Jamaal Eubanks founded the Determination to Succeed Back2School Summit last year with the intent of supporting young Black men in the greater Madison area by creating a fun, informative, and engaging opportunity for them to take advantage of as they prepared for the coming school year.
The first annual event was a success as young African American boys gathered from all sides of Madison and the suburbs, including Oregon, Middleton, Verona, Sun Prairie, to enjoy a day of camaraderie and to listen to experienced, older mentors from the community. Eubanks is excited to bring the event back this year – the 2nd Annual Determination to Succeed Back2School Summit will be held Saturday, Aug. 23, 9 am.-5 p.m., at Capitol High School in Madison.
“I am doing a slightly different wrinkle this time around … instead of having two sessions – one in the morning and one in the afternoon, what I plan to do is have them for the full day,” says Eubanks, the founder of a variety of community organizations that provide mentoring to youth, including the Determination to Succeed. “We are going to do the same stuff that I did last year with my the determination workshop in the morning and we will still do the speaker panel at lunchtime, but then in the afternoon, we’re going to have two dynamic speakers that will give information on things that I think that African-American young men need to know to be successful when they’re navigating the system.”
Ezi Adesi, the director of Omega School, and Derek Johnson, senior director for inclusion, equity, and diversity at the UW College of Engineering, will be the two speakers.
“Ezi will do a presentation on presentations … because he is a real stickler about how you present yourself,” Eubanks says. “Derek will do one about playing the game and navigating the system. I do think that it is a game that you have to learn how to play if you want to have a fair shot at being successful.”
Eubanks has spent a good portion of his career mentoring students and youths and helping them to reach their full potential. He wrote the book, “The Determination to Succeed,” a story of perseverance and resilience through the lens of self-reflection, for young people in the summer of 2020. Since then, he has developed the Determination to Succeed program, which has been contracted by local schools throughout the area.
“This summit is all about building community with the students, and also with the adults,” Eubanks says. “It’s another set of eyes from the adults on the young folks, so they know that people want to see them succeed, they want to see them do well, and they’re there to support them and want to connect with them in any way they can.
“I do believe that sometimes people are put in the right position because somebody may have a career path in that lane that they will find at the Back2School Summit,” he adds. “You might meet a volunteer at the summit and that’s exactly what they do — it might be somebody in the trucking business, the real estate industry, the education industry, or somebody in law enforcement who can now help guide you through a process … if that is something that you want to pursue.”
One small difference for the Back2School Summit this year is that there will be a placeholder registration fee of $20.
“Last year, I did it for free, and then I had a handful of folks who secured a spot but didn’t show up,” Eubanks remembers. “I think that when you invest in it for yourself or for your children, there’s a little more follow-through. We want to make sure everybody shows up.” 
Students attending the Back2School Summit will get a Determination to Succeed shirt, wristbands with powerful messages, and backpacks with the Determination to Succeed logo, as well.
“Initially, I really just wanted to do something from a proactive approach that allows students to start the school year on a positive note and gives them some of the tools and strategies they’ll need to navigate so they can have a successful school year,” Eubanks says. “From this [event], I’m going to create a community cohort to carry the mentorship program throughout the course of the year, which also goes back to why I’m doing $20 registration fee … because that money will go toward taking that cohort to Circle City Classic, an HBCU classic football game that happens in Indianapolis. It’s a really big event.”
After that first year, Eubanks says that the positive feedback he received from students and parents alike made him really look forward to making sure that the Determination to Succeed Back2School Summit became an annual event.
“The adults who volunteered at last year’s inaugural event really loved it and thought it was a great event to be able to get the young guys some information that was very vital to what they’re going to need to be successful,” Eubanks says. “And then I had parents who came up to me throughout the course of the school year, just continuing to talk about how the Back2School Summit had such a positive impact on their kids, as well. That was great to hear.”
For more information about the 2nd Annual Determination to Succeed Back2School Summit or to register, click here and scroll straight to the bottom of the page to complete registration.
