The journey of a lifetime for Joe Washington, a Tupelo resident, starts right now.
"The world is always changing and there's different opportunities out there," Washington, said.
His voyage doesn't involve traveling to a far away place. Washington's trip will happen in Lee County, as he embarks on his journey to mentor to a high school dropout.
"If you can reach them at an early age I thinks that's the time that they're more influential and they're likely to listen. You've got to reach them. Better late than never and I think that something like this is very imperative that we have," Washington said.
He is one of many men who will start a mission, with the Tupelo Public School District, as mentors to black youth who have chosen not to attend school.
"This is a problem that is going on in Tupelo and probably a lot of other places and hopefully we can stem the tide to some degree. If you can reach just one person it's worth doing," Washington said.
Washington will not make this journey alone, Chip Ashford also agreed to sign up for the trip. Ashford said wants the kids to know about all of the options life can offer.
"It's more to being a good citizen besides a rapper or an athlete, you can be a productive citizens by doing other things," Ashford said.
Ashford said a mentor played a major role in his life.
"I grew up in a single parent home and one of my role models was a plumber taught me work ethics and how to be a man," Ashford said.
The two welcome the voyage that 150 Men will take for 150 dropouts. Ashford and Washington said education will change any situation, but sometimes people need an extra push and that's why they want to help.
The school board said this is a vital initiative and it wants to get started as soon as possible so they're looking for a few more good men to join in the fight.
"My beckoning call was for leaders in the church communities, African American male staff here within Tupelo Public Schools and all of the fraternities," Frederick Hill, Ph. D, Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education said.
Hill said the reason for the high drop out rate isn't as important as getting the kids back in school. Hill said the kids need to use education as a tool.
"My hope is that they will finally exit high school with a diploma and we want to sustain this to prevent dropouts," Hill said.
The future mentors agree and said it's okay to be the average Joe as long as you take a chip off of the education block.
