“My favorite tag line comes from an author who titled his book, “Black People Need People Who Believe in Black People Enough Not to Believe Every Bad Thing They Hear About Black People,” says Marilyn Ruffin, Founder & Coordinator of the Black Excellence Achievement Makers (B.E.A.M.) awards, referring to No BS (Bad Stats). “I had that in mind when I first created this event.”
Back in 2019, Ruffin founded an event to challenge the negative narratives she would often hear associated with Black students and/or adult advocates. Now, her annual Sun Prairie B.E.A.M. awards ceremony is in its fourth year and is getting set to honor more than 700 people on Sunday, April 24, 2 p.m. at Bank of Sun Prairie at Ashley Field.
Ruffin, who was the first Black person elected to any office in Sun Prairie when she joined the Sun Prairie School Board back in 2015, was nearing the end of her term when she founded B.E.A.M. because she was tired of seeing Black children always portrayed in the press in a negative light.
“A lot that was going on pre-pandemic – and still going on right now – is that our Black students would get negative press whether it be test scores, poverty, maybe crime, or fights. It’s our Black children who always tend to be talked about with code words like ‘apartment dwellers’ or ‘low-income,'” Ruffin tells Madison365. “I see it on social media all the time. I said, ‘Well, goodness, our Black students that are doing well … they just get lumped in and you never get to see the positiveness and the brilliance of our Black children.’
“It’s not just like that at our school; it’s in the whole community. So B.E.A.M. – Black Excellence Achievement Makers – came from me being on the school board saying we need to do something about it. BEAM is the sun, a ray of light and tying that into Sun Prairie,” Ruffin says. “The community needs to see us in a positive light.”
Over 150 African-American students were recognized at the Sun Prarie Performing Arts Center at the inaugural B.E.A.M. ceremony and event back in the spring of 2019.
“That first year was fantastic,” Ruffin says. “You would see all of the dignitaries coming and they would say, ‘Where did all these Black people come from? I had no idea!’”
(Susan Elizabeth Photography )
Ruffin adds that the origins of B.E.A.M. also stemmed from experiences she had with her own sons, former Sun Prairie basketball stars Marlon and J.T. Ruffin. “They were always in the newspaper, but they were never in the newspaper for other means. Academic wise they were 3.0 students, but you’d never get to read about them because they only hone in on students who are National Honor Society or high achievement,” Ruffin remembers.
In many ways, the Sun Prairie B.E.A.M. Awards are modeled after the Madison Metropolitan Links’ African American Student Recognition Program, which has been honoring outstanding students and parent volunteers in the greater Madison school district attendance area for decades.
“We have a team of five women who have been doing this for four years now. In many ways, the event is similar to the Madison Metropolitan Links event that was held for years in Madison,” says Ruffin, who has also been a longtime member of the Madison Links. “The [school] district partners with B.E.A.M. to honor students from kindergarten through 12th grade. There are five categories: Models Excellence in Academics, Models Excellence in Teamwork, Exemplary Peer Leadership, Models Excellence in Responsibility and Extraordinary Growth.”
Awards go to not only students but also adults, including staff, leaders and parents or guardians.
“We showcase students. We also showcase adults being nominated as well. It’s all about seeing others look at our children in a more positive light,” Ruffin says.
After the initial excitement of the first annual event, the COVID-19 pandemic made the second BEAM event fully virtual. Last year, B.E.A.M. was celebrated with a socially distanced car parade. This year, they are excited to be back in person at Bank of Sun Prairie at Ashley Field on Sunday, April 24, 2 p.m. The event will be outdoors and the weather is expected to be warm this weekend.
“Looks like the weather is going to cooperate,” Ruffin smiles. “This event keeps growing and getting bigger and we don’t want it to feel like it’s a token award … we want to go beyond that. The fact of the matter is that the community is coming out for something very positive. It’s about changing the mindset of old-school Sun Prairie.”
For more information about Sunday’s B.E.A.M. awards ceremony, e-mail [email protected] or click here.
