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DLH: The Schomburg Junior Scholars Program
is black studies program for teens.

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It’s a unique opportunity for teens in the
Harlem community and in communities throughout

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New York City, and even New Jersey and Connecticut,
to connect to all of the knowledge and resources

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available here at the Schomburg Center.

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TB: It was, it was magical for me because
Harlem was a place, where you know for me

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growing up, it was the Mecca so being able
to come to the Mecca every Saturday was really

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purposeful for me.

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The Junior Scholars Program was providing
me with primary source information on black

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culture and history, something that I had
never encountered before in my entire life.

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This was an opportunity for me to really get
in touch with who I was as a person and to

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start to think about where I came from and
to start to think about where I want to go

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and to wrestle with those ideas and to also
think about where I stand as a young black

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man, creatively.

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Over the year of interaction, she watched
me grow up.

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She was a really, really, really big part
of that development and when I needed guidance,

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I knew that I had somebody that I could call
on and somebody who was willing to give me

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the tough love that I needed to push me towards
the best person that I can be.

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Deidre has always been that person to me and
she continues to be that person now.

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One thing that Deidre told me was that I have
to be true to myself.

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I need to be in a space where I can allow
myself to be me and to be comfortable being

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me.

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That was something that she told me about
10 years ago, that I have held on to for a

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really, really long time.

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That has really allowed me to be in a space
where I am comfortable with myself and I am

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comfortable being different and I am comfortable
being creative.

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I am comfortable being and activist and being
a part of the opposition and that all stems

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from, you know, one day she just said, “You
got to be you.”

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Seeing Dr. Muhammed in the position that he
is in now gives me hope for my next 15 years.

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He is a brilliant man that I look up to and
I respect tremendously.

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Knowing that a young person like himself can
be in the space that he is in gives me the

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hope and the drive to continue to push myself
forward and to continue be better every day.

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So my position at my school is as Dean.

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I am in charge of school discipline and school
culture.

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I help to maintain a strict, healthy school
environment while also supporting teachers

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and students who are struggling.

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A large part of my position is teaching my
students how to navigate systems and I think

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that is a large part of the black experience
that a lot of students will not get if they

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do not have a black male educator in their
building.

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A lot of them lack a lot of focus and that
was something that I was really struggling

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with as a, you know, high school freshman.

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It was the Junior Scholars Program that allowed
me to put myself in that space.

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At the Schomburg Center I am instructor and
I in charge of the social media group.

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This year we have just started a new social
media initiative in which our scholars are

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really jumping in feet first with our brand
new hashtag- Uniquely Black.

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We are dedicated to showing the world what
is going on here at the Junior Scholars Program.

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Whenever I do anything in life, I always go
back to my experience here at the Junior Scholars

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Program because of the way it transformed
my life and transformed my mindset.

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I will forever be in debt to the Schomburg
and the Junior Scholars Program and the will

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always have my support.