During the 1960s, the women’s liberation movement’s platform was based on the equal rights and opportunities and greater personal freedom for women. It is widely recognized as part of the “second wave” of feminism.
The late Melba St. Andrews-Prevot, a Southern Alum, spent nearly a decade as a chemical engineer Exxon Mobil (70s), Teach for America area manager (90s). Her popularity as a teacher garnered an added family of kids filled with love.
The Prevot maven found her own wave of leadership in 2007 when she founded the M.P.J. Academy of Excellence, a private alternative school that serves at-risk teenagers as well as adults who need to obtain their high school diploma. Since its inception M.P.J. Academy of Excellence has graduated thousands and established itself as a respected institution with much more to offer its C’MUNITY.
The institution’s objective is to build up at-risk students and adult learners, which they’ve done successfully for a little over a decade.
Now in 2023, the baton has been passed to Melba’s son and retired Army veteran, Paul Prevot. He’s has come a long way from his early ambition to be a pediatrician to a full out educator.
Getting to Know Paul Prevot
“As I child I remember wanting to be a pediatrician, and my mom loving that idea even more, but I was always ‘smart,” he told the publication. [However] my grades didn’t reflect that. So, I ended up going to the Army to get school money to be teacher.”
The percentage of Black educators are small, they are even smaller by two percent among Black males according to the Department of Education. Paul is a part of that two percent wanting to make a difference not only for himself but his mother as well.
“[The M.P.J. Academy] and philosophy is a student-centered journey guided by Literacy & Leadership,” Prevot said. “Along with core subjects, our students write [and] recite essays, Power Point, video presentations, and case studies over their chosen career electives.
The headmaster has kept workers close to him that collaborated with his mother’s path to success including Calvin Eugene, a software engineer in Fort Bend who worked with Melba at Hightower High School in Missouri City. With 15 years of continuous efforts, Eugene helped build and shape the M.P.J. Academy of Excellence, which is what it is today.
Changing lives will always be a showcase of who mattered and influenced. Paul’s influence will forever lie in the foundation his mother set and improving the forward movement for C’MUNITY.
The late Nelson Mandela once said, “I never lose. Either I win or learn.” Looks like Paul Prevot is learning to master his craft from a tailored and unique legacy left by his mother.
Go to M.P.J.-Academy.org for more information as to how you can be a difference.
