By Kim Bennett
The Seattle Medium
Carolyn Riley-Payne, Vice President of the Seattle King County NAACP and long-time chair of the branch’s ACT-SO programs, lights up when she talks about youth and helping them reach their full potential.
“I love the young minds that we have in our community, being part of their lives, and empowering them to walk in their full destiny,” says Riley-Payne.
Riley-Payne has been touching the lives of young people for many years. As Chair of the Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO) program for 36 years, she is leading by example and encouraging young people to excel in all areas of their lives.
Born in Durham, North Carolina Riley-Payne grew up seeing examples of African American excellence all around her in the area also known as Black Wall Street. The four-block area in Durham was a hub of activity and home to a vibrant community of African American professionals and businesses, including North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company and Mechanics and Farmers Bank.
“Although I grew up in segregation, we had everything we needed. We had our own doctors and we had our own hospitals. The atmosphere was different,” Riley-Payne remembers.
In that environment, the importance of activism and education was instilled in Riley-Payne at an early age. She was President of the Youth Council of the NAACP and understood that attending college was expected.
“Ever since I was a little girl, I didn’t know anything about not going to college,” said Riley Payne. “I thought that was a natural extension of going to school.”
Riley-Payne attended Bennett College, a historically Black College for women, where she earned a BA in Special Education. After graduating, she took what she learned to classrooms in Washington, D.C. and Ohio where she saw firsthand the inequities in the educational system.
“When I went to Ohio, I taught Special Ed, and I realized very early on that the gifted classes had more non-minorities than my class,” said Riley-Payne. “My class had almost all minorities.“
In the face of the unfair treatment she witnessed, Riley-Payne leaned on her lessons from Bennett College about how to reach African American students and help them do their best.
She recalls what her professor told her when she graduated, “You have been taught, you know the theories of education. Go out now and put the books away and love children [but teach them].“
With a focus on not only teaching, but also loving children, Riley-Payne is uniquely qualified to lead the ACT-SO program. She motivates the students in the program to apply themselves and give their best while imparting life lessons along the way.
ACT-SO was founded in 1978 by journalist, Vernon Jarrett, on the premise of celebrating academic achievement in the African American community in the same way that athletics are extolled. With 29 categories, spanning the sciences, humanities, culinary arts, and entrepreneurship, 9th through 12th graders across the country compete for national honors and scholarships.
“The students are competing against national, professional criteria. They are not competing against other kids, like in a talent show,” explains Riley-Payne.
For Riley-Payne, the journey to Nationals and the confidence that the students develop by participating is, in many ways, a reward in itself.
“All I ask of any student coming through ACT-SO is to give me your best. Our goal is always to win, but when they say they have done their best, then I say, ‘You are a winner,’” says a smiling Riley-Payne.
“If you have applied yourself and you did your absolute best, then you have already won,” she continued. “You have already won because you have gone through the process. You selected something, you saw it through, you worked hard at it, and then you gave your absolute best. That’s all anybody can ask.”
Under Riley-Payne’s leadership, the Seattle King County NAACP’s ACT-SO program has empowered many area youth to become scholars, leaders and mentor’s in their own right.
Lacy Steele – President Emeritus of the Seattle King County NAACP, who served as branch president for 26 years – is very proud of the job that Riley-Payne has done.
“As president, I appointed her to be chair of the committee,” Steele recalls fondly. “I often tease her. I only wanted her to be chair for one year. She has been chair ever since.”
Having attended every ACT-SO competition since 1978 except for one, Steele has had a front row seat to the inception and growth of the program.
“Vernon Jarrett wanted to get kids to understand that if they excel academically they could receive some of the treatment people place on sports,” says Steele. “The theme was ‘Black is brilliant’. And to see these kids cheering each other and not have animosity toward each other is a wonderful sight.”
Thousands of students have come through the Seattle program and benefitted from the mentorship offered. Known for being tough, Riley-Payne along with the mentors and judges puts the students through the paces, preparing them not only for Nationals, but also life.
As part of the ACT-SO committee, Steele has seen Riley-Payne in action.
“She’s hard, but she’s fair,” says Steele.
“All the kids that I have seen involved all love Mrs. Riley-Payne,” continued Steele. “She teaches them other things too – to call all the adults in the committee mister and misses. She doesn’t allow them to say ‘Uh huh’.“
Riley-Payne’s emphasis on education drives her to incorporate additional workshops, enrichment activities, and community service work into the program locally and at National.
“When we go to National, I always try to raise enough money to do one educational outing,” she says. “If we go to a place where there is a historically Black college or there is an African American museum, then we try to have enough money to take the kids.”
The program covers all expenses for students competing in National, including airfare, room, board, and transportation, and Riley-Payne focuses her fundraising efforts to ensure that the students get to fully savor the experience at National.
“We try to have it so that the kids can enjoy the five-star hotels because a lot of our students in the past had not had that experience,” said Riley-Payne.
Riley-Payne continues, “We try to make that experience a life-long memory. I tell them, ‘We are making a memory’. We want to make sure that as we make those memories with the kids, it opens a door or a window in their mind’s eye about what could be or what they can do. “
“We tell them, this is something that you can do. At some point in your life you will be able to go. And maybe you can take me,” she says laughing.
The commitment to excellence has paid off. Students from Seattle have taken home medals on numerous occasions, with the most recent being in 2015 – a gold medal for Ericka Pegues in Medicine and Health and a bronze for India Mitchell in Musical Vocal Contemporary.
Pegues, now a freshman in college and a volunteer with the ACT-SO program, was so inspired by her involvement with the program that she has become one its of the most active recruiters.
“The media doesn’t, very often, show students that look like me doing great things,” Pegues said. “So it was really inspiring to me to be around that many students [striving for excellence].”
“[The program] helped me move forward with my career goals, and pushed me to work harder,” she continued. “I’ll be giving back and helping them provide the same opportunity to other students that I got.”
The leadership, love, and enduring life lessons of Riley-Payne have sustained the program for over three decades.
“She’s been excellent,” says Steele. “I honestly and truly believe, had it not been for Mrs. Payne, the Seattle King County Branch would not have an ACT-SO program. Period.”
“My background drew me to this program because I do love this program,” said Riley-Payne. “Now having said all of that, I realize that ACT-SO needs to go to another level.”
With an eye to the future, Riley-Payne understands what it takes to run the program and looks forward to infusing it with new energy and ideas.
“I am always looking for someone or somebodies, not just one person, to have the dedication, and the commitment because it is hard work,” says Riley-Payne when thinking about the next generation of leadership for the program.
Running the Seattle NAACP’s ACT-SO program is a year-round commitment. Between November and April, Riley-Payne devotes three days per week to the program, and during the peak time (April, May and June) she spends 10 to 20 hours per week preparing the students to compete in local, regional and national competitions. Admittedly under-staffed with volunteers, Riley-Payne feels that the time committed to helping the students excel beyond their dreams is well worth it.
“I don’t know how I did this and worked full time, I really don’t. But I have an amazing husband. I think that’s why,” she says laughing.
