Vanderbilt students, staff help students at Ida B. Wells Elementary succeed

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Before students inside Ida B. Wells Elementary take their Christmas break, principal Dr. Dexter Adams has to stop by and chat with those he holds close to his heart.

When it comes to his students and their success, Adams is always open to those looking to help.

It was the summer 2021 when a man by the name of Dr. Rosevelt Noble reached out.

“I received an email that said he was seeking an elementary school that was on the move,” said Adams. “We talked and he was over the moon about it.”

Noble had recently started the Association of Vanderbilt Black Faculty and Staff at Vanderbilt University and was looking for a school to adopt.

“The initial plan was to pour into not just the students, but also the faculty and the staff, and also to be a long term commitment,” recalled Noble.

It was an idea Adams was on board with.

“We invited him in to kind of just talk about his vision of how he wanted to help, and we shared how they could actually help us carry out our vision and mission here at our school,” he said.

From there, a beautiful partnership blossomed.

“The students look forward to the partnership, and when Vanderbilt comes they are so excited about the readers,” said Adams.

New reading and mentoring programs were soon launched. Over the next two years, faculty, staff, and students from Vanderbilt put in more than 400 service hours with students at Ida B. Wells.

“It’s a very rewarding and gratifying experience just to kind of feel like you are doing something meaningful and positive and pouring into young people,” said Noble.

Noble has watched Vanderbilt students step up more since this partnership began, and it’s something Adams said can be felt when they visit his school.

“The students from Vanderbilt have really taken our students under their wings and not only do they provide materialistic things for them they do provide a pathway for them to be successful,” said Adams.

It was mentors who poured into Noble.

“I’m not suppose to be here, statistically, if you look at all of the odds that were stacked against me,” he said.

The partnership is something Noble wants to make sure they continue to do for the students at Ida B. Wells.

Adams said since the partnership began, Ida B. Wells has jumped from a level three to a level five school.

It’s a success he credited partly to those at Vanderbilt who have invested their time and energy into his students.