Kalen Sy learned the value of education at an early age.
His grandmother and mother repeatedly stressed the importance of education, and it charted a path forward.
“I was like, ‘I’m gonna go to college, I’m (going to) successfully complete college, get something and obtain something out of it other than just a piece of paper and a handshake.’ I wanted to get something out of it. So, yes, my mom, single parent mom, she really wanted my brother and (me) to just be something great. She always wanted us to value education and soak up education and anything that we were doing in a public school. Because like my grandma always told me, she said, after high school you have to pay for every little thing, even a pencil is not free,” said Sy.
Sy is a Memphis native, born and raised with his twin brother Kaleb. He enrolled in Memphis-Shelby County Schools as a child and utilized the district’s Optional Schools program to transfer to Granville T. Woods Academy of Innovation in middle school.
That’s where Sy discovered his passion for STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education and business. Sy says learning about STEM and being able to utilize it expanded his imagination and ability to find solutions through research.
“I did plenty of activities and I started to really understand the design process of STEM. And one crucial point of it is research, I’ve learned how to develop a passion for not only solving the problem but strategically solving the problem and that’s with research.”
Sy continued studying STEM at Memphis optional school East High School and he says that’s where he began developing his unique dream, partially inspired by business owner and former East High teacher Marilyn Coleman, to use his love of business to create opportunities for aspiring black entrepreneurs in Memphis.
“My freshman year in high school, I kind of had like a mental break of what I wanted to do, trying to find myself, you know, all of the social things that come with being a high schooler. And then after high school, what is my plan? Everybody was asking me what college, college, what military, college, or are you picking up a trade or a job?’” said Sy. “So I felt that I have developed and with God’s help, I just gotta give it to him, I feel as though I’m able to just develop myself and it all started when I was at East High School.”
Sy plans to attend Drexel University in Philadelphia in the fall where he will be pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in General Business. He wants to use the connections he currently has and will gain during his time at Drexel, to open a barbeque restaurant in Philadelphia that would later expand to Memphis.
Sy also wants to build black-owned real estate properties throughout Memphis. The Memphis teen says his goal is to uplift not only Memphis as a whole, but also fellow black men in Memphis that want to pursue business and fill the gap of opportunities.
“I wanna put African Americans in a position where they can basically grow, grow, grow. Like I invest back into the community so others can invest back. It’s basically like ‘each one, teach one,’ like a domino effect, if I help the community, somebody else would be more inclined to help the community and it’s just a domino ripple effect.”
Sy’s dream of providing opportunities in Memphis helped earn him the honor of being one of six Choice Champions Scholarship winners this year. Nonprofit organization Tennesseans for Student Success created the scholarship to celebrate students attending a school of choice (public charter, magnet, or optional) that are seeking higher education opportunities.
The Tennessee Firefly receives funding from Tennesseans for Student Success.
In his essay, Sy wrote that dreaming is an essential part of achieving one’s own happiness. The Memphis teen says he has plenty of big dreams of his own that he’s now working to make a reality.
“(This quote), it’s from Martin Luther King, Jr. And it reads as follows: “Intelligence plus character, that is the goal of true education.” That’s the one I live by and that kind of pushes me to pursue a higher education,” said Sy. “I feel as though my brother and I, Kaleb Sy, we just really want to be a staple to every child, every young black man, no matter their ethnicities. Like I said in my essay, I don’t believe in just helping just one set of people, Caucasian or Black, African American. I believe in impacting everyone because this is our world.”
