Parker started H.O.P.E. Day (Hampden-Sydney Outreach to Prince Edward County) for kids living within miles of Hampden-Sydney College, but who regarded it as a school they could never attend. Local elementary school students came to campus to meet college students and professors in an informal setting. Parker's idea has since expanded into a mentoring program which includes a scholarship for a Prince Edward County high school senior to use at any college or university.

Later, Parker joined "Teach for America," a non-profit organization that trains college graduates without an education background to be teachers, in exchange for their promise to take their new skills to low-income areas. Parker picked Washington, D.C., where he has worked ever since. Kramer Middle School is on Washington's southeast side, a place Parker admits is full of children who don't always have what they need and are being raised in non-traditional homes (by grandparents, foster parents, or single parents) because some of their parents are addicted to drugs or incarcerated. But the area's roughness doesn't bother him; he says he didn't grow up in the best part of Norfolk, either.

Like many of his students, he was told he would never get to college or amount to very much, but Parker says his attitude changed when he met high school teacher Ruby Farra-Lake. She convinced him to take her Ethnic Studies class, something he thought would be a waste of time because learning about his heritage wouldn't help him succeed in the working world. Not only did she change his mind about his heritage, but she recognized his potential and encouraged him to go to college. Parker is quick to point out Ms. Farra-Lake's influence on his life. He says he tries to encourage his students as she did him.Parker serves as a role model for his students, investing in their lives and becoming what he calls "a bridge for the children." They learn that they can depend on him in a world where they find few adults who will be there for them day after day. He understands there are limits, though. On cold, wet days, he can't provide warm coats for every child who needs one, but he can provide the love, attention, and support they need-things he was uncertain he would be able to provide as his career took him out of the classroom and into administration.

Kenneth Parker '94, principal of Kramer Middle School in Washington, D.C.

Although this is his third year out of the classroom, Parker is determined not to move far beyond the desks and chalkboards. He believes that through the support of his staff and collaboration with the other professionals, student success is guaranteed. Now the task is spreading his love of children to his staff of about 60, while maintaining with his students the connection he has worked so hard to create. Learning the children's names is how he will maintain the connection with students, something he learned at Hampden-Sydney. He recognized the connection he made to his professors when they knew his name. Those student-professor relationships have developed into friendships which Parker still maintains. He considers professor George Bagby his mentor and has stayed at Bagby's home on various trips back to the College, including the Black Alumni Mentorship Reunion.

While the students at Kramer Middle School may not spend time at Parker's home, over time they realize that he is an adult whom they can trust and, unlike many other adults in their lives, one who will go out of his way to help them. He uses his position as Principal to prove that they can get much more out of life than they've been taught to expect. Through his example, he also teaches them (and the rest of the school's staff) to never stop learning: while working full time, Parker has gone on to earn his Master's degree in education, and he has become an ordained minister, serving at a church just down the street from his school.Giving children on Washington's southeast side an education, faith in themselves, and faith in others is extremely demanding, according to Kenneth Parker, but he says it's not impossible with help from God. So he'll get back to learning the names of Kramer Middle School's new students in order to live over and over his proudest moment-"being a glimmer of hope in the lives of children."