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The young men of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School received an important message Thursday afternoon from members of the Phi Upsilon chapter of the historic Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.

Opting to spend their spend their 2016 Founder’s Day celebration at the Bangs Avenue school, the fraternity’s brothers focused on sharing principles of perseverance during an all boys assembly.

Founded on November 17, 1911 at Howard University by a college professor and three undergraduate students: Ernest Everett Just, Oscar J. Cooper, Edgar A. Love and Frank Coleman, their motto is simply – Friendship Is Essential To The Soul.

The men base this edict on four edicts: Manhood, Scholarship, Perseverance, and Uplift, in order to improve a community.

They also encouraged the young men to increase the number of books they read in the upcoming year.

The featured speaker was Braynard ‘Bobby’ Brown [shown above, middle], triple major Notre Dame graduate who went on to achieved his dream of playing in the NFL when he signed with the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent.

Brown went on to spend two seasons with the Cleveland Browns before returning to  Notre

Dame to attend law school. He practice law at northern New Jersey firm before obtaining a master’s degree in business administration from Yale School of Management. Brown now works on the asset management team at Rockefeller & Co., a buy-side Wall Street firm.

[Photos courtesy of Asbury Park School District spokeswoman Chanta Jackson]

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