by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
Moses Beasley of St. Joseph was a boy who loved his family, loved his friends, loved to make people smile and loved to give.
That is how Moses was remembered during a welcome-back assembly Sept. 8 at Kennedy Community School.
Tragically, Moses, 15, who would have been a sophomore at Apollo High School this year, took his own life one day last month. Despite his usual happy, outgoing personality, he had been suffering bouts of depression. His mother, Natoyia Alberts, spoke to the Kennedy students, telling them Moses embodied the Kennedy school’s motto of always being safe, kind and responsible.
Moses’ two younger brothers, Kenneth and Ahmir, both students at Kennedy Community School, were among those gathered for the assembly. Moses had attended Talahi Elementary School and South Junior High School. At the time his family moved to St. Joseph, he enrolled in North Junior High School. Earlier this summer, he graduated from the St. Cloud Youth Leadership Academy, which is sponsored by the St. Cloud Police Department.
Also present at the school assembly were officials of the Minnesota Chapter of the National Black Police Officers’ Association. They drove all the way from the Twin Cities to help honor Moses and the children of Kennedy. They brought with them a huge bin of backpacks and school supplies that will be given to Kennedy children who may need them.
The members included the association’s president, Lt. Anthony Hines, also a member of the Metro Transit Police; and Sgt. Suwana Kirkland, the association’s vice president and a member of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department.
“This is an amazing school, and you have amazing energy,” Kirkland told the students, who roared their loud approval. “We are invested in you, and we care about you. Look out for one another and energize one another.”
Kirkland and the other speakers urged the students to follow Kennedy’s principles of kindness, giving and responsibility, just the way Moses did.
After the tribute to Moses, Kennedy Principal Laurie Putnam introduced many other speakers, and the fun began. There was a video tribute to the staff of Kennedy Community School, song-singing, a three-teacher race across the gym on Colt hobby-horses, the presentation of a giant check and announcements about the upcoming school walkathon.
Throughout the assembly, all of the students responded with waves of loud, thunderous – almost ear-splitting – approval.
A check for $11,250 was presented for “Greatest School Needs” – money left over from last year’s annual walkathon. This year’s walkathon will take place Thursday, Sept. 28 with the goal of raising $25,000 for school needs. There will be all sorts of prizes and treats if participants meet their classroom and overall goals. If the goal of $25,000 is reached, the students will be “treated” to seeing Principal Putnam, dressed up like a chicken, doing the “Chicken Dance.”
At the promise of that spectacle, the students roared so loudly the walls of the gymnasium shook.
St. Cloud Police Chief William Blair Anderson gives Moses Beasley a hug upon his recent graduation from St. Cloud Youth Leadership Academy.
Natoyia Alberts (at mic) tells Kennedy Community School students how her son, Moses Beasley, loved family, friends and giving to others. In the foreground is Sgt. Suwana Kirkland giving students school supplies. She is vice president of the Minnesota Chapter of the National Black Police Officers’ Association. Members of that group drove to St. Joseph to honor Moses and to give children school supplies.
Kennedy Community School Principal Laurie Putnam pumps up the energy level at a Welcome-Back-to-School Assembly Sept. 8. The assembly began with a tribute to Moses Beasely, a St. Joseph boy who tragically took his own life last month.
