Today's youth, tomorrow's legends

Stefani Ramos is walking around the large convention hall in Miami bare-foot, her silver high-heeled shoes in her hands. After a long day of showing her photography to a group of judges at the 26th annual Academic, Cultural, Technological, Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO), the 17-year-old Newark high school senior is ready to relax and take in the other competitions.

This is Ramos' first time participating in ACT-SO, a yearlong enrichment program for minority high school students in grades nine through 12. Students compete in 25 categories, including music, dance, drama, photography, entrepreneurship, filmmaking, math and the sciences.

This year 852 students from cities big and small arrived in Miami to demonstrate their extraordinary academic and artistic talents.

"Every year we show that nobody is wasting anything on us," says Vernon Jarrett, founder of the ACT-SO program. "Our kids have the talent and skills to defeat any image that says they are inferior."

The awards ceremony was held July 13 and hosted by Malinda Williams of the cable television show Soul Food and Tommy Ford of Martin fame. The theme of the program, which showcased the best of the best in young Black America, was "Today's Youth... Tomorrow's Legends."

"This is the best kept secret in America, and they don't want it out," one audience member said during the awards ceremony.

Indeed. This year, 69 students from 45 cities were awarded ACT-SO medals. Gold medal winners received $2,000; silver winners, $1,500 and bronze, $1,000. But ACT-SO competitions are about more than monetary rewards, students say. Just ask Lorenzo Dillard, a 15-year-old sophomore from Gary, Ind., who built a robot designed to help disabled people. Dillard says that before ACT-SO, he had trouble speaking before crowds.

"I'm a hands-on person. When it comes to talking, I'm not very good at that," Dillard says. "This has helped me with presenting. I had to step up and talk to the judges."

Being a part of the ACT-SO competition for four years has helped teach Nicole Burgan of New York about disappointment and determination.

"I learned how to fall and stand back up again," says Burgan, 18, who won a silver medal in architecture. She won for her design of a spa for single mothers in Harlem.

For Roberteau Harris, 17, of Ft. Wallon Beach, Fla., ACT-SO is about meeting talented people with shared interests who are passionate about achieving their goals.

"It makes you work that much harder," says Harris. "It's one of those things that I think everyone should experience." Harris won a gold medal in mathematics for integrating Newton's Law of Cooling to develop a cooling model for McDonald's coffee. he hopes his project gets patented.

Melton Mustafa, an assistant professor of music at Florida Memorial College in Miami, was amazed at the talent he saw as a judge in the classical instrumental music competition. he says few know of the range of talent that exists in the Black community.

"If you didn't get a chance to hear these students, you wouldn't even know they were around," Mustafa says. "They need to be recognized. They need to be acknowledged. People need to know who they are."

Whether playing Beethoven, reciting Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech or conducting in-dcpth scientific research on breast cancer, students showcased their extraordinary talents and gifts.

They were poised, polished and positive. They exuded self-confidence and a self-assurance that more than guaranteed future success.

Sarah Hall-Young, an aspiring singer, wanted to be a part of this experience.

"They are always suggesting negative things about African American students, but we have students here who are doing things with their life, have goals set," says Hall-Young, an 18-year-old from Columbus, Ohio, who won a gold medal in contemporary vocals.

Myra Selby of Indianapolis also wanted her daughter, Lauren Curry, 18, to be a part of the ACT-SO experience. Lauren, who will be a freshman at Mount Holyokc College in South Hadley, Mass., this fall, competed in the poetry and dance contests.

"I think the program is a really good experience for young people," Selby says. "They learn about excellence, and they're supported in pursuing excellence for themselves."

Jeaneen West knows firsthand the impact of the ACT-SO program. She participated in the oratory competitions from 1986 to 1989, when she won a silver medal. West, the fund development manager for the local Girl Scout council in Broward County, Fla., served as a judge in the oratory contest.

"I volunteer because of the impact that ACT-SO had on my life as an individual," West says. "Going to the competition gave me a lot of confidence in myself. It established skills that I've used throughout my life since then."

ACT-SO also helped Camara Kambon develop his skills as a successful music composer and producer. Kambon, a three-time ACT-SO winner who has worked with such musical talents as producer Dr. Dre, Eminem and singer Mary J. Blige, says ACT-SO empowers Black youth. Like West, he returns to volunteer with the program.

"Any competition, any process like this helps to build a stronger character and a character with more depth," says Kambon. "It's really not about winning or losing; it's about the experience and what you gain from being around individuals who are like you."

It's this very experience that has ACT-SO winner Robert Peters Jr. vowing to come back to encourage other youth. The Lynwood, Calif., native won a gold medal for oratory and a bronze in dramatics. In his original essay, "I'm a Brother in Search of a Hero," Peters seemed to sum up the ACT-SO mission.

"My search for a hero has brought me home" Peters, 19, recited. "The hero you've been looking for is you."

- Lottie L. Joiner

Copyright Crisis Publishing Company, Incorporated Sep/Oct 2003
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