Powell reflects on life, career as he moves into retirement
Raymond Powell paused to look back after he watched his last class of students leave Jefferson Middle School Wednesday.
It’s not just about his more than two decades as principal; his journey began long before that from going through integration of the Columbia schools as a student to a football career at Southern Miss and a shot at the NFL to years as an Air Force officer.
All that prepared him for the challenge of leading a middle school, and he thought back on it as retirement closes this chapter and opens another one.
“I took a walk down memory lane where it all began,” he said. “Before integration of the public schools in 1970, all the black students went to John J. Jefferson School and all the white students went to the Columbia Public Schools. As a 5-year-old kindergarten student at John J. Jefferson School, I remember having the most fun learning new things and meeting new people.”
During the middle of Powell’s third grade year the city schools integrated. It was January 1970.
“I didn’t attend Columbia Primary School because the third grade students were housed in trailers on the Columbia Elementary campus,” he said. “After I completed fifth grade, I returned to Jefferson Middle School and later graduated from Columbia High School in 1979. My background gives me a unique perspective on our schools and the triumph over the ‘separate but equal’ mentality that permeated our country during the ‘50s and ‘60s.”
Powell headed to the University of Southern Mississippi, where he played football. He played well enough to get noticed by the NFL.
“I had a free agent contract with Seattle,” he said. “I didn’t make the team. But I had to complete a semester in order to graduate and I went back to Southern Miss and finished up. It was December 1983 when I finished. I joined the Air Force and spent two years enlisted. I went back to Southern, got another degree and went through ROTC and got my commission as a second lieutenant. I was in Miami for several years, went to Korea for a year, and my last stop was Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala. I spent six years as an officer. I got out and came home. My dad was diabetic and he was getting sick, so it was time to move home. I’m glad I did. I moved home in 1995, and he passed away in 2000. I got to spend his last years with him.”
When he returned, Powell taught at East Marion.
“I worked with Coach (Les) Peters,” he said. “I was an alternative school teacher and was an assistant football coach. We had a 10-0 football team that year – had an excellent football team. The guys should have won state, but they got cocky and we got too full of ourselves and lost in the first round.”
The following year Powell moved to Jefferson Middle. He was a seventh grade history teacher for a semester before being named the assistant principal. He took over as principal two years later and has remained in the role for 22 years.
Powell describes himself as “an atypical principal.”
“Generally, administrators remain in one position for three to five years and move on to something else,” he said. “I love working with middle school students and watching them grow mentally, physically and emotionally. The fact that Columbia is home for me also factored in my longevity of 22 years at the helm of Jefferson Middle School.”
After watching the students walk out of school and get onto buses or into cars with parents, Powell said he was emotional.
“It was kind of surreal,” he said. “It occurred to me that I’m not going to be doing this anymore. It’s going to be an adjustment for me, but I’m really excited about the new chapter in my life, being able to do some things that I want to do.”
Powell said retirement will give him a great chance to spend time with his wife, Beverlyn, daughter, Raelyn, and son, R.J.
“My wife and I are both retiring. She’s had 30 years with the federal government. She worked with the Department of Justice for several years while I was in the military and then she worked has worked with the Social Security Administration for the past 24 years. We’re excited about being able to travel. We’re going to take some trips and have fun. Home is here, so we’re not going anywhere. I’ll be at all the sporting events and all those type of things. My daughter is a seventh grader here next year. I’ll be following her. My son is a sophomore at Southern Miss, and he’s doing well.”
Powell also knows that he was part of history at Jefferson Middle School.
“I’m walking in the footsteps of former black administrators like Mr. Charles Boston and Mr. Lloyd Johnson,” he said. “Both of these outstanding men served as assistant principals for Jefferson Middle School, but they were never given the opportunity to be principal. I’m blessed to be the first black principal at Jefferson Middle School, but that honor should have gone to one of those men long before I received the position.”
Powell is proud of the school, staff and students.
“Serving as a middle school principal is a calling and it takes the right teachers and staff to make Jefferson Middle School a positive experience for all of our students,” he said. “It is a blessing to work with a caring and supportive faculty who put the needs of their students first. I hope parents realize what they have in Jefferson Middle School and the Columbia School District in general. We are a small town, but our school district graduates students who go on to do outstanding things and make positive impacts on our country and the world. It’s a great feeling knowing that I had a small part in molding and shaping young minds. One of my favorite blues singers, Mr. B.B. King, put it this way: ‘The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.’”
Powell offered thanks to the many people he has known and worked with in his career.
“I’ve worked with many school board members, several superintendents, principals and many teachers throughout my 23 years and I personally want to thank them for nurturing, helping and guiding me,” he concluded. “They are too numerous to mention, but they know who they are. God has been good to me and I am thankful for his many blessing. As always … Go Wildcats!”
Pictured Above: Retiring Jefferson Middle School Principal Raymond Powell shows off a painting that utilized fingerprints from students at the school during a recpetion held in his honor this week. | Photo by Mark Rogers
