GARY | A bishop and Gary high school alumnus dared more than 1,500 educators, parents and civic leaders on Monday to rescue and educate youth.

Bishop Henry Williamson, founder of One Church, One School, was the keynote speaker for Gary Community School Corp.'s annual back-to-school convocation at West Side High School.

Williamson, a graduate of Roosevelt High School and Purdue University Calumet, discussed the theme "Navigating a Turnaround, A Blueprint for Change."

The change entails a pulling together of School Board, trustees, political and religious leaders, parents and students, Williamson said.

"It's your job to believe in students, challenge them -- you have the power, use the power," he said.

Williamson challenged those in attendance to "navigate with vision and a mission to make things happen."

He also provided the five A's of excellence -- attendance, attention, attitude, atmosphere and achievement -- as a means to repeating last year's successful attainment of adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Gary schools Superintendent Mary Steele-Agee said she was encouraged by the No Child Left Behind progress achieved last year.

"We are excited about that, and we are still celebrating -- not to pause, but to remember what we need to continue to do," Steele-Agee said. "The staff left here motivated to the task that lies ahead."

Later, Williamson said the media must begin emphasizing schools that succeed.

"The press ought to play up the role of those students who are achieving and going around the world -- just like me, who was able to do things I would never have been able to do had it not been for teachers who believed in me and had a blueprint for change," he said.