Walter Nathan Durant was just a text message away as the Thomas Edison Charter School team placed second in the 2018 National Junior High Chess Championship.
Alumnus Walter Nathan Durant uses chess to teach students about life.
The team was vying for a third national championship, having taken first place twice since 2014. This was the first year that Durant, chess coach and educator, couldn’t make the trip physically, but he was there in spirit.
“I spent the weekend glued to my phone sending tips and motivation,” says the WilmU alumnus, who uses chess as a tool to teach students about life.
Durant understands how motivat-ing learning chess can be for young minds. In fact, hecredits the game for helping him channel his energy during his middle school years in North Philadelphia. Durant was a self-proclaimed knuckle-
head. After he got into a fight, his teacher, Salome Thomas-EL, told him that chess players don’t fight with their fists; they fight with their minds.
Something clicked.
In Durant’s TEDxWilmington talk, “From Pawns to Kings: Chess Champions of Murdertown USA,” he gives a clever description of the game, paying particular attention to the so-called underrated pawns. While pawns are not powerful at the start of the game, they can be promoted if the chess player makes smart decisions throughout the game.
Today he brings that same lesson to kids in Wilmington. Durant and his former teacher, Thomas-EL, landed at Thomas Edison Charter School in 2010 — Thomas-EL as the principal and Durant as a behavioral interventionist before becoming a science teacher.
The duo introduced chess to third graders by using simple math concepts, through a program called Move Up. They believe it helped change the culture of the school by inspiring forward-thinking students.
“I wanted kids to get involved in something that challenged their minds,” says Thomas-EL. “They have to survive on the streets in the city, and when they get on the chess board, they already have that personality of grit, perseverance and resilience.”
Durant earned his master’s in School Leadership at WilmU’s College of Education in 2012. He believes the degree, combined with his passion for helping students excel, was the catalyst for him to be named director of Student Activities at Freire Charter School in Wilmington, where he helps more than 400 students find their passions and discover creative outlets.
“The students are my passion,” he says. “I’ve worked mostly with students who live at or below the poverty level and don’t always have access to resources such as robotics, yoga or chess.
“To me, chess teaches us to plan ahead, that every move and decision has consequences that need to be weighed against its reward. I know my students — former and future — take that with them for life.”WU
– Britney Gulledge