The Harlem Eagle Academy for Young Men, a predominantly Black and Brown all-boys school, held a nonpartisan voter registration drive on campus last week with the goal of increasing voter turnout among parents and eligible students in this year’s critical presidential election.
From the outside, the academy appeared serene and quiet on Thursday afternoon, betraying the flurry of activity within. Inside, students and basketball players from sixth grade all the way to seniors, dressed in neat blue suit and tie combos, milled about on every floor. Some were in the lobby, ushering parents to voter registration tables and then into the cafeteria to enjoy a spread of chicken dishes and sides—a small reward for showing up and being involved.
The school made a concerted effort to include voter education for its students, especially for those 16 and older who are allowed to pre-register to vote. New York state law, passed by former Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2019, allows pre-registration of 16- and 17-year-olds with the Board of Elections (BOE) or Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) so they can automatically vote when they turn 18. This was seen as an essential step in increasing voter turnout among young people during midterm and general elections; many felt disenfranchised and disillusioned with the state of U.S. politics.
“I got registered earlier this month,” said Nile Edwards, 17. “In school, we had an event and they had the whole senior class tell us why it’s important for young men to vote. I think it’s important for people of my age to get more into politics and U.S. history. Whenever I turn 18, I’m already in the system so I can vote right away.”
Andy E. Harris photos
Harlem Eagle Academy Varsity Basketball Team Captain Nile Edwards (left), Athletic Director Coach Jermel Collins-Day (center), and Varsity Basketball Team Co-Captain Boubacar “Boobie” Balde (right) during student voter drive 
Harlem Eagle Academy student participates in phone drive to call parents and remind them to register to vote on Thursday, Sept. 26, at 6 Edgecombe Avenue 
Harlem Eagle Academy students volunteer to register parents to vote 
Eagle Academy students Boubacar “Boobie” Balde (center) and Nile Edwards (right) speaking with Amsterdam News
Younger students in the second floor office were hard at work staffing the phones and calling parents in an effort to get them to register to vote. Instructional Coach Jacqueline Andrade helped supervise the phone bank. “I’m excited to see our young men getting involved in the voting system and actually making these calls,” Andrade said. “Alerting adults, parents, young men and women of age to go out and express their decision [is] so important. Whatever they vote for…, it’s important to exercise that right.”
“Our school not only stands as an eagle, but Eagle Harlem,” said Boubacar “Boobie” Balde, 16, “It’s very important for us to go out into the community.”
Edwards, who is varsity basketball team captain as well as a founding member of the National Honor Society at Harlem Eagle Academy, and Balde, who is varsity basketball team co-captain and a member of Teaching a Generation (T.A.G), are the duo behind the student-athlete voter drive at Harlem Eagle–playing to their principles of discipline, education, and basketball.
The two have been friends and teammates for years. They initially met as sixth graders at Harlem Eagle. Balde left that year and Edwards left the school in eighth grade. Both reunited in high school, encouraged by their coaches and Principal Ahmed Edwards (no relation to Nile).
Balde said that coming back to Harlem Eagle helped him transition from a “very dark spot” in his life and make a pivotal change into who he is now. Edwards concurred, saying that his school environment before Harlem Eagle was depressing and made him feel like he was failing.
They said that basketball helps them be competitive, but also inspires them to work hard and stay motivated in their real lives to tackle larger issues. They agree that right now, there is little more important than what’s going on with the country as current Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman of color to hold that office, and former President Donald Trump go head-to-head for the U.S. presidency.
“What we really need is to be educated on voting,” said Balde about younger voters. “Whoever’s elected into office will affect the way we live in the future, so if we don’t know who we’re allowing in office, it may harm us or positively affect us, depending on the decision they make behind the table. We just want to push people out there to go and vote so we can have leaders in office [who] will help people like us: Black and Brown people.”
This is the fifth Eagle Academy school after its founder, Schools Chancellor David Banks, who’s slated to resign as early as October, opened the first one in the Bronx back in 2004. Banks’s Eagle Academy Foundation has schools in Brownsville in Brooklyn, South Jamaica in Queens, and Newark, N.J. The Harlem Eagle Academy is also called the Percy E. Sutton Educational Complex, after the first Black man to be elected Manhattan borough president. The school was named after Sutton’s death in 2010 by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg as a memorial.
“To see these guys taking a leadership role—that just tells me that something’s working—that the seeds we planted in the first two years they were here are now coming to fruition,” said Principal Edwards. “A lot of the culture I’m learning, I learn from them, so I’m just as much a student in this game as they are in terms of the academics. They’re doing a lot of teaching as well…for me as a school leader, that’s what it’s about. It’s about opening up a space where students can take agency [for] the voter registration drive. This is them.”
Upstairs in the school’s gym, affectionately referred to as “the cage” because of its claustrophobic size and shape, other players were practicing basketball drills with Athletic Director Coach Jermel Collins-Day and Assistant Coach Moustapha Mbaye.
“It gives them a voice,” said Collins-Day about politics and sports. “When you’re playing basketball, that gives you an opportunity to show all the work you’ve been putting in, and I think that goes hand-in-hand with politics: making sure you do your research on who you’re voting on, and then when it’s time to vote, make your choice.”
Collins-Day and Mbaye said that as mentors and father figures, it is critical to remind their athletes, especially as young Black men, that they have choices in sports and outside of it. “They just need exposure,” said Mbaye. “To let them know what’s out there is extremely important.”
The Department of Education (DOE) said it is currently engaged in voter education and activation efforts in other neighborhoods with historically low voter turnouts. The hope is to have an impact on this election and on New York City’s future as more students reach voting age.
“We believe that civic education and engagement are critical to ensuring our students graduate with the knowledge, skills, and values needed to be active participants in the democratic process and in their communities,” said Nicole Brownstein, NYC Public Schools first deputy Press secretary. “Through our Civics for All program, over 85,000 students have registered to vote over the last five years, and we are optimistic that this will have a tremendous impact on voter turnout for this upcoming election.”
[updated Thurs, Oct 3]