For a growing number of young men in the Baytown area, Michael Jackson is definitely a “Thriller.”
No, not that Michael Jackson, but the Generation Z-aged local educator, who’s also a mentor, coach and change agent who founded Young Men Successfully Steppin’ to save lives and empower our next generation.
The Defender spoke with Jackson, the Houston-born Nimitz High School alum, about YMSS, its mission, meteoric growth and plans for the future.
DEFENDER: Where and why was YMSS birthed?
JACKSON: It was birthed at James Bowie Elementary, which is the elementary school that I teach at, in order to give young men the opportunity to promote brotherhood, develop leaders and just step and create this technique and this sound; the things that I used to love to do. So, I wanted to introduce them to that because they knew nothing about it. And never did I imagine; we shot out like a rocket. In just a year, we’ve done a lot and I’m just grateful.
DEFENDER: What do you think it is about YMSS that’s attracting young brothers?
JACKSON: Just the positivity of it all. In this day and time that we live in, young men are doing God knows what; things they shouldn’t be doing. And to see that they want to do this, they want to come to YMSS practice, they have the drive and the passion to learn new stuff, learn technique, learn self-discipline, learn conformity and sacrifice, they are willing to learn, sometimes I feel like they motivate me although I’m supposed to be inspiring them. They motivate me because, you know, I’m human. Sometimes, I’m like, “Is this my calling, is this my purpose,” and I want to give up sometimes because finances or other things are just not lining up. And I could be doing other things with my time. But they always just give me confirmation that I’m supposed to be doing this. And they love it. Their heart is in it, and they’re always down for the challenge. I couldn’t ask for a greater group.
DEFENDER: What inspired you to start YMSS?
JACKSON: Initially, it wasn’t my idea to do it first. I did it at a previous school, and the assistant principal there is now the principal at Bowie (Dr. Regina Patrick-Sims). And she was like, “Okay, you’re going to do it here because it was successful there.” And I’m like, “Let me fill it out first, learn the children, see where I could be a good fit.” She said, “No. You’re gonna do it. Trust me on this. You’re gonna thank me later. Just trust.” She wasn’t gonna take no for an answer.
DEFENDER: So, is YMSS just about stepping?
JACKSON: No sir. It’s bigger than step. Step is like the start. It’s kind of reels you in like, “Hey, that looks cool. I want to do it. They look good, they’re doing this, they’re gaining popularity or whatever the case is. I want to do it.” But we are bigger than step. We don’t just step. It’s a lot of hard work. It’s a lot of discipline. But we also go into the community. We’ve done backpack drives, we feed the homeless, been to a Woman’s Shelter and we’ve helped and we did a toy drive for Christmas. My organization is built for brotherhood.
DEFENDER: Do you have a mantra?
JACKSON: We say this quote every day when we have practice and we end it with this: “We can’t stand if we don’t fall. We fail if we don’t try. Every day, we’re getting better and better. Nothing is given. Everything is earned. YMSS.
DEFENDER: How do you make time for your profession and YMSS?
JACKSON: Whew. I’m still trying to figure it out . But throughout the whole thing, I have a biological son, so I’m a full-time father. I’m a full-time student. I’m a full-time worker and I’m a full-time coach and mentor for these young men. And it just all kind of works. I actually adopted a son through this organization, so now I have two sons. I don’t have a curriculum for that. It just works.
DEFENDER: Does YMSS have signature events during the year?
JACKSON: Yes, we do. We’re getting booked via TikTok, Instagram, Facebook. People reach out constantly. One little video blew up to 700K views on TikTok. It reaches so many people and you get people DMing us or messaging us, trying to book us for stuff. And we don’t charge. We’re a nonprofit. If we are available, we will come. I just want to give the kids exposure or a different type of platform to do something that they love to do. We just started the competition world, so we just started competing. Our first one was March 4 in Dallas. So, we have YMSS, but then I have some that’s on the competition team. All 30 boys can’t be on competition team yet. So, I have 12 on it. We went to Dallas and actually won first place. I cried like a baby, that being our very first time ever competing, and we won. That just meant so much.
DEFENDER: Any other competitions?
JACKSON: We just did one March 25. We got first place in Trio, first place in the group, Best Precision, Best Entertainment and we got overall Grand Champion. And for overall Grand Champion we competed against the high school teams. And these are elementary kids. And we got three golden tickets to go to New York. So, we have New York coming up May 20. And the competition we’re doing April 15 is invite only. So, I’m like, “Y’all want little old us?” But I’m grateful. I’m humbled.
DEFENDER: What’s the age range of YMSS members?
JACKSON: My youngest is in the third grade and my oldest now is in the eighth grade. I don’t have an age limit, honestly. If you’re five and you want to join… because the little siblings, they’ll be trying to step; “Look what I can do.” So, I would love to break it down and have a junior team. The bigger brothers can help them and mold them to get them where they need to be. And my eighth grader, he’s going to ninth grade next year. So, if I need to make a high school team, I’m okay with doing three. I have help and support. I have three coaches under me, so we’re family.
DEFENDER: What’s your vision for the organization moving forward?
JACKSON: Moving forward, I want to continue just breaking barriers, breaking this code or this statistic that says boys nowadays are just into streets or into just gaming or electronics or social media, or getting with the wrong crowd. I was a bad child. I was rebel. I did a lot of different things, just to try to get my parents’ attention, but for my own reasons. I just wanna break that and let them know, for my organization that we can do this. We going to continue to do this and be positive and just continue to have a light shined on us.
DEFENDER: How can people support YMSS?
JACKSON: They can support us by following us on any social media platform: Facebook, TikTok, Instagram. We just set up a GoFundMe for our New York trip, so they can donate to that. They can make a donation. We have a CashApp, a PayPal. I mean, we need a van. I need a van. I need a bus, because I have a lot of kids and sometimes their parents are at work, so I have to drive around and squeeze them all in my little car. And I, as humbly as I can say, if they can help, I need a van. If they know anybody that’s giving away a van, I need a van. Hello? That’s what I need.
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