TEEN HEALTH SUMMIT 2003:
A DYNAMIC, SOLUTION-ORIENTED
EVENT FOR YOUTH

  

Somebody shouting “Here he comes!” sets off the pandemonium. Hundreds of Newark teenagers are screaming and shrieking and foot-stomping as AJ, co-host of “106 & Park,” the #1 music show on BET and the highest-rated music video count down show on television, saunters into the gymnasium at the New Community Recreation Center.

     With co-host Free, AJ plays the hottest videos and interviews the biggest Hip Hop and R & B stars. And here he is in Newark, exuding star presence--up close and personal. The teens in awe of AJ know that he jets around the world with their music idols. That to them he leads a fantasy life. But there’s a lot they don’t know about AJ, and what they’re going to experience at the Teen Summit.

    He’s a founder and principal partner of Horizon Entertainment Group, which coordinates events for a clientele ranging from the Democratic National Committee to the Magic Johnson Foundation; and which sponsors some of the most successful parties in the entertainment business. At Howard University, AJ reinstated the Howard University Entrepreneurs Society.

     At the Teen Summit, AJ is all serious business. “What are your goals?” he asks the teens. “What do you want to do with your life?”

     AJ engages the teens one-on-one. There are plans to become a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, even a rapper.

     “Are you writing?” AJ asks the young lady who wants to be a rapper. She shakes her head “No.”

     “Start writing,” says AJ. “Write about your life, write about your hopes and dreams. Put your feelings down on paper.”

     “One more,” he says, and points to a young lady in the back. “I want to be an astronaut,” she says, and the entire gymnasium is rocked with laughter.

     “Wait!” says AJ forcefully. “Why are you laughing at her? There’s no reason at all that she can’t be an astronaut. When I was young, mowing lawns and shovelling snow, I told people I wanted to be in the entertainment business. I told people that I wanted to own my own company. And they laughed at me.”

     AJ pauses for effect and then says, “And you know what? Guess who’s laughing now.” 

     He went on to give the teens a precise road map of how t o realize their dreams (“The only way I’ve gotten to where I am now is to set small goals for every day and reach them. You can do anything you set your mind to”).

     To those who witnessed AJ mesmerizing the teens, there was no question that lives would be changed in a positive way because of this Teen Summit. Because a genuine video star took the time to come to Newark and show that he cared.

STATEMENT FROM THE TEEN HEALTH SUMMIT sponsored by Babyland's Fatherhood Program, PATDADS, and Isaiah House's Brothers to Brothers Program

    Teen's social, emotional, and physical health is under attack by a number of negative factors: peer pressure, crime, drugs, sexually transmitted diseases including AIDS, poverty and the lack of direction for their future. Health literacy is the key! This Teen Health Summit, featuring AJ from the popular BET Show "106 & Park," was a dynamic, solution-oriented event for youth. Various Hip-Hop and Rap artists attended. Workshops and panel discussions were part of the program.

Courtesy of Babyland.org