'Tied to Greatness' celebrates rite of passage for Chicago students
CHICAGO (CBS) -- On Wednesday, more than 50 middle school boys went through an important rite of passage - learning to tie a tie.
The annual "Tied to Greatness" ceremony was held Wednesday morning at the LEARN Romano Butler School in North Lawndale.
The eighth graders were gifted new ties, and plenty of applause, from mentors and community members who have helped them in their journey from boys to men.
"We try to give them life skills, to give them the foundation to be successful when they leave us in the coming year," said Colby Beach, Assistant Principal at LEARN Roman Butler School.
"We're on a journey to becoming young men. We just started on a journey. And it's really for us to come together, for us to look up to them, for them to speak words of inspiration to us," said eighth grader Darrion Goss.
"The biggest goal of all for our scholars to understand that they have self-worth and to see themselves in a different light, not use the media as a portrayal of who they are, but more so for them to see themselves, who they should be, and to go after those things they want in their life," added Beach.
On Tuesday, the school hosted a sister ceremony for the eighth-grade girls, where mentors gave the students a strand of pearls.
