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.
