bluff Kappa League
In spring of 1997, Demetrius Deloach, a member of
the Gamma Sigma Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., at the University
of Arkansas at Pine Bluff developed a strong desire to help male students mature
into men. In addition, he also
wanted to help those who were underprivileged to matriculate from poverty into
colleges and universities. During the spring of 1997, in an effort to put his idea into
action he went to two of the local high schools in Pine Bluff. With the help of some teachers at these local high schools, young men
were selected to be apart of Kappa League. After Mr. Deloach finished setting the guidelines and the program up, he
would then need some help working with these young men; so he called on three
Pine Bluff Alumni members, Derrick Denny, Jr., Larry Matthews, Jr., and Ralph
Owens, Jr. During the summer Kappa
League and their advisors worked hard to help this project materialized by
having several fund-raisers. They
did such activities such as washing cars, selling raffle tickets, and dances.
In addition, the advisors planned trips, clean-ups, nursing home visits,
bar-b-cues, and set up a tutoring program. They also established what is called League Night, where the advisors
meet with the parents and their children and give them an overview of the
program.