Harriet Tubman Play Brings Cheers and Tears to Prep School
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PREMIER ISSUE 2010 OUR VOICES sTudenT ColumnisTs: summer life/ baCK To sCHool Harriet Tubman Play Brings Cheers and Tears to Prep School HoraCe manns, ConvenT of THe saCred HearTs, monTClair Kimberley aCademys HeadmasTers sHare diversiTy insigHTs Teen ColumnisTs: Health, Money, Dating, Movies and more PRESENTS The The Resurrection of Meeting Harriet Tubman "The Meeting," an engaging and intelligent play that depicts a fictitious secret meeting between Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., follow - "The Resurrection of Harriet Tubman," stage ing the bombing of Malcolm X’s home shortly before he was assassinated. actress Melissa Waddy-Thibodeaux’s riveting Malcolm and Martin meet in a room inside the historic Theresa Hotel portrayal of the legendary freedom fighter and where they challenge each other’s strategies to end war, poverty, racism founder of the Underground Railroad who infil - and how to establish Black power. They were men with different ideologies, trated the slave-holding South repeatedly to but a common understanding of the plight of Black Americans. free her people. The emotional heft Waddy-Thi - bodeaux brings to the role frequently leaves “I wasn’t born when the audience in tears. Just recently, Texas Gov. Rick Perry honored the actress as a final - Malcolm and Martin were ist for the Humanities Texas Award, which rec - ognizes imaginative leadership in the here, so all I knew was performing arts. what I had read and what my parents had told me. But this play, fictional it might be, was as informa - tive and helpful to my un - derstanding of these great “The children welcomed Harriet Tubman leaders as anything else with excitement and awe. Her keen acting I’ve learned about them.” talent and warm personality engaged them immediately. ” –Sandy Rubenstein –Ricardo Barnes Fourth Grade Teacher Junior Horace Mann New York University The Bronx New York “The Meeting” and “The Reserruction of Harriet Tubman” will be touring local schools in the To book a performance of either production – or both – at your school, please Tri-State region from January to March, 2011. contact JWD Enterprises at 914-450-4269 NotE fRoM thE PUblIShER.... NEVER TOO YOUNG TO BE A LEADER A Teen Lifestyle Publication By Dion Clarke utside of classrooms and fields of athletic competition, Oour society tends not to associate leadership and Diversity Prep is a quarterly publication and website that adolescence in the same breath. recognizes and celebrates multiculturalism in the academic and social lives of teens and gives voice to their teachers, While everyone recognizes that today’s teens will be school administrators and parents. It is published by tomorrow’s leaders, we don’t always act like it. We as parents, Diversity Prep LLC. All Rights Reserved. teachers, administrators and neighbors are too consumed with making sure that teens follow orders, obey the rules, stay quiet, pay attention, study hard, avoid harm’s way and respect Chief Executive Officer/Publisher DION E. C LARKE authority, to appreciate signs of leadership they possess. Chief Financial Officer CHRIS ROBERTS Not that any of those precautions are bad. But can it stifle Associate Publisher – Atlanta ANTHONY WITHERSPOON leadership? Editor and Chief MILFORD PREWITT Dion Clarke, Publisher It was in their youth that Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Diversity Prep.com Internet JAY GREENE , M EDINA MEDIA Alexander the Great, Martin Luther King, Jr., Bill Gates, Winston Churchill and many other notable figures first showed signs that would one day make them world leaders and change makers. Advertising Sales/Marketing/Print and Web: Rather than muffling some teens’ instincts for leadership, we should take the National Sales: DION E. C LARKE [email protected] blinders off and support their efforts, as adolescence is a critical time for leader - 914-980-4427 ship development. The positives of embracing such an attitude far outweigh the negatives: Adolescent leadership development encourages self-esteem, reinforces Art Directors & Production Managers: Creative Insight, LLC the responsibilities of citizenship, nurtures team work, helps deglamorize the lure NANCY ANDERSEN of risky behaviors and sets a young person up on the road to success as an adult. MICHAEL LOMBARDO In this premiere issue of Diversity Prep, you will read about several schools, [email protected] enrichment programs and youth-centered leadership development organizations 203-594-9409 that are ahead of the curve when it comes to investing in the next generation of Academic Contributing Editors leaders. These institutions know that even if a young person does not obtain the PEARL ROCK KANE , Oval Office or the top suite in a corporation, life skills development expands by Columbia University Teachers College, Ph.D. Education multiples when teens experience leadership roles and responsibility. Communica - DR. E LLEN FERGUSON , tion, conflict management, decision-making, time management and more are all Montclair Kimberley Academy, Ph.D. English developed when young people are given leadership experiences. Contributing Writers A central core of our mission at Diversity Prep is to spotlight these teens, a tiny LISA WEINREB , J ODI GWALTNEY , D INA BERTA , sampling of whom have written articles in this issue. BONNIE KAVANAUGH , T ISH JOHNSON COOK AND JAYLA ROSS For example, Jayla Ross is an 11th grader at West Orange High School in West Orange, N.J., who writes that her comfortable lifestyle is no excuse not to give Special Columnists back to others less fortunate. Jennie Chieco is a 10th grader at the Convent of the Health: DR. W ANDA MCCOY Sacred Heart in Greenwich, Conn., whose volunteer work with the Red Cross has Teen Finances: DONNA SOTOLONGO , P SY .D. Teen Romance: TIFFANY TAYLOR SMITH , M.S. E DUCATION inspired her to work in the medical field one day. Olutola Ebunlomo is a sopho - Experiences: TIFFANY DUGUÉ , BA more at Montclair Kimberley Academy, in Montclair, N.J., whose book review of the Administration: PORCIA GARDNER autobiography of a Santa Clara (Califor - [email protected] nia) University professor who used to 914-450-4269 be a gang banger, speaks to the Diversity Prep would like to thank the student writing teams at injustice and unfairness she wants Montclair Kimberley Academy, Convent of the Sacred Heart and to correct as a lawyer one day. Horace Mann who contributed to this premiere issue. The jury is still out as to whether leaders are born or made. Either way, young people need our We welcome reader feedback and advertising inquiries at support and mentorship, and we JWD Enterprises P.O. Box 232, hope Diversity Prep can highlight Purchase, New York 10577-0232 the path. or email: [email protected] www.diversityprep.com 2 NotE fRoM thE EdItoR... New School Year A Teen Lifestyle Publication Welcomes New Teen Mag: Diversity Prep PREMIER ISSUE: 2010 “ one of us is as good as all of us,” NRay Kroc, the co-founder of Mc - realreal Donald’s, once told his franchisees. In that simple statement is the essence of diversity and, by extension, the mis - sion of Diversity Prep: to celebrate mul - ticultural inclusion in the independent, preparatory school world. My name is qualityualitlit Milford Prewitt, and it is my proud Milford Prewitt, Editor pleasure to introduce myself to you as the founding editor of Diversity Prep, a quarterly lifestyle magazine for and by high-aspiring teens unrealunr and their immersion in all that is considered multicultural and inclusive. But we also hope to be a forum and sounding board ON THE COVER: for teachers, parents and administrators. A tile mural at the Martin I come from the world of business journalism, having Luther King, Jr. Labor enjoyed an award-winning career as the national Center in Times Square pricesprice affairs editor at Nation’s Restaurant News, where I over - celebrates diversity in education. saw the weekly’s national and international news coverage. Prior to that, I was a general assignment reporter for several years with such renowned publica - tions as The Baltimore Sun, The Milwaukee Journal and the Associated Press. I am also a graduate of the Maynard Institute for Jour - coNtENtS nalism Education, formerly known as the Summer Program for Minority Journalists, at the Graduate School of Journal - 4 PUBLISHERS OPENING NOTES ism at the University of California at Berkeley. Named after “Teen Leadership” and founded by the late Pulitzer Prize-winning Washing - AJWrightWright is all about ton Post reporter Bob Maynard, the MIJE struggled to make 6 A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR the case for diversity in the newsrooms of America’s top realrealal fashion, frfrom newspapers and media organizations long before corporate Welcome to Diversity Prep Magazine America or academia “got it.” I bring my background into the mix to establish not 64 LISTING OF TRI-STATE AREA PREP SCHOOLS realreall brand names, Edyta only my credentials and experience, but to seek a Nowak relationship between you and Diversity Prep. We have Forest assembled a skilled team of writers and editors nation - INTERVIEWS: priced for rrealeal pepeople. Park, GA Pierre wide who, I am sure, will bring you in the months and Armster years to come the many slices of life that are tinged by 45 Movie Review Interview: Lansing, MI diversity in the 8th-to-12th grade, prep school environ - Andre Lee of “I Was A Prep School Negro” ndnd the storestore nearestnearest you:y Jocelyn Velez, ment. Lithonia, GA Each quarter, students will write columns on how their 62 Sports Legend: aj-wright.com or 888.SHOP888.SHOP.AJW lives are shaped by multiculturalism and what it means to St. John’s University’s Legendary Men’s Basketball Coach them. While we will also have columns on teen health Lou Carnesecca Says Diversity was His Sixth Man and family financial advice, and student-written columns on sports, the digital world and entertainment, we also hope our pages will be a forum for teachers, administra - tors and parents to exchange ideas, too.