Barkley’s support speaks loudly for St. Mary’s Academy

by Peter Finney Jr.

By Peter Finney Jr.
Clarion Herald

Those who have seen Charles Barkley on television realize the loquacious NBA Hall of Famer seldom is at a loss for words.

But, when St. Mary’s Academy president Pamela Rogers opened up a nondescript express mail envelope on Aug. 29 and saw a check from Barkley for $100,000 – without any other note – she realized that the first installment of his 10-year, $1 million pledge to the school was done from the heart and not to garner fanfare.

“We get a lot of express mail, so I didn’t know what was coming,” Rogers said. “Then, when I opened it up, the envelope simply had the check in it. There was no letter, just the check.”

That told Rogers a lot about Barkley.

“He’s a very, very basic kind of guy – he just wanted to support what we’re doing,” Rogers said. “He didn’t have a statement or anything that he gave out through his team (of business advisors). There was nothing in particular that he wanted to say other than he was really thrilled to give it to us and he wants to support what we do.”

‘60 Minutes’ hook

Barkley happened to be watching his favorite television show – “60 Minutes” – on May 5 when it chronicled the work of then-St. Mary’s seniors Calcea Johnson and Ne’Kiya Jackson to use trigonometry to provide proof of the Pythagorean Theorem, which math experts have not been able to do for 2,000 years.

The Pythagorean Theorem holds that the length of the long diagonal of a right triangle (the hypotenuse) can be determined mathematically. In a right triangle with sides A, B and C, the theorem states that A² + B² = C².

But no one had ever been able to prove the theorem using trigonometry alone. The students’ proofs are being peer-reviewed.

Excellence expected

Barkley told the Birmingham News in May that he was so impressed with St. Mary’s Academy’s mission of encouraging African-American girls to embrace high academic achievement that he wanted to provide his financial support.

“A lot is demanded of everybody at (St. Mary’s) – high excellence,” Barkley told the Birmingham News. “And these two young Black women did something in mathematics that was just incredible. It just inspired me.”

Rogers said the school plans to use some of the first installment to enhance its annual, grade-level program that provides students with chances to visit colleges and learn more about their academic options.

“We’re going to really focus on enhancing what we do in our college and career section here at the school because our goal is that students will have opportunities to visit colleges prior to the application process,” Rogers said. “The rest of it will be used to enhance the academic resources we have here at the school.”

Expanded view of future

All students in grades 8-12 have a chance to go on a college tour, Rogers said, which allows them “to have a larger view of what college life should look like.”

“When we do those visits, we certainly try to make certain we include small colleges and universities as well as large public and private universities so that when it’s time, they will have had an opportunity to view universities throughout the country and have a better foundation and knowledge base to make a decision about where to go,” Rogers said.

The bus trips include schools in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia and beyond.

“So, by the time a girl goes from freshman to her senior year, she probably has seen more than a dozen colleges and universities,” Rogers said.

Long-term impact

Rogers is still trying to assess the impact of Barkley’s philanthropy.

“We are all just really grateful to be selected to receive the funds from Mr. Barkley, but we’re also really grateful to receive funds from all of the other donors across the country who have given us their support for the platform that we have here at St. Mary’s Academy,” Rogers said. “Everyone has a real upbeat attitude. Everyone is really invested in what we do here at St. Mary’s. For many years, we’ve been kind of the best-kept secret. And, now, it’s not really a secret anymore.

“We’re just grateful to him because he really believes in the education of girls and women. We know that his gift is going to be transformational for the school.”

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