Kendra Black is an alumni who enjoys many hobbies and devotes a lot of her time to help make Thomas Jefferson a better place.
Artwork by Mia Nogueira
Spartan Alumni Kendra Black is well known around TJ because of her great efforts to improve the high school she once attended. She takes part in many volunteering activities like planting flowers and trees, creating newsletters for the community, and giving tours around TJ to prospective students and their parents. In her spare time Black likes to do many things involving cooking for friends and family, reading, and running marathons.
“Tonight I am having eight of my sorority sisters for dinner and I am cooking a Cajun dish called Barbeque Shrimp which isn’t barbequed at all,” said Black. “Rather, it is baked with lots of butter, olive oil, lemons and tomatoes. I’ll serve it with a crusty French bread from the Trompeau Bakery and it will be delicious.” This is just one kind of tasty meal that Black creates. She said she enjoys cooking all kinds of food.
Along with Black’s interest for being in the kitchen, she is an avid reader. She is currently reading South of Broad by Pat Conroy, which she says, “…is crazy like a soap opera.” Her favorite author is Charles Dickens and has read all of his books at least once. David Copperfield, however, is her favorite out of all Dickens books. “My favorite books I’ve read this year is Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese, and Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann,” said Black.
Black is also a marathon runner and on the day of the interview was going to run 13 miles at Cherry Creek Reservoir. She has also taken part in 14 marathons and, when not going on a run, she can be found walking her dog.
One of Black’s great qualities that really makes her special to TJ is her dedication and drive to make it a better place. “I want everyone to know how great Thomas Jefferson High School is and inspire parents to send their kids here, “ said Black. She has created a newsletter called The Thomas Jefferson Journal- Community Edition that was first issued in the fall. Its purpose is to inform parents about everything that is happening at TJ, and it will also be used for a marketing and community outreach tool.
A major project that Black took part in this year was known as the Alumni Tailgate that took place before the homecoming football game. “There were about 100 alumni from the 1960’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and 2000’s. Many brought family and friends so there were about 300 people who attended.” At this event the alumni gathered at All City Stadium at South High School and had a barbeque. “Extra thanks go to the TJ baseball team, Coach Humphrey and Jenni Humphrey who did all the grilling,” said Black. “We plan to have an alumni tailgate event every year before the Homecoming game.”
Black is now in her second year of volunteering and has helped with a couple big projects in that time. “I helped the soccer boys plant trees out front; I also helped plant the flowers out front and I water them,” she said.
Black is also looking out for the students of Thomas Jefferson High School by setting up incentives for the CSAP testing. Last year the freshman and sophomore classes were offered prizes such as an iPod shuffle, as well as gift cards to places like Cold Stone and McDonalds, for showing up and trying their best on the test. Also, if students improved their score by one level they would receive ten dollars for that subject. The students were able to earn up to thirty dollars for doing well on this test. In the Science Department if the students improved, they would also be able to go back and upgrade one of their previous grades received in a taken science class by one letter grade. “We held an assembly for the students on October 10, where we handed out the money they earned. We also did a raffle on the Spartan Edition for the gift cards and iPod’s. The student’s that won came to the office to collect their prizes,”
Now this busy bee has her attention focused on the class of 2012. She has helped them raise money for their prom and after prom by selling Duffey Roll’s and having a book fair. She is also working on creating another newsletter to be mailed home in the spring.
Not only does Black volunteer for TJ but she also helps out at South High School. One might ask why she volunteer’s at two schools, and the answer to that question is because of her kids. Black has three children, and amazingly enough they all attend/attended different high schools. Her youngest, Addie – a 15 year old sophomore – attends school at South. She says that her daughter wanted to go here for cross country and basketball, and she also is on student senate. Griffin, the middle child who is almost 17, attends TJ for soccer, the swim team, and the Computer Magnet. Keenan, the eldest who is almost 19, graduated from George Washington in May, and now is majoring in engineering at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. She says that her kids were all drawn to the different programs that each school offered. Griffin liked the Computer Magnet program, Keenan attended the IB program, and Addie wanted to go somewhere different from her brothers.
Black has been working her magic on Thomas Jefferson and has truly made a difference. She is a great helping hand with fundraising, and making TJ known so others can become Spartans. In her free time she does many fun things like cooking, reading, and spending time with her friends and family. She is a truly great ambassador for the TJ community.
