Interview 078 with Ray Walker

Listen to Bronx native Ray Walker—the founding director of New York City’s first urban boarding school for young men in Brooklyn, New York—share about living and working during the pandemic. He talks about his ancestors who trace back to Jamaican, Irish, and Scottish descent. He describes the opportunity to become a first-time homeowner in the pandemic, transitioning to focusing full-time on the mission of The Stokes Foundation, and overcoming Covid-19 twice.

Time Stamps:

1:24 Ray talks about his ancestry, family lineage, and growing up in The Bronx

12:00 Ray talks about Prep 9 and matriculating to Deerfield Academy boarding school

14:45 Ray talks about what life was like before the pandemic

25:22 Ray talks about returning to New York City in September of 2019

30:29 Ray talks about having a cough in early 2020 and transitioning to working-from-home

39:12 Ray talks about his return to Stokes Foundation full-time and his mission

44:53 Rays talks about a young man named Oshane Davis who earns a 5-year scholarship at Northeastern University

48:31 Ray talks about what it was like to buy a home during the pandemic

51:51 Ray talks about attending the Santa Clarita film festival in California

54:10 Ray talks about a film titled “Vaccinate Watts” with Dr. Jerry P. Abraham

58:40 Ray shares the website for anyone who is interested in learning about The Stokes Foundation at stokesfoundation.org

1:06:08 Ray shares about his experience getting vaccinated and then catching Covid-19

1:11:51 Ray talks about having Covid fog/brain after battling Covid for 3 weeks

On catching Covid-19 twice:

“The whole household caught Covid, including the baby. The baby processed it the quickest, but it was the most painful for us to watch as parents because he was just devastated by what COVID did to his little body: the coughing, the inability to breathe, the fever. And all we wanted to do was comfort him even though Cindy and I were both sick. Cindy's body processed it within like three to four days. For me it was like lingering…cough and other things…like four to five days of the worst ailment that I've ever had in my life. So it just gave me this like healthy respect for people who had to be intubated…”