About Us

Our mission is to prepare, recognize and reward high school youth who exemplify scholastic and artistic excellence.

Our vision is to build confident youth with the character of excellence and determination to become successful productive members of our society.

National ACT-SO Brief History

1976

Vernon Jarrett presented his concept for ACT-SO an “Olympics of the Mind” to the DuSable Museum of African American History.

1977

The NAACP accepted ACT-SO as an official sponsored NAACP youth achievement program that would be sponsored by Local NAACP units, conduct annual local competition, and bring a contingency of gold medalists to the annual National ACT-SO Competition.

1978

The first National ACT-SO competition was held in Portland, Oregon with seven cities participating: Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and St. Louis.

2004

Mr. Vernon Jarrett, ACT-SO founder, lost his battle with cancer at the age of 82.

Currently, ACT-SO sustains approximately 200 programs nationally. Since its inception, over 300,000 students have participated in the program nationwide.

New JerseyACT-SO Brief History

New Jersey State Conference

NJ State Conference is the only NAACP State Conference that started and has maintained a Statewide ACT-SO (Consortium) Program.

1988-1989

Rev. Sonya Redd with the support of the then President, Keith Jones developed the NJ State ACT-SO Program.

1990

NJ ACT-SO conducted its first ACT-SO Competitions with six (6) Local NAACP Units (Metuchen/Edison, New Brunswick, Paterson, Rahway, Trenton & Vineland) participating as a consortium, in 3 regions (North, Central, South).

1991

We had 13 (thirteen) participating local NAACP ACT-SO Units with approximately 120 participating students, 24 of whom went on to compete in the national competition.

Since 1991, the NAACP NJ ACT-SO Program has fluctuated between 8–14 active local programs with approximately 3,300+ students having participated. NAACP ACT-SO (National & Local) continues to promote growth, excellence, and innovation to position ACT-SO competitors as “Leaders For Tomorrow and Beyond.”

Years

Programs

8-14

Students

+3,300

Why participate in ACT-SO?

We need volunteers!

Our Leadership

Rev. Sonya Redd

Initiator & Architect of NJ ACT-SO Program

01/1989 - 10/1995 & 10/2016 - Present

Al Hester

2nd NJ STATE ACT-SO CHAIRPERSON

10/1996 – 2003

Charlene Bafour

3rd NJ STATE ACT-SO CHAIRPERSON

2004 – 2005

Deborah Smith Gregory

4th NJ STATE ACT-SO CHAIRPERSON

2005 – 2016