Like a lot of us in this town, James Pierce ended up in Charlottesville by accident. Shortly after graduating from William & Mary in 1996, he had a stack of 12 job applications in the backseat of his car. All but three of them flew out the sunroof never to be seen again; one of the reminders was for a gig at Charlottesville High School, where he thus began his career as an educator. He’s since been a teacher, baseball coach, assistant principal and principal at three different city public schools.
In 2009, representatives from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Virginia (BGCCVA) approached Pierce and asked if he was the guy who had gone to meet all of his new students and their families the summer before his first year as principal at Clark Elementary. (He was.) The organization, which provides diverse youth programs after school and during school breaks, was seeking a new executive director. After conducting an unsuccessful national search to fill the position, it turned out the guy for the job was practically next door all along.
Fast forward to 2015. Since taking on the role of executive director, Pierce has guided the BGCCVA, which serves Albemarle, Charlottesville, Madison and Orange, through implementing new programs, establishing new relationships with other community groups and opening a sixth club location. He’s also been recognized by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America with the Robert M. Sykes Award for Professional Excellence, but he’s adamant that the award should go to the entire team, not just him.
“I just happen to be lucky enough to be the one sitting in this chair,” Pierce says, noting that the team consists of more than 30 volunteer board members plus staff at all six club locations. “These people are amazing, and the passion and dedication they bring to their work is inspiring and humbling. I’ve always tried to be the hardest working person wherever I am, and I’ve given up.”
Pierce made the transition from schools to the club because he wanted to see for himself how his students spent their time out of school, and be a part of an effort to make that time more valuable and enriching. Not only does he believe that every kid deserves the same opportunities as the next, but having worked with elementary, middle and high school students for nearly two decades, he sees every child as being potentially “at risk” in one way or another. He did the best he could to address issues as an educator, but the BGCCVA’s mission aligns with his desire to provide opportunities for kids outside the limited school environment.
“Schools cannot do this alone,” he says. “There are three times that I think are really valuable for closing any gaps that might be out there: preschool, after school time and summer time. Those are the three things that really, in my career as an educator, were a little bit beyond my grasp.”
Pierce says he misses being in the classroom and working closely with the kids. Luckily his office is in the basement of the Cherry Avenue club, which means even on the way to and from meetings with potential partners or donors, he can swing through the main floor to offer a couple high fives to the groups of kids doing homework or playing basketball.
“Kids have a lot to teach us,” Pierce said. “We really need to listen to them and add a little bit of what we know as adults and professionals, but really be guided by what they tell us they want to get involved in and be sure to connect them to those resources.”