Julius Thompson Teen Read Week 2011 Presentation!

Decision Making is THE life fundamental that all teenagers must master in order to be successful in adulthood. The teens that follow the crowd and, not create their own identity, will have problems in reaching their life goals. This was the thrust of my presentation to Redan High School (Stone Mountain, Georgia) students to open the school’s National Teen Read Week Program. This is a national program across the country (October 16 thru October 22) celebrating Teen Read Week 2011. Wherever you are and what ever you do, encourage a teenager to pick up a book and Read! During the presentation, I talked about my experiences of make critical decisions growing up on the streets of Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, New York during the sixties. Whether to stand on the corner and succumb to the drug dealers and join a gang or go to class everyday and finish Bushwick High School and the City College of New York. I told them about an English teacher, Ms. Egin that changed my life. I walked into her office and told her I wanted to be a writer and she looked at me hard and said, “Do it!” I’ve never looked back as I’ve been a copy boy with the New York Times, a sportswriter with the Philadelphia Bulletin and Atlanta-Journal Constitution and now a published award-winning author. That choice was mine! I told the students they are facing crucial choices that will shape their destiny. They have to make the correct choice. As I was speaking I was impressed with the attention of the student body and the perceptive questions during the question/answer session. Here is an excerpt from my Teen Week Presentation: Good Morning and welcome to Redan High’s Teen Read Week! Ms. Pat Franklin has some excellent events planned for this week and I hope you take advantage and that this will be a launching pad for you to enter into the reading experience. Reading is power and never forget that…and that power will help turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. I’m the author of a trilogy, a 30-year journey of fictional character, Andy Michael Pilgrim through the 60s, the 70s and the 80s. The fifteen-year project was completed two years ago when I typed the last line of the third novel, Ghost of Atlanta. Ghost of Atlanta was honored last month as the 2011 Readers Favorite National Fiction Award Gold Medal winner. I feel blessed by God. Now, I will speak about my novels A Brownstone in Brooklyn, Philly Style and Philly Profile and the award winning Ghost of Atlanta…” Celebrate Teen Read Week 2011with an encouraging word to a teen. Happy Teen Read Week!