Warren and Yolanda Woodberry: Making Moves that Matter
Two things are very clear when students walk into the Chess Room at Jones Leadership Academy. One is that Warren and Yolanda Woodberry will show up as the best version of who they are, and the second is that they expect you to do the same. Although their job is to run a chess club for Toledo Public Schools the reality of the program is that chess is only one of the many skills they teach.
More than a chess club
Do you want to pursue creativity? Yolanda has you covered with art projects for the making. How about broadening your horizons? Warren has stocked a bookshelf with National Geographic magazines and nudges you to find something new to read about. Want culture and community? Field trips to the Valentine Theater and to elementary schools to read to children are arranged. Warren and Yolanda tag team the important stuff: manners, eye contact, social norms, community focus, accountability. And then, there’s the chess.
20 years ago, Yolanda and Warren moved from the island of Antigua to Toledo, Warren’s hometown. They threw themselves into creating an Art and Black Inventors club for children at the Frederick Douglas Community Center. One day, Warren brought his chess set and it caught the kids’ attention and The Woodberry Chess Club was born. “We haven’t had the chance to look back,” says Warren.
Chess is applicable to life because it teaches us to slow down and think through our choices. The Woodberrys insist that their students write down their moves. “See where you move, write where you move,” says Yolanda. “Kids are learning to pause, look at their decisions from different angles, then go back and evaluate what worked and what didn’t.” It’s not hard to see that the Woodberrys’ next move is to help their students transfer this technique to their daily routines.
Champions at life
“Our program is not designed to create chess champs but instead to get them through the everyday routines of school,” says Yolanda. Warren likens himself to the elementary school coach who takes his students to a certain level of mastery. “Who would have expected that I would be teaching chess? I’m not a great chess player.” Despite this, there are success stories that include wins at tournaments near and far. The trophies that crowd a classroom display table and the photos of student champions lining the walls document the successes fostered in this room. “This program aims to build self-confidence. Once kids become more confident they start to want to learn.” Yolanda states. Success both at the chess table and beyond becomes a reality for their students.
The wall
And then there’s the wall. Warren wanted his students to realize that they come from a long line of successful people. He insisted that a wall lined with garbage cans outside of the Jones cafeteria could be better utilized as a teaching opportunity, so he used it for a collage of noteworthy Black inventors. Warren often sees kids stopping to take their picture next to it and is certain that it gives them pause to think that there are people who have done great things who look a lot like them.
A new year
7th-12th grade students from Jones, Martin Luther King Academy, and Escuela Smart Academy will fill the Chess Room 4 days a week this school year. Spaces are limited so that the Woodberrys can concentrate their efforts on each individual child. After the disruption of the pandemic, Warren and Yolanda are eager to get back to teaching children how to win at the game of life. And chess.
Q&A with Warren Woodbury
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A few years back I turned in my Honda Civic for an Odyssey so we could provide transportation to the tournaments for those students who needed it.
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Yes. We often take our chess board and set it up while we are waiting for a table at a restaurant.
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I dropped out of high school in the middle of my senior year at Scott so that I could tour with a singing group called The Barons. We played all the local clubs and toured in Detroit and Chicago with BB King.
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At 84 I am too old to retire! Most of my career was in the clothing industry in Atlanta, New Orleans and New York City. In Antigua I owned a restaurant, roller skating rink, a boxing club, and a driving range.
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No, I am not. I like to push the envelope.