2021

Todd Stokes was interviewed for an article in the Calvert School newsletter, where his life as Calvert’s first African American graduate was celebrated. As one of the 23 or so of us Calvert classmates who moved to Gilman, I remember Todd’s first day very well. He arrived midyear in third grade, or the 9th Age as Calvert called it. At that time, everyone had their own big collections of stickers for every kind of product imaginable. By the end of Todd’s first day, he had a desk full of stickers that everyone had chipped in for him so he would not feel left out. As Todd said in the article, “I think it was an experience for everyone, because I don’t think my classmates had encountered too many African American students, and I hadn’t encountered too many white students.” The article detailed his journey after graduating from Morehouse College with a bachelor’s in psychology, to doing counseling and intake work, and then transitioning in 1991 where he served for 25 years as a U.S. Probation Officer for the District of Maryland. The article went on to say, “For years, he regularly received thank-you notes from the men and women on his caseload. Some of them said that he helped save their lives. Now retired for several years, Todd still gets phone calls from people he used to supervise, some of whom continue to look to him for help and guidance.” Todd has a daughter who is a senior at Tuskegee University, where she has been studying animal science, and he and his wife of 10 years, Chantel, have a son who is a rising first grader, who will be going to school next year near my neck of the woods on the southwest side of Baltimore County.

reported by Willy Moore '81