Drum Major For Change! Robert D. Champion

💫CELEBRATING TWO REMARKABLE YOUNG WOMEN! 💫

Today, we are honored to celebrate two amazing young ladies who are not only on the road to pursuing their dreams, but are also making a difference through their character, determination and commitment to becoming a positive force in their communities. 💙

The Robert D. Champion Drum Major for Change Foundation is proud to present Kaliyah E Reese of Southwest Dekalb High School and Madison Skye Holmes of Pebblebrook High School with the Be A Champion R.I.S.E. Scholarship Award—celebrating young leaders who are Reaching, Inspiring, Serving, and Empowering others.

These scholarships are more than financial support. They are an investment in potential, purpose, leadership, and a future filled with possibilities.

To our scholarship recipients:
✨ Continue to reach higher.
✨ Continue to inspire others.
✨ Continue to serve with purpose.
✨ Continue to empower those around you.
✨ Continue to do your best, then just outdo yourself.

Your journey is just beginning, and we cannot wait to see the impact you will make.

Congratulations, ladies! 🎓📜
Keep rising. Keep believing. Keep becoming.

Be A Champion. R.I.S.E.
Reaching • Inspiring • Serving • Empowering

Join us for the Jericho Prayer Run! Walk, run, or ride as we come together in faith, fitness, and community to pray for a safe and peaceful 2026–2027 school year.

Every step makes a difference. Bring your family, invite a friend, and let’s move with purpose and pray with power. We hope to see you there!

✨ Let’s move with Purpose. Pray with Power!!!

Annual Back-2-School Jericho Prayer Run/Walk/Roll Join us for the Annual Back-2-School Jericho Prayer Run/Walk/Roll—fun, faith, and fitness all in one!

As we approach the sacred threshold between 2025 and 2026, we pause—if only for a moment—to reflect with grateful hearts. This past year has been shaped by the prayers, support, encouragement, and unwavering presence of so many who walked along side us. Your impact has been both seen and deeply felt.

With grace, we look back on all that 2025 has taught us—the challenges that strengthened us, the connections that sustained us, and the purpose that continues to call us forward. With hope and expectation, we step into 2026 believing that what lies ahead is filled with promise, possibility, and divine alignment.

On behalf of Robert D Champion Drum Major for Change Foundation and the Champion Family, thank you for your love, your prayers, and your continued support throughout this year. As we journey into the New Year together, may we find common ground, shared purpose, and renewed commitment to building positive, lasting, and historical change.

Wishing you and your loved ones a healthy and prosperous New Year.
Here’s to moving forward—together as we
RISE— Reaching, Inspiring, Serving, and Empowering others.

Aways remember, a life is a terrible thing to lose to senseless and needless violence.

My Son — A Mother’s R.I.S.E.

Robert Darnell Champion —My Son—
how do I capture the fullness of you
in only a few moments in time?
Even now, this task feels too daunting, too heavy, too overwhelming for my conscious thoughts.
So I close my eyes
and breathe in the precious memories of your presence,
hoping to gather even a fragment
of the light you carried so effortlessly for me within you.

In a spirit of deep gratitude,
I journey back through the 26 years of sacred seasons we were blessed to share on this earth together.
In those cherished moments,
you taught me lessons this world has no language for which to speak:
lessons of unconditional love,
of quiet courage,
of dedication woven into your every step,
of perseverance that refused to bend,
and tranquility that felt heaven-sent.

Through the life you lived my son,
I learned how to love more freely—
with fewer walls.
Through your passing my son,
I learned how to live more meaningfully—
with intention,
with clarity,
with a heart deeply wounded and stretched wide by grief
yet still beating with gratitude and purpose.

You revealed strengths in me
I never knew were mine,
and stirred a faith
I never knew I needed.
Even now,
you continue to push me—
to R.I.S.E. (Reaching Inspiring Serving Empowering)
To reach inward,
stand taller,
dig deeper,
and offer my best…
then rise again,
and outdo myself once more—
for the sake of growth,
for the sake of change,
for the sake of renewed purpose beyond grief,
for the sake of love.

Thank you, my son,
for being both my greatest joy
and my greatest teacher.
You continue to live in every breath I take,
every prayer I whisper,
every quiet moment where your memory shines through.
You are forever a part of me—
a light that time cannot dim,
a love that eternity cannot erase.
I will forever cherish the memories of your late nights soulful renditions of, “Ribbon in the Sky for Our Love.”

Our biggest betrayal is the continued commitment to the hidden deceptions of hazing. “We should be able to look at a wrong condition with the knowledge that we can change it!”

On behalf of the Robert D Champion Drum Major for Change Foundation, we would like to say we are truly grateful to Dr. Douglas Bell Jr. and the Texas A & M University family for the opportunity to speak and be a part of your National Hazing Prevention Awareness Event on Tuesday 9/23/2025.

Thank you for welcoming us into this important conversation and allowing us to share our son’s (Robert Darnell Champion) story. Many thanks to everyone in attendance. We are all a vital piece to the puzzle. Every chance to speak is another step toward healing, awareness, and change — and we don’t take that for granted.

As you continue to R. I. S. E. (Reaching Inspiring Serving Empowering) and move forward, don’t forget to Do Your Best and Then Just Outdo Yourself!!! Be The Example!

On behalf of the Robert D Champion Drum Major for Change Foundation, I would like to say I am truly grateful to the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporation, Gina Merritt-Epps, Esq. and Janette E. Bishop, Dir FWDH for opportunity to speak and be a part of your National Hazing Prevention Webinar on Wednesday, 9/17/25.

Thank you for welcoming me into this important conversation and allowing me to share my son’s (Robert Darnell Champion) story. Many thanks to everyone on in attendance. We are all a vital piece to the puzzle. Every chance to speak is another step toward healing, awareness, and change — and I don’t take that for granted.

As you continue to R. I. S. E. and move forward in your new direction of Finer Women Don’t Haze, initiative, don’t forget to Do Your Best and Then Just Outdo Yourself!!! Be The Example