With that respect as a founding principle, Call Me MISTER launched in 2000 at Clemson and three private South Carolina HBCUs: Claflin, Benedict and Morris. Its goal: find talented young Black men, train them as teachers, and offer them jobs in the state’s schools. Its strategy: elevate the image of what it means to be an educator, in part by conveying the vital role teachers can play in their families and communities. “Education and teaching is connected to everything everyone does,” Jones says. “If you want to be responsible to the next generation of people going to serve our nation, be a teacher.”
