Oh how I love Grove Park Elementary because it first loved me

I walked the halls of Grove Park Elementary School as a student grades 1-5 between 1981 and 1986.  I had some of the most amazing teachers and the greatest principal on Earth.  I will never forget my principal Sylvia Jones.  I thought that she was the tallest woman in the world that gave the tightest hugs.  She always greeted me with a smile and spoke life into me.

My first grade teacher was Mrs. Weems and my second grade teacher was Mrs. Jacobs.  I flew on an airplane for the first time in the 2nd grade as a field trip.  We flew round trip to Charlotte.  My third grade teacher was Mrs. Blue.  She taught me how to speak Spanish and we won the state wide Spanish Festival competition.  For some reason, I can't remember who my fourth grade teacher was.  I'm getting old.  Lol!  My fifth grade teacher was Mrs. Finch.  She pushed me to another level academically.

Atlanta Public Schools (APS) was under the leadership of Dr. Alonzo Crim when I was a child.  Mr. Crim created a culture of academic excellence supported by the Atlanta business community that was referred to as a "Community of Believers."  As an APS student, I achieved at a high level academically because I never knew that failure was an option.

My mother and father were awesome! On a regular basis, my mother would tell me that I would one day be a respected leader.  I had the privilege of watching a dedicated father go to work everyday to ensure that the dreams that he and my mother had for me could be fulfilled.

My mother Gail Stewart and I at her alma mater Booker T. Washington High School. 

So in 2012, I am recognized as one of the top baseball swing coaches in America and Georgia Trend Magazines 2011 40 Brightest People Under the Age of 40.  I graduated with honors from Westlake High School and attended Georgia State University on a full academic/athletic scholarship.  My childhood dream of becoming a professional baseball player was realized in 1996 when I was drafted by the Chicago Cubs.  Now I am the owner of Diamond Directors Player Development, a business that I share with my wife that provides the blue print of success for amateur and professional baseball players across America.  How did all of this happen for me?

2011 GA Trend Magazine 40 Under 40. From left: Bill McLellan, Janet McLellan, Caitlin Sims (Grove Park Principal), Kelli Stewart, Mackenna and Mackenzi Stewart, CJ. Stewart, Steve White and Linda Rothermel.

I was born to amazing Christian parents that partnered with the Atlanta Public School System. A stranger at the time named T.J. Wilson pulled me to the side as a freshman at Westlake High School one day and said "you are going to play this game at the highest level."  His words became action and before you know it, I was receiving professional baseball instruction, playing competitive baseball and being exposed to collegiate and professional scouts.  This is my story and an example of how Atlantans effectively serve each other to make this a great city.

My way of telling everyone that has helped me thank you is through my non-profit organization L.E.A.D., Inc.  Our mission is to provide at-risk inner city males with access to higher education and civic engagement through baseball.

Did you know that...

1. APS currently graduates 34% of it's African-American males from high school?

2. APS currently serves 53,000 students and 80% of those students live at or below the poverty level?

3. APS students living in the 30310, 30315 and 30318 zip codes grow up to represent 80% of the Georgia State Prison population?

There are several social and economic reasons why these numbers exist.  It is not for a lack of competency and love from the APS teachers.  APS still is a great place to learn and develop like it was for me.

The current principal at Grove Park Elementary School is Caitlin Sims and she is Mrs. Sylvia Jones all over again.  Mrs. Sims is more than a principal, she is a community leader.  I need your help to empower her parents with the creation of the Stewart Family Resource Center at Grove Park Elementary School.  Atlanta is an international city that has solved problems throughout the world.  Let's make sure that we continue to take care of home.  Serving others is the Atlanta Way!

Hanging out with Caitlin Sims and her awesome husband at the Braves game 2012

Below is a wish list from the Grove Park Elementary School Parents.  Contact Leslie Meshad at LMeshad@Comcast.net by Monday, November 12th to make donations.  Please join the Stewart Family and the Grove Park families on Friday, November 16th as we bring the Stewart Family Resource Center to life at Grove Park Elementary School (20 Evelyn Way, NW, Atlanta, GA 30318).  Thank you in advance for your support!

Grove Park Family Resource Center Wish List

1. Rated G movies and/or learning videos

2. Hands on toys for toddlers

3. Toy box

4. Coloring books and crayons

5. Children's table and chairs (primary colors if possible)

6. 6 x 8 vibrant rug for children's corner (primary colors if possible)

7. 8 x 10 rug for parent area

8. Love seat or small sofa and coffee table

9. Sideboard for coffee and snack service

10. Lamps

11. Coffee maker and supplies

12. Crock Pot

13. Serving utensils

14. Plants

15. Parenting magazines

16. Employment resources (books on making resumes, how to interview, etc.)

17. Crystal Springs water

18. Framed art with images of family

19. Women's/Men's business and casual clothing and shoes

Grove Park Elementary School
20 Evelyn Way, NW
Atlanta, GA 30318
(404) 802-7750 Direct

In 38 days, the L.E.A.D. Ambassadors will be officially announced

There is a little more than two weeks remaining in our fall Legacy League.  Come check us out at Booker T. Washington High School.  Our final game is Saturday, November 17th.  Marcus Hodge continues to perform at a high level.  He recently returned from a recruiting visit at Grambling State University.  Wesley Clements has been accepted and received an academic scholarship from Young Harris College.  After the Legacy League, the 2013 L.E.A.D. Ambassadors class will be announced.  It won't be just a regular announcement.  If you know L.E.A.D., you know that we do it big.

We are currently serving 70 (25 Middle School and 45 High School) Atlanta Public School students in the Legacy League.  The forty-five high school LEADers are competing for one of the 20 Ambassadors roster positions.  This is truly an honor and a privilege.  Ambassadors are considered based on our four pillars of excellence: academics, athletics, service/civic engagement and exposure.  Their involvement in these four pillars are measured with Civic Stats(tm).  Being a L.E.A.D. Ambassador is an earned opportunity.

Legacy League practice at Booker T. Washington High School

On Friday, November 30th, the Ambassadors will take part in a press conference at M. Agnes Jones Elementary School with over 500 students in attendance.  On Saturday, December 1st, we will host our 6th Annual Celebrity Baseball Clinic at Turner Field.  The Ambassadors will serve as clinicians along with Dexter Fowler and Jason Heyward while serving over 100 students across metro Atlanta.  On Sunday, December 2nd, the Ambassadors will be officially announced to the city of Atlanta at Turner Field's 755 Club at our 3rd Annual Dinner With Champions Awards Celebration.  There will be over 300 guest in attendance with Chuck Dowdle serving as our emcee and Vince Dooley as our keynote speaker.  Click here to get your tickets for L.E.A.D. Weekend.

L.E.A.D. Ambassadors at the Jimmy Carter Center in Atlanta

Baseball turned into hide and seek

In my book, leadership starts with serving others. When I was young, I never thought that I could have an impact on anyone else unless I had a lot of money.  Martin Luther King Jr. once said that "everyone can be great because everyone can serve." Hearing that quote as a teenager changed my life.  We want young men to be great but in order for that to happen, L.E.A.D. provides consistent opportunities to serve.

On yesterday (October 9th), several of our LEADers were able to join me for a day of service and education at Sheltering Arms Early Education and Family Centers.  We had so much fun.  Here was our itinerary.

8:45AM Arrival at Sheltering Arms.  The fall is definitely here in Atlanta.  It was freezing outside.

9:00AM We were greeted by Steven White, Center Director-Early Learning & Resource Center at Dunbar Sheltering Arms. Steven is an Atlanta native and a baseball fan.  I am thoroughly impressed with his leadership.

9:30AM We began reading with the Pre-K students.  These are some bright students that have amazing communication skills.  The teachers are just as amazing and are invested in the success of their students.  This is personal for them.

Will Harris (Maynard Jackson High School) and Tyquavious Noland (Maynard Jackson High School) reading to students.

We had an opportunity to teach the basics of baseball.  The students were very interested and engaged.

Carlos Twine (New Schools at Carver) teaching the fundamentals of baseball.

11:00AM It's time for our new baseball fans to apply what they learned on the baseball field.  L.E.A.D. provides curriculum based instruction to our middle and high school student-athletes and they are prepared to teach others.  They are truly Ambassadors.

We started out with a good stretch.

Then the games began.  They focused on playing the actual game for a full 45 minutes then they wanted me to play hide and seek.  That was fun but it wore me out!

Marquese Sinkfield (Henry W. Grady High School) giving a helping hand.

12:00PM Lunch time.  We ate it quickly because my LEADers chose to walk the 2 miles to Turner Field instead of riding the bus with the Sheltering Arms kids.  This was also great for me to spend some individual time with our LEADers.  You can learn a lot about someone in a 2 mile walk.

In route to Turner Field crossing the overpass.

Along the way, we took a photo with the Olympic Rings in the back ground.  Atlanta is such an amazing city and has so much to offer if you are invested.  Service and civic engagement provides a sense of investment and belonging to our LEADers.

We are Atlanta!

1:00PM Let the tour begin.  There is so much to know about Turner Field and the Atlanta Braves.  The kids were engaged and had so much fun.  For some of the them, the escalator ride was the best.

It was so cool for them to catch an inside view of this massive structure that they drive by almost everyday.

They hung out in the broadcast book and heard stories about Skip Carey.

They hung out in the visitors dugout.  I can't believe that we lost to the Cardinals.  We will get them next year.

2:00PM The tour is over but the Atlanta Braves and L.E.A.D. have new fans.

The Pre-K students from Sheltering Arms Dunbar Center will matriculate into Paul L. Dunbar Elementary School then Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School and then graduate from Maynard Holbrook Jackson High School.  L.E.A.D. has programming at all of these schools through our partnership with Atlanta Public School. The current high school graduation rate for African-American males in APS is 34%.  There are so many social and economic reasons why the numbers are so low.  It takes a village to raise a child.  Since 2007, L.E.A.D. has graduated 100% of it's Ambassadors while 100% have enrolled in college.  90% of our Ambassadors have enrolled in college with baseball scholarship opportunities.

L.E.A.D. is more than bats and balls and success is not coincidental.  Come check out L.E.A.D. in action.  Click here for upcoming games and events.

"The Kids That Are Always On The Baseball Field At Booker T. Washington High School"

This has been a great Legacy League Fall season thus far.  We are in our fifth week at Booker T. Washington High School serving over 70 Atlanta Public Schools (APS) middle and high school students.

Today we began our instructional games for two of our middle school teams as well as two of our high school teams.  Our Prospect Team played at East Cobb in a tournament.

In addition to our games, we received a day of exposure provided by a supporter of L.E.A.D. that purchased 90 tickets for our LEADers and their parents to attend the Georgia State University vs. University of New Hampshire football game at the Georgia Dome.

We walked 1.5 miles to the Dome from Booker T. Washington High School.  Of course there were several of our young and athletic LEADers complaining about walking.  I remember walking everywhere when I was a kid. What's wrong with these kids.  Lol!

Our special guest for today was eight football players from Joseph E. Brown Middle School.  Brown Middle School is one of new partner schools in the L.E.A.D. Middle School Baseball Development League.  We begin to track all of  middle school student-athletes in our partner schools in October and these young men will be joining us on the baseball field in the spring of 2013.

As we walked along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, I was reminded that this is the same street that Dr. King walked on as a child and adult.  We also passed by historic Morris Brown College and Clark-Atlanta University.  There is so much history in the inner city of Atlanta.  We were attending a football game but it was bigger than that. Several of our LEADers will be graduating from Georgia State University in the future.  They will be attending GSU football games as alums.  They will be donating money to university.

It was so important for us to walk today so that people in the community could recognize who were are.    We want to be seen as more than the "kids that are always on the baseball at Washington High School." We need fans within the community to support our LEADers.  We are committed to L.E.A.D. Today in order to Change Tomorrow.  There were several business owners and patrons that stop to ask us about our organization.  That was a great feeling.

We were escorted in the Dome with Tyler Reichwein who serves as the General Manager of Ticket Sales for IMG Worldwide.  We followed Tyler to mid field to take a group photo.  What an awesome feeling to be on the field of our Atlanta Falcons.  By this time, our LEADers had their eyes wide open.  For several of them, this was their first time inside the Dome.

After feeling like celebrities on the field, Tyler allowed us to spend some time in the Verizon Club.  This gave Kelli and I the opportunity to share our experiences as middle and high school students as well as college students when we attended Georgia State University.

Hanging out at the Verizon Club

My staff and I are equipped to provide a meaningful baseball development experience every time our LEADers step on the baseball field.  In order to convert their raw baseball talent to skills that will be attractive to college baseball scouts, they must have confidence.  When I was a kid, that confidence came by way of exposure.  I saw so much of Atlanta as a youth and I always felt connected.  I always felt like an asset to the city.  I want my LEADers to know that your success benefits Atlanta and the entire state of Georgia.

We are Georgia's Own!

Inner City Atlanta Baseball In The Fall?

God has blessed L.E.A.D. once again with great participation in our Fall Legacy League.  We have 70  young men (LEADers) that have made the commitment to develop as servant leaders, students and baseball players.

Graduation Coach Louis Rhodes speaking to our LEADers

I love the fall because of cooler temperatures and SEC/ACC football.  The fall is dominated by football but if you drive by the Booker T. Washington High School Moore-Clendenon Baseball Field during the week, you will hear bats cracking.  Click here to check out our remaining Legacy League schedule.

Houston Astros prospect Chris Epps came to visit and mentor our LEADers at yesterday's practice.  I began training Chris at the age of 15 at my Diamond Directors training facility.  He recently graduated as a student/athlete from Clemson University.  He is an amazing talent on the field.  We hope to see him in the coming years when the Astros come to Turner Field to face the Braves.

We will host our second community service project of the fall this Saturday at Booker T. Washington High School.  The following Saturday, October 6th, we will walk to the Georgia Dome from B.T. Washington to watch the Georgia State University football game.  I can't wait to hear all of the complaining from all of these able body young men as they walk two miles. Lol. We are so much more than bats and balls.

We are always in need of volunteers and fans so make plans to join us for a practice, game or service project.  Click here to view our schedule.

Catching Dreams at Atlanta Public Schools

Fall is officially here tomorrow and a drastic change of weather will follow. This is that time of year when I catch colds.

Rendell Jackson, Atlanta Public Schools Office of Athletics and I visited Bazoline E. Usher/Collier Height Elementary School this morning and got a tour of the building from Principal Gregory Parks and Assistant Principal Jerry Parker III. I was able to catch some dreams today.

This school is named in the honor of Mrs. Usher who was the first African-American Supervisor for Atlanta Public Schools. She lived to be 106 years of age and her legacy of quality education for youth in Atlanta lives through Mr. Parks. 

Mr. Parks is full of energy and believes in creating a first class learning experience for the students, parents and teachers. This isn't a school, this is a place where students dream and the staff makes them come true. The full reality hasn't been revealed yet but I'm drinking the "Kool-Aid". Thousands of students will graduate in the future from APS high schools coming from Usher/Collier Heights Elementary School. 

Next week, the students will beautify the school by planting flowers at the entrance of the school. I'm looking forward to getting my hands dirty with them. They also have a dynamic leadership academy that allows life to be spoken to the young men in the mornings before school. I will be a part of that inspiration beginning next month. I'm looking forward to being empowered.

Principal Parks truly cares about his staff. He has an on site fitness center for them. That is awesome.

The thing that really blew me away is his vision to utilize large space in the rear of the school for a golf driving range. Now that is creative. The students will be able to develop an athletic skill that can open so many doors for education and exposure. 

I am a "Dream Catcher" so being at Usher/Collier Heights Elementary was empowering to me. Atlanta Public Schools will once again rise as a district of academic and athletic excellence. It requires the creativity and a "make it happen" attitude from its leaders.

One of many words of inspiration throughout B.E. Usher Elementary School.

May God bless you Principal Parks and Mr. Parker. You are doing a great thing for our city. 

It All Comes Down To Eastlake

Golf is an amazing and nostalgic sport that I have grown to respect.  I consider myself a good athlete but this sport can not be mastered.  It requires so much time and mental focus.  Seems like it would be easy to hit a ball that isn't moving.  This is the game that I play when I need a taste of humble pie.

Like Major League Baseball and the NFL, the PGA has a season.  The Super Bowl of the PGA is the FedEx Cup that is played annually in Eastlake Atlanta, GA.  This week, the best golfers in the entire world is in my hometown of Atlanta.  This is the last golf tournament of the season and it all comes down to Eastlake.

Our L.E.A.D. supporter Belk made it possible for us to invite 18 young men from The B.E.S.T. Academy to Eastlake for this golf experience.

One of the young gentlemen from B.E.S.T. came up to me with a firm handshake and looked me in my eyes and said "Thank you for providing this experience.  I have never done anything like this in my life."  It became real to me that we were doing a good thing.

At the 18th Hole at Eastlake Golf Club

It made me think about how Atlanta can welcome the best golfers to our city and yet the best of our city can't see our guest like Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson.  The B.E.S.T. Academy without a doubt is producing future leaders for the United States.  These young men are assets to the city of Atlanta.  They didn't get an opportunity to meet any golfers today but we were so close.  Nonetheless, they appreciated the experience and left feeling a sense of investment to the city of Atlanta.

That is Tiger Woods in the background. Sweet!

L.E.A.D.'s mission to provide at risk Atlanta males with access to higher education and civic engagement through baseball.  Today was civic engagement at a high level.  We had lunch at the 18th hole. Wow! How often do you get an opportunity to do that.  We also had access to the same Eastlake Golf Clubhouse as Tiger Woods.

Lunch at the 18th Hole at Eastlake Golf Club

Special thanks to Belk; Hope-Beckham Public Relations; Greg Boland, GE; Hajj Womack, B.E.S.T. Academy Middle School Principal; Lorrie Martin, B.E.S.T. Academy Parent Liaison; Barry Blackmon, B.E.S.T. Academy Teacher and Rendell Jackson, APS Office of Athletics.