Susie S. Keele Community CHROME Club

It all started when…

In the Spring of 1989 while waiting for her husband to get off work, Susie Keele noticed a flyer on a bulletin board at Norfolk State University. The flyer announced an upcoming two-week training in July for teachers interested in organizing and sponsoring a CHROME club for students. Susie applied and completed the course of study, which included working with school administrators in the community to establish a club and developing lesson plans and a course curriculum. What made Susie’s CHROME club unique was its focus on elementary school students rather than not middle or high school students, who were the students CHROME originally intended to target. Because Susie was not willing to change the target age group for her CHROME club, her club was not eligible to receive the grant that was offered to other CHROME clubs who targeted middle or high school students. In spite of the lack of grant funding, Susie maintained her CHROME club and received support from community sponsors.

Although the school superintendent supported Susie’s CHROME club plan, she did not have the support of the school principal where she intended to implement her plan. It was Susie’s belief that S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education should begin in elementary school that drove her to seek a sponsoring supporter for her vision. That support came from another organization that Susie dedicated her time and efforts to: the Zeta Pi Zeta Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated. With the support of the school superintendent and the sponsoring support of Zeta Pi Zeta, Susie only had to secure a meeting location to get her CHROME club up and running.

Once she found a meeting location in a community center in her neighborhood, her dream came true and the Portsmouth Community CHROME Club was a reality. That first year, the club met once a month on the fourth Saturday with an average attendance of thirty-five students. Several local teachers offered to help with the meetings and the course curriculum that year. Those teachers included Sherri Baker, Joan Ballard, Brenda Dalton, Veronica Jamison, and Adelphi Speight. From then on, the program continued to grow with teachers getting students from their schools to join in the program.

Since the 1989-1990 school year, the Zeta Pi Zeta Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated has continued to sponsor this club. In addition to the support received from Zeta Pi Zeta, the CHROME club has also received financial support and resources from several other businesses and organizations, including The Ford Motor Company, NASA, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, and all area universities and junior colleges.

In 1995, Susie suffered a stroke and thought that she would no longer be able to continue coordinating the CHROME club. The teachers working with her in the club went to the Regional Board of Directors to request that they be allowed to change the name of the club to The Susie Keele Community CHROME club. The request was granted. True to form, though, Susie was back at the helm one year later, and has remained there ever since.