Empowering Futures: The Inspiring Journey of James Woody and Sutton Scholars
In this inspiring episode of Good News, meet James Woody, the Executive Director of Sutton Scholars, a high school enrichment program sponsored by the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, as he shares his journey from the corporate world to nonprofit service. Alongside hosts Deacons Jon Shematek and Lauren Welch, James discusses the importance of spirituality, leadership, and life skills in transforming the lives of underserved youth in Baltimore. Learn about the unique focus of Sutton Scholars and how the program fosters personal and community growth. Discover how you can support this vital initiative and make a difference.
00:00 Introduction to James Woody and Sutton Scholars
00:34 James Woody's Journey to Nonprofit Leadership
02:54 Spirituality and Service
04:55 Founding the Bishop Walker School for Boys
06:41 Challenges and Successes in Education
10:00 Transition to Sutton Scholars
11:35 Overview of Sutton Scholars Program
14:22 Impact of the Pandemic on Youth
17:15 Building a Better Baltimore
23:17 Supporting Sutton Scholars
26:56 Final Thoughts and Words of Wisdom
28:26 Conclusion and Farewell
James Woody is passionately committed to the creation and development of transformative opportunities for youth and families in under-resourced communities. He currently serves as Executive Director of the Sutton Scholars High School Enrichment Program, an initiative of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland aimed at supporting Baltimore City High School students in their efforts to develop the confidence, competence and character they need to achieve success in high school, post-secondary educational environments and their chosen careers. James formerly served as the founding Executive Director of the Bishop John T. Walker School for Boys in Washington, DC. In addition to his work at Sutton Scholars, James serves on the governing board of the Washington National Cathedral, and is an independent director of IDW Media Holdings, a publisher of graphic novels and comic books including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Sonic the Hedgehog, and John Lewis’ March.
Visit Sutton Scholars at: https://suttonscholars.org/
James Woody's contact info: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-r-woody-a8b9053/
The Good News! podcast series is part of the ListeningforClues portfolio. Catch us at https://listeningforclues.com/
© 2025 Listening for Clues
Transcript
Let's meet James Woody, the Executive Director of Sutton Scholars, a
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:high school enrichment program sponsored
by the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.
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:With Mr.
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:Woody today , is our Good News team,
Deacons Jon Shematek and Lauren
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:Welch as we bring another episode
in our second season of Good News!
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:All about people making a
difference in the world.
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:Jon Shematek: James Woody,
welcome to our podcast.
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:Good News!.
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:We're thrilled to have you and learning
more about you and Sutton Scholars.
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:very happy you're here with us today.
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:James Woody: thank you, Jon.
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:It's great to be here.......
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:Jon Shematek: So, I guess one thing I
know you've had a, very long, career
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:and very strong, interest in youth
and helping particularly disadvantaged
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:youth, over the course of your lifetime.
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:tell us a little bit about your journey.
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:How did you get to where
you are now in terms of your
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:particular gifts for the world?
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:James Woody: Sure, that's
a fascinating question.
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:I started my career in the corporate
sector and did marketing and strategic
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:planning for a number of years and came
to the conclusion that I was not going to
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:get maximum fulfillment by focusing on.
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:Making money for others, I was asked
to consider serving on the board of
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:a homeless shelter in Washington, D.
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:C.
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:called community of hope I served on
the board for a number of years, the.
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:Founding executive director of
that organization announced that
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:he was going to be leaving to
pursue some activities nationally.
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:And I was asked to serve on
the search committee for the
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:replacement for that gentleman.
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:And somehow, after serving on the search
committee for a number of weeks, I think
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:I missed a meeting or 2 and came back
and I was greeted with the notion that
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:they had found who they were looking for.
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:And that person was me.
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:So the moral of that story is never
miss a search committee meeting, but I
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:spoke to my wife about the possibility
of leading an organization that served
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:not only homeless families, but had
a health clinic, a medical clinic,
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:and a number of other educational
opportunities for families I said to
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:my wife, I don't know what's going
on, but I feel like this is something
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:that we should seriously consider.
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:And without hesitation, she replied,
if this is something that you feel God
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:is calling you to do, then let's do it.
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:We'll just change course.
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:I'm sure we'll be just fine.
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:six weeks later, I was the, Executive
director and president of the Community
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:of Hope Incorporated in Washington, D.
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:C.
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:that was the beginning of my journey
with nonprofit service and ministry.
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:over the last 30 plus years, I've been
involved in a number of nonprofits.
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:as I look back on it, there was a
connecting thread through all of them.
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:And that connecting
thread was spirituality.
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:I became a Christian when I was 17
years old and was always looking for
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:ways to serve in a way that I felt
would do justice to my faith, and
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:help, promote the kingdom of God.
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:most of the organizations that I've
worked with, were a part of that spiritual
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:journey as much as, a journey of service.
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:Jon Shematek: Wow, that's a great story I
didn't know about your experience at 17.
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:I mean you found Christ
at that at that yes
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:James Woody: at 17 I think something
that's important to my story is that I
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:Grew up with Bishop Eugene Taylor Sutton.
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:He and I have known each other since
kindergarten When I was 17, he invited
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:me to be a part of a youth group.
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:I had always been, engaged in
church work on lots of levels.
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:I was the youth superintendent of
my Sunday school at the Baptist
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:Church I attended when I was 16.
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:In many respects, I was going through
the motions, being a part of church
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:had been a part of my family tradition
for generations, but it wasn't until
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:I had gotten invited to that youth
group when I had what you described
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:accurately as a conversion experience.
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:I came face to face with.
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:my own shortcomings and sin, if
you will, and made a decision to
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:turn in a different direction.
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:And from 17, until this day,
that has been the arc of my life.
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:Lauren Welch: So James, it sounds
like spirituality is, a really
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:important part of all the work you do.
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:You bring that to wherever you are with
the boys or whoever you're working with.
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:James Woody: that's absolutely right.
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:Lauren Welch: How do you see that helping?
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:The people that you work with.
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:James Woody: Well, I believe very strongly
Lauren that we are all spiritual beings.
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:Many of the physical challenges we
face are rooted in some spiritual cause
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:or at least in a spiritual dimension.
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:one of the most important experiences of
my life was being asked to serve as the
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:founding director of the Bishop John T.
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:Walker School for Boys in Washington, D.
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:C.
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:the Bishop Walker School was a
school we launched in:
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:I'm honored that I was the first
employee of that institution.
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:we decided very consciously that boys,
in particular African American boys,
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:in underserved parts of Washington D.
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:C.
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:were experiencing a crisis that
crisis involved things like dropping
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:out of school and getting into
trouble with the law at a proportion
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:that was, disproportionate to
their presence in the population.
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:the Bishop Walker School was founded
as a kindergarten through 5th
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:grade school that was tuition free.
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:It's An Episcopal school that is tuition
free I had the privilege of spending
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:a number of years, raising lots of
money to help provide a tuition free
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:education to the boys in Washington, D.
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:C.
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:we realized that our resources would be.
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:Limited and so we wanted to focus our
energies where we thought we could have
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:the most impact serving boys who were in
many respects falling through the cracks
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:is where we decided to focus our attention
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:Jon Shematek: So, James, I can't think
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:How challenging that must
have been, in so many ways.
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:you had to, thinking of a
tuition free there obviously was
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:the financial, aspect of that.
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:And then, just, working with the
children, students, youth that, may
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:or may not have been really that
interested in what you were trying to do.
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:Was that an issue?
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:Because there's a generational
gap there in some ways,
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:James Woody: that's very perceptive, John,
when we started, in:
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:opened in 2008, the Episcopal Church did
not have a particularly strong presence
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:and that quadrant of Washington, D.
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:C.
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:in the Southeast quadrant, there were
a couple of parishes but there was a
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:lack of familiarity with the Episcopal
Church, in that part of the city one
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:of the biggest challenges was to get
people in that community to understand,
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:what we were trying to accomplish.
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:I'll never forget going door to
door Knocking to try and, get to
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:know folks in the community and
tell them about what we were doing.
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:I used to say we were a tuition
free school, and I thought that
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:would really excite people because
they wouldn't have to pay tuition.
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:then one day.
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:Somebody stopped me and said, I don't
know why you lead with that line, because
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:all schools here are tuition free.
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:Most students go to public schools,
and the idea of paying tuition was not
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:on the radar of any of the families
or students we were targeting.
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:so, we had to change
our spiel a little bit.
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:And 1 of the things that we ended
up focusing on was the idea that
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:he was a school that also had
a spiritual component to it.
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:Surprisingly, to me, that was very
exciting to families in the community,
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:though they did not have a frame of
reference with the Episcopal church.
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:They did have strong connections with
a number of other nondenominational
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:or Baptist entities in the community.
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:many families were looking for a place
that they thought would be a safe.
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:And loving place for
their sons to be educated.
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:And so once we understood that was one
of the primary desires and needs from
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:families, we finally reached the sweet
spot for what our message would be.
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:Jon Shematek: What a discovery that,
faith is something that will draw people.
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:James Woody: Yes.
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:And that was contrary to what a lot of us.
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:believed at the time, people were
hungry, to find a, and again, safe
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:was an important one because in,
in many, underserved communities,
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:violence, is something that families
and young people have to contend with.
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:once.
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:They felt comfortable that we would be
a place where their sons would be cared
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:for in a loving and appropriate manner.
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:it really did make a huge difference.
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:And the school is thriving to this day.
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:Actually, just a couple of nights ago, I
went to their annual fundraising dinner.
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:It was really exciting to see
that the school is on firm
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:footing and is doing well.
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:Jon Shematek: That's great.
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:the alumni are doing well.
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:James Woody: Yes, absolutely.
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:As a matter of fact, we had a couple
of alumni, perform at the dinner,
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:which is held in the nave of the
Washington National Cathedral.
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:one of our boys, sang, a Frank Sinatra
tune, which was, a real show stopper,
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:so to speak, another one talked
very eloquently about his plans.
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:He's graduating from high school this
year and his plans for college and
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:what he hopes to do in the future.
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:it was really inspirational to see
young men that I knew when they were
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:in kindergarten, who are now either in
college or graduating from high school
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:Concrete plans and
desires for their lives.
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:it's a very satisfying and
fulfilling part of my journey.
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:I retired from the Bishop Walker
school, in July of:
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:and I moved from Washington, D.
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:C.
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:to Baltimore, which we now call home.
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:And it was a part of that retirement
transition, during which Bishop Sutton
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:approached me and asked how I was
planning on spending my next phase
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:I said, Basically being retired.
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:but, as fate would have it, and the
fact that, he's such a long standing
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:and dear friend, he asked if I would
consider, extending some of my leadership
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:experience to the Sutton Scholars
Program, which was named, in his honor.
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:It was very difficult for me to turn
down that opportunity having served
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:on the advisory board of Sutton
Scholars for a number of years I was
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:very familiar with the program and
was delighted to have that be a part
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:of the next phase of my employment
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:Jon Shematek: We definitely resonate with
you about being retired and yet having
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:Bishop Sutton say, okay, now what you're
going to do in your retirement is what?
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:it's inspired at least all three of us,
but many, you know, countless others.
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:So that's a particular
strength of his, by the way.
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:Oh, yeah.
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:So, that's how you became involved
with the Sutton Scholars, program.
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:We have all kinds of people that
watch and listen to the podcast.
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:Some of them, will know right off
the bat what Sutton Scholars are,
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:what the Episcopal Church is,
and what a diocese is, and so on.
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:Can you just talk a little bit
about, the Sutton Scholars Program
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:and how it works and what you're
hoping to accomplish with it?
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:James Woody: Sure, I'd be happy to.
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:the Sutton Scholars
Program, was formed in:
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:It is a high school enrichment
program sponsored by the
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:Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.
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:Bishop Sutton was quick to realize
that Young people need someone to help
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:provide guidance and direction he and
I were a part of a youth group when we
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:were teenagers that surrounded us with
adult support, mentoring, and guidance.
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:he believed that he wanted something
like that to be a formal part of
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:life in the Diocese of Maryland.
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:It's important to mention that
the Sutton Scholars Enrichment
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:Program is not an academic program.
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:So we are not focused on reading,
writing and arithmetic That's.
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:Something all young people have to
develop if they're going to be successful,
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:but it's also not a religious program.
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:Sutton Scholars focuses on life
skills sometimes referred to as
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:soft skills, things like leadership.
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:Communication, financial
literacy advocacy.
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:We want to work with young people on
developing skills they may not, be
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:getting exposure to in their high schools.
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:we serve young people from
around the city of Baltimore.
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:this past year, we worked with young
people from 10 different high schools.
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:we work with young people
in grades 8 through 12.
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:what we do is assign the young people
once they fill out an application
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:and are accepted into the program.
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:We are currently serving about
75 young people each summer.
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:Primary focus of Sutton scholars
is a 6 week summer program.
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:during that summer program, we
drill down on some of the skills
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:I referenced each cohort of
students is led by an instructor.
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:Many of our instructors are Teachers
in public schools, primarily high
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:school teachers, but sometimes they
may be middle school teachers as well.
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:And we, over the last couple of years
have developed a curriculum, which hones
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:in on the skills I referenced previously
the goal is to have A program that is
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:fun, engaging, and that young people
want to come back to every summer.
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:the goal is to have a young person
join with us in eighth grade and
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:continue through their senior year of
high school, and then we continue to
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:support them informally in college or
in vocational school or whatever they
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:choose to do on a post secondary basis.
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:Lauren Welch: James, what has
surprised you most while working
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:with the Sutton scholars?
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:James Woody: Yeah, it can be
an incredibly difficult age.
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:one of the things, that surprised
the whole world was, the pandemic.
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:when we look back on, 2020, 2021 and
in some measure:
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:this was going to be a challenge,
but what surprised me was how
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:much the pandemic has affect our
young people's ability to engage.
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:With each other and others socially,
I think there's something about
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:having been trapped behind a computer
screen for as long as many of our
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:young people were that had an adverse
impact on their ability to communicate
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:effectively and engage socially.
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:And so we've had to spend a great
deal of energy and focus, helping
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:them reemerge from their shells,
created, by the, coronavirus pandemic.
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:it's been more than a notion
to drill down and get them to.
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:Reemerge in ways that are confident, and
enable them to communicate effectively
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:with each other and with adults.
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:I'm surprised by the impact the
pandemic had on our young people's,
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:ability to engage socially.
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:Lauren Welch: And what a blessing it was
to have this gift of scholars for them,
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:because Many young people haven't come
out of their shell because they didn't
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:have this kind of support and help.
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:So thank you.
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:James Woody: Well, yeah, it's been
an incredible pleasure, and an honor
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:to work with young people, who have
experienced, that kind of challenge.
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:But the other thing that's been surprising
to me, and it's kind of the opposite is
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:how resilient our young people are and how
hungry they are to learn new skills and be
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:exposed to different kinds of experiences.
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:my faith in young people, not
that it ever, was completely
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:shaken, but if you read.
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:the media, you tend to hear
negative things about young people,
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:particularly those in high school.
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:But 1 of the things that I am happy
to report is that there is a great
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:deal of hope on the part of folks who
are in the Sutton scholars program.
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:And for me personally, I absolutely am
confident that our futures will be in
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:good hands if we as adults do what we
are supposed to be doing with regard to
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:teaching, training, nurturing, caring
for and mentoring this next generation.
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:one of the things that we have
Emphasized with our young people
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:is speaking up for themselves.
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:We talk a lot about advocacy.
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:Part of what we try to encourage
them to do and model for them is
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:how to speak up in ways that are
both powerful and respectful.
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:it's important that they be able
to represent their own interests.
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:Part of what we do at Sutton Scholars,
and maybe it's an overarching theme is
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:what we call building a better Baltimore.
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:We recognize that not all of
our young people are destined to
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:spend the rest of their lives in
Baltimore, but we recognize that.
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:there are some issues and challenges
in Baltimore, like they are
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:and, you know, any other city.
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:And one of the things that we want
them to be able to do is to be in
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:positions of leadership to help remedy
the challenges they face and to rectify
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:situations that are problematic.
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:Not just for them but
for their communities.
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:One of the things that we do
every summer is we take our young
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:people on a number of field trips.
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:Summer before last, we decided to
go to City Hall because we wanted
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:Our scholars to meet a council
person, they met the police chief.
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:the president of the city council,
and were able to engage in
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:conversation with some of these
city leaders for about an hour
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:as part of our preparation, one
of the questions that I asked
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:our scholars was, if you had the
opportunity, when you graduate from
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:high school, how many of you, by
show of hands, would leave Baltimore?
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:about two thirds of the group,
surprisingly to me, raised their hands and
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:said, yep, we'd be out on the next bus.
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:And I was really surprised by that.
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:it caused me to do a deep, introspective
dive on why my perspective on Baltimore
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:is so different than many of our young
people's perspectives that frankly
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:had to do with their experiences.
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:They have seen, sadly, some of the
negative aspects of what it is to
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:live in Baltimore at this point in
history, and frankly feel like They
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:need to get out in order to experience
the kinds of opportunities that
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:will give them a fighting chance at
having the kinds of lives they want
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:One of the things that we are really
excited about since two summers
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:ago, the number of young people who
would say they are interested in
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:leaving has decreased remarkably.
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:that's because we have recommitted
ourselves to showing them.
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:The beauty of their city, we go to
museums, and we do at least 2 or 3
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:college visits focusing on colleges
and universities that are either
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:in the city or directly adjacent
to the city in Baltimore County
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:Being exposed to some of the things
that make Baltimore such a special
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:and rich place, I think is slowly
but surely changing the perspectives
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:on some of our young people.
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:If you don't know the beauty and the
joy that can exist through that which
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:takes place in your own hometown,
sometimes you just assume that it.
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:And so part of what we are committed
to doing is exposing our young
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:people to some hidden, gems that
exist in the city in terms of
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:places and people and institutions
that will help them understand why
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:Baltimore is such a special place.
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:Jon Shematek: James, I was
wondering, I think you mentioned
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:there are about 75, Sutton scholars.
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:is that the right number?
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:is this scalable in any way?
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:do you have a plan?
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:Are you saying, this is what
God wants us to do and this
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:is how we're going to do it?
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:James Woody: prior to the pandemic, our
numbers had actually gone up to just over
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:a hundred and we were excited about that.
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:then the pandemic hit, and our numbers
went down to 30 or something like that.
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:75 feels like a good number for us,
because it affords us the opportunity
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:to go a little deeper with each scholar
than we might have been able to do if the
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:numbers had been as large as they were.
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:1 of the things that that I think
we have come to learn is bigger is
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:not necessarily better as relates
to this program and so 75 feels.
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:Frankly, to be about the perfect number.
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:One of the things that I failed to
mention in my description of the
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:program is that we actually compensate
our young people through a stipend.
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:So each scholar receives a stipend and we,
pay them to participate in the program.
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:the more scholars we have, the more money
we have to raise to pay that stipend,
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:which is a challenge, One of the things
that is important to understand is why
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:we feel like that stipend is so important
for people who are familiar with summer
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:employment in Baltimore and their
programs like it throughout the country.
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:often cities in Baltimore has a
program, that is called YouthWorks.
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:And so it's a summer employment program
where young people get employed to
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:work in the private sector government
settings or non profits, and they get
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:paid minimum wage to participate 1 of
the things that we understood early on
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:about Sutton scholars is that a program
like youth works in some respects.
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:a competitor of ours because of
the stipend, young people rely on
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:the stipend to buy school supplies
supplement their family's income.
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:Without the stipend, because they could
easily go someplace else, like the youth
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:works program, the competitive aspect is
that they pay a stipend and for us to not
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:would put us at a disadvantage in terms
of attracting the kind of young people
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:that would most benefit from our program.
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:Interestingly, we are not over the
last couple of years having to recruit
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:students as aggressively because the
students themselves and their families.
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:By word of mouth have been sharing the
good news about what goes on at the Sutton
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:Scholars Program they have been coming to
us voluntarily, which is a really exciting
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:development in our growth as a program.
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:Jon Shematek: James, I guess the
other question that comes to mind for
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:me right now is just thinking about
all this amazing work that Sutton
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:Scholars is doing and the work that
the scholars themselves are doing.
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:some of our viewers and
listeners, are really interested
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:in helping promote good things.
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:what is it that.
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:someone can do to help support,
Sutton scholars what concrete
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:things might one of us do?
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:James Woody: One of the questions
that I find interesting that I get
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:Fairly often is besides giving money.
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:What can I do to support the program?
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:And I'm not sure why we want to skip
over the giving money part as being
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:an important part of the puzzle.
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:We are a program that is funded
by our own fundraising efforts.
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:the diocese has been very generous.
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:But, the diocese is not in a position
to pay for the entire program.
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:And so we have to raise the money
that we use to pay the stipends
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:to hire our instructors to go
on field trips to rent buses.
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:We provide 2 meals a day to our scholars.
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:during the summer.
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:We operate out of Mercy High School
on Northern Parkway in Baltimore
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:City, and we have to rent that
facility from Mercy High School.
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:finances are an important
piece of the puzzle.
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:for those that are moved to
support us financially, I
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:encourage generous, support there.
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:And that can be done.
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:we can be reached through
sutton scholars.org
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:or through the diocesan,
website, episcopal maryland.org.
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:We are, having a fabulous summer
experience, which includes four
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:days at the Claggett center,
in Adamstown, our young people
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:need to get away from the city.
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:we spend three nights and
four days at Claggett.
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:every year, which is just an
old fashion season of fun.
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:So the young people play sports,
volleyball, kickball, they ride
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:bikes, they canoe, spend lots of
time in the pool because it's,
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:always hot in the summertime.
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:Generously supporting Sutton scholars
financially is an important aspect of
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:how we maintain the work that we do
Skills that we try to expose our young
394
:people to, need others to help reinforce.
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:from time to time, we'll have guest
speakers come in, who can talk
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:about professions that young people
may want to consider pursuing.
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:we talk about conflict resolution.
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:this year I'm hopeful and looking forward
to Bishop Carrie doing a workshop on
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:conflict resolution, but there are
lots of people spread out throughout
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:the community who have expertise
and financial literacy or conflict
401
:resolution or interviewing skills.
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:those kinds of volunteer opportunities
exist for us, or it might be
403
:chaperoning on a field trip,
going with us on a college tour.
404
:We often need people to help young people
understand how to successfully complete
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:a college application and preparing
a resume and those kinds of things.
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:And so we have a.
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:Curriculum where our instructors are
the key players in helping our young
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:people develop these skills, but
we can always benefit from working
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:professionals who share their experience
and expertise with our scholars so that
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:they have up to date perspectives on
what's being required in the workplace.
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:Jon Shematek: That's great.
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:Thank you.
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:I really appreciate it.
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:Gosh, we really appreciate the
time you've given us today.
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:This has been an inspiring time.
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:And I know Lauren always has
one more question, right?
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:Lauren Welch: Before we
go, James, do you have any.
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:Words of wisdom or advice for our
young people, encouraging us to know
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:that these young people are going
to be our leaders in the future and
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:that we're in pretty good hands.
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:James Woody: our young people
are going to be our leaders.
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:it's up to us as the generation that
precedes them to be the kind of role
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:models they can look to, to learn how
to lead in a way that is civil and kind.
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:speaking of kind, we have a mantra at
Sutton Scholars that works not just
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:for our scholars, but for all of us.
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:Strive for success.
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:Work hard, have fun and be kind.
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:that kindness piece sometimes
gets lost in the shuffle.
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:we are trying to say to our
scholars that, life is short.
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:We have an obligation to ourselves
and each other to respect the
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:people in our lives and be good
examples to that next generation,
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:particularly that's following us.
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:we all have an opportunity.
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:to set an example for the person to our
left or to our right or to that person
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:who is, looking to us and following,
the path we have, laid out for them.
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:it's important for us as adults to
show the kind of example that we
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:would want our young people to follow.
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:I can vouch for the young people
They are looking for good examples
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:and wanting to lead a life that is
fulfilled and exciting, and that will
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:help them, change things in a way
that is positive and long lasting.
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:Jon Shematek: James Woody, thank you.
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:We've learned so much and really
appreciate the work you're doing
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:and what God is calling you to do.
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:Thank you very much.
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:James Woody: Thank you so
much for this opportunity.
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:I always love talking
about Sutton Scholars.
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:Lauren Welch: Jon and I want to thank
all who are , watching and listening.
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:We can't do this without
your participation again.
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:Thank you for the gift of
your time until next time.
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:Peace and blessings.
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:Dolores: This episode of
Good News has been brought to
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:you by Listening for Clues.
453
:For more podcasts, check out
our YouTube channel or our
454
:website listening for clues.com
455
:or just about any audio podcast platform.
456
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457
:Thanks for being with us today.
