The Official Ill Community Black Excellence Thread

124»

Comments

  • Maximus Rex
    Maximus Rex Members Posts: 6,354 ✭✭✭✭✭
    SportsKids of the Year 2016: The Sheppard Sisters Pt. II

    shep2.2.jpg

    Once the sisters qualified for the AAU meet in Houston — in a total of eight events — they needed to find a way to pay for the trip. So did another member of the team, who also lives in a homeless shelter. Coaches and the parent of a Jeuness alum paid for the flights. The Sheppard sisters paid for expenses and a hotel room through a GoFundMe campaign. A local businessman heard about the sisters — and the fact that their mom couldn’t afford the trip — and reached out to Betty’s daughter, Karel Williams, who is the team manager. He wanted to cover Handy’s trip to Houston. With the coaches’ blessings, Handy surprised Rainn before her 3,000-meter final.

    “I just ran over and jumped on her and hugged her,” Rainn says. “When she came, I was so excited. Boy, I wish I could do that again.”

    At Home on the Track

    The Sheppard sisters may have been racing for only two years, but they have already settled into a rhythm in their favorite events.

    Brooke is partial to the high jump. “I’m not that tall, but I can jump really high,” she says.

    Rainn loves the 3,000; she was the nation’s top AAU qualifier for her age group. “It’s long and so relaxing,” she explains. “I can run it fast and I’ll still be relaxed. . . . My strategy — not my secret strategy, I’m not going to tell you that — is to go fast when other people don’t go fast. They go out in the first couple laps, and then I’m right there. Then they slow down, and I run faster.”

    Tai prefers hurdles. “It’s really fun, but it’s also hard because of the technique you have to do,” she says. “It’s a very quick race, but I’m also very good at it, so it makes it, not easy to win, but pretty easy for me to not get scared about what I’m going to do.”

    No matter where track and field takes these girls, they will have the support of their mom and their track family.

    “I want to, of course, give them a more stable life,” Handy says. “But as far as a stimulating, open life, they’re getting that now.”

    “They are the most optimistic people I’ve ever seen. Nothing gets them down,” Bell says. “They’re going to go far no matter what.”


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52-Z-Xxk4JQ
    
    Meet The 2016 SportsKids Of The Year | SPOTY 2016 | Sports Illustrated
  • Maximus Rex
    Maximus Rex Members Posts: 6,354 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Get Out: Jordan Peele First Black Director With $100M Debut Feature
    http://screenrant.com/get-out-jordan-peele-first-black-director-debut-feature/

    By Michael Kennedy 03.13.2017

    Every now and then, a modestly budgeted horror film comes along, and manages to capture the collective imagination of moviegoers. A good recent example of this phenomenon is 2013’s The Conjuring, which hauled in over $300 million on a budget of $20 million, and spawned a franchise that will soon include no less than 5 films. Success stories like these emphasize why horror never entirely falls out of favor with Hollywood, as it often doesn’t take much investment to earn a huge return.

    The latest such horror success story is Get Out, the feature directing debut of Key & Peele co-creator Jordan Peele. Bolstered by terrific reviews and an intriguing, racially charged plot, Get Out took the box office by storm, scoring a $30 million opening weekend and the #1 spot on the domestic charts. Unlike many horror films, Get Out has ended up having good financial legs, falling to only the #2 spot in its second weekend, and the #3 spot this past weekend.

    Even after all that good news, it would appear that Get Out’s journey is far from over. As of this past weekend, Get Out has crossed the $100 million mark at the box office, on a budget of only $4.5 million. To call that a pleasing return on investment would be a massive understatement, and has to have distributor Universal feeling quite happy. Additionally, The Wrap reports that with this milestone achieved, Peele now becomes the first black writer-director to earn more than $100 million theatrically with their debut feature.


    Jordan-Peele.jpg?auto=format&cs=tinysrgb&q=20&w=786&h=393&fit=crop

    While Universal and Peele are no doubt experiencing great joy over Get Out’s massive box office take, another pleased party is production studio Blumhouse, who has emerged in recent years as a reliable source for low to mid-budget horror flicks that tend to outperform expectations. Get Out is actually Blumhouse’s second major genre hit of 2017, with M. Night Shyamalan’s Split earning nearly $250 million worldwide on a budget of $9 million.

    At this point, Peele likely has carte blanche as to what he’ll direct next, so it’ll be interesting whether he chooses to branch out to a different genre with his next effort, or stick with the horror material he clearly has quite the knack for doing right. Peele is a self-professed huge fan of horror movies, so one imagines he might not mind carving out a niche for himself in the world of fright flicks.
  • Maximus Rex
    Maximus Rex Members Posts: 6,354 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited March 2017
    This 22-Year-Old Is Already An Engineer With NASA
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/this-22-year-old-is-already-an-engineer-at-nasa_us_5894c59be4b0c1284f25c913

    And she’s yet to graduate from MIT... with a 5.0. Yah.
    By Zahara Hill

    5894efd31900003400e09f21.png
    Hidden Figures” is Guinn’s favorite movie.

    Tiera Guinn is just 22 years old and she’s already working with NASA.

    As a Rocket Structural Design and Analysis Engineer for the Space Launch System that aerospace company Boeing is building for NASA, Guinn designs and analyzes parts of a rocket that she said will be one of the biggest and most powerful in history.

    Guinn, whose career trajectory seems like a sequel to the much-acclaimed “Hidden Figures” movie, has been aspiring to become an aerospace engineer since she was a child.

    Her mom, who noticed her daughter’s skills from a young age, made sure to Guinn stayed sharp by putting her intelligence to use...at the supermarket.

    “When [my mom and I] would go to the grocery store, she would get me to clip coupons [and] put it in my coupon organizer,” Guinn told WBRC News. “By the time we got to the register, I’d have to calculate the exact total, including tax. And I did that since I was six years old.”

    “One day I saw a plane fly by and I just had this realization, ‘huh, I can design planes. I’m going to be an aerospace engineer,”’ Guinn said.

    She chose all of her middle school classes accordingly and commuted an hour to go to the high school that would best prepare her for the future.

    Now, Guinn will soon be graduating from MIT with a 5.0 GPA
    and is clearly on a path to success. She said she’d advise young girls looking to follow in her footsteps to expect obstacles throughout their journey.

    “You have to look forward to your dream and you can’t let anybody get in the way of it,” she said. “No matter how tough it may be, no matter how many tears you might cry, you have to keep pushing. And you have to understand that nothing comes easy. Keeping your eyes on the prize, you can succeed.”
  • Maximus Rex
    Maximus Rex Members Posts: 6,354 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited March 2017
    Johns Hopkins has first black female neurosurgeon resident
    http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/21/health/hopkins-black-woman-neurosurgeon-trnd/

    By Alexandra Larkin, CNN
    Updated 2:58 PM ET, Wed March 22, 2017


    170321095210-johns-hopkins-black-woman-medical-resident-exlarge-169.jpg
    Nancy Abu-Bonsrah and her husband, Kwabena Yamoah, celebrate her match with Johns Hopkins Hospital for a neurosurgical residency.

    (CNN)In the 30 years that Johns Hopkins School of Medicine's neurosurgical department has accepted residents, there has never been a black woman in the ranks.

    Now, Nancy Abu-Bonsrah is making history.

    The prestigious program accepts just two to five residents, and is ranked second in the country. Among its most notable alumni: Dr. Ben Carson, who is now the United States secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
    "I am very much interested in providing medical care in underserved settings, specifically surgical care," Abu-Bonsrah said in a statement. "I hope to be able to go back to Ghana over the course of my career to help in building sustainable surgical infrastructure."

    Abu-Bonsrah lived in Ghana until she was 15, and also attended Johns Hopkins medical school.


    [img]https://scontent-iad3-1.? .fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/17264560_10154985609776287_3928824572620448363_n.jpg?oh=b008e4ff235c9af43b688117c0fac66c&oe=595659A3[/img]

    "I want to be remembered for serving my community, whether it is through providing quality surgical care or helping mentor the next generation of surgeons. Unique thing: Everything is special about the match. It will be a dream come true," she said.
  • Maximus Rex
    Maximus Rex Members Posts: 6,354 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited March 2017
    The Black Billionaires 2017

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/mfonobongnsehe/2017/03/20/the-black-billionaires-2017/#4ebb22a14d6d

    1e86128f2cb515febc94b63b33a8465a?s=400&d=mm&r=g
    Mfonobong Nsehe , CONTRIBUTOR
    I chronicle Africa's success stories and track its richest people


    300x300.jpg?background=000000&cropX1=0&cropX2=744&cropY1=108&cropY2=852
    10) Mohammed Ibrahim, Founder, Mo Ibrahim Foundation, $1.14 B

    Born in Sudan and now a U.K. citizen, Mohammed (Mo) Ibrahim founded Celtel International, one of the first mobile phone companies serving Africa and the Middle East. He sold it to Kuwait's Mobile Telecommunications Company for $3.4 billion in 2005 and pocketed $1.4 billion. Since then, he's focused on fighting corrupt leadership in Africa through the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, directed by his daughter, Hadeel. The award, which recognizes good governance in Africa, has been given out only four times in the 8 years since it was announced. One recipient of its $5 million Ibrahim Prize was Namibia's outgoing president, Hifikepunye Pohamba, in 2014. The foundation also publishes the well-known Ibrahim Index of African Governance, which ranks countries by rule of law, economic opportunity and human rights. Ibrahim owns the majority of assets in Satya Capital, which invests in African businesses.


    cryingjordan.jpg
    9) Michael Jordan, Athlete, $1.31 B

    Michael Jordan is widely acknowledged as the greatest basketball player of all-time, but his salary rarely matched his stature. He was the NBA's highest-paid player only twice during his 15-year career. His total career playing salary was $90 million, but Jordan has earned another $1.3 billion (pre-tax) from corporate partners since he left U. of North Carolina in 1984. His biggest backer has always been Nike, which generates nearly $3 billion in annual revenue from the Jordan Brand. Nike commands 90% of the U.S. basketball shoe market, with the Jordan Brand representing more than half of that. MJ also maintains his longtime endorsement relationships with Gatorade, Hanes and Upper Deck. His biggest single investment is his 90% stake in the NBA's Charlotte Hornets. When he bought a majority stake in 2010, the team was valued at $175 million. It is now worth $780 million. He also owns seven restaurants and a car dealership.


    300x300.jpg?background=000000&cropX1=237&cropX2=519&cropY1=193&cropY2=475
    8) Folorunsho Alakija, $1.61 B

    Folorunsho Alakija is the vice chair of Famfa Oil, a Nigerian oil exploration company that has a 60% participating interest in block OML 127, part of Agbami field, one of Nigeria's largest deepwater discoveries. Its partners include Chevron and Petrobras. Her first company was a fashion label that catered to Nigeria's elite women, including the wife of former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, who awarded Alakija's company an oil prospecting license.


    300x300.jpg?background=000000&cropX1=129&cropX2=714&cropY1=29&cropY2=614
    7) Patrice Motsepe, $1.79 B

    Africa's first black billionaire, African Rainbow Minerals founder and chairman Patrice Motsepe, launched a new private equity firm focused on investing in Africa in April 2016. Called African Rainbow Capital, it is a subsidiary of Motsepe's Ubuntu-Botho Investments. Motsepe also has a stake in Sanlam, a listed financial services firm, and is the president and owner of the Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club. He became the first black partner at law firm Bowman Gilfillan in Johannesburg, and then started a contracting business doing mine scut work. In 1994, he bought low-producing gold mine shafts and turned them profitable. South Africa's Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) laws, which mandate that companies be at least 26% black-owned in order to get a government mining license, benefited Motsepe. In 2013, the mining magnate was the first African to sign Bill Gates' and Warren Buffett's Giving Pledge, in which he promised to give at least half his fortune to charity.


    300x300.jpg?background=000000&cropX1=79&cropX2=712&cropY1=139&cropY2=772
    6) Robert Smith, Investor, $2.5 B

    Robert Smith announced a $50 million gift in January 2016 to his alma mater Cornell University, which renamed its school of chemical and bioengineering after him. In June 2016, he was named chairman of Carnegie Hall. The son of Ph.D's, he was bussed across town to his school in the early days of desegregation. He later convinced Bell Labs when he was in high school to give him an internship typically only available to college upperclassman by calling them weekly for five months. Smith quit Goldman Sachs to open his own private equity shop, Vista Equity Partners, in 2000. Neuberger Berman bought a stake in the Austin, Texas-based firm, best known for fixing up enterprise software outfits, in July 2015. It had more than $17 billion in assets under management as of 2016. In July 2015, Smith married 2010 Playboy Playmate of the Year Hope Dworaczyk in Italy.
  • Maximus Rex
    Maximus Rex Members Posts: 6,354 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited March 2017
    The Black Billionaires, 2017 cont.

    300x300.jpg?background=000000&cropX1=39&cropX2=744&cropY1=13&cropY2=719
    5) Oprah Winfrey, Director/Producer, Entrepreneur, Personality, Philanthropist, $3 B

    Onetime queen of the small screen Oprah Winfrey has turned her focus to journalism and filmmaking. In January 2017 news broke that Winfrey will be a contributor to the CBS news show 60 Minutes. In the fall of 2016, she shot back-to-back roles in the biopic 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks' and 'A Wrinkle In Time,' an adaptation of the fantasy novel. Ratings at the Oprah Winfrey Network continue to climb. The 2016 premiere of megachurch drama 'Greenleaf' was the network's most-watched debut, with 3.04 million viewers. She purchased a 10% stake Weight Watchers in October 2015; its stock plunged after an initial surge, resulting in its CEO leaving in September 2016. Winfrey is helping to find a replacement. The media mogul overcame a tough childhood: raised on a farm without indoor plumbing, she survived serial abuse and ? , and became a mother as a teen. Her son died in infancy. Her way out came in the form of a federal program that gained her access to a rich suburban school. She discovered a knack for public speaking and debate, which earned her a part-time radio gig and, later, a scholarship to Tennessee State University. Her long-running Oprah Winfrey Show was the highest-rated television talk show in U.S. history.

    300x300.jpg?background=000000&cropX1=0&cropX2=744&cropY1=44&cropY2=788
    4) Isabel dos Santos, $3.2 B

    Africa's richest woman, Isabel dos Santos is the oldest daughter of Angola's longtime president. Though her representatives deny that her holdings have any connection to her father, President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, FORBES research found that he transferred stakes in several Angolan companies to her. In June 2016, he appointed her the head of Sonangol, Angola's state oil firm. In February 2017 he announced he will not seek reelection. Dos Santos' assets in Angola include 25% of Unitel, the country's largest mobile phone network, and 42% of a bank, Banco BIC. In Portugal she owns nearly 6% of oil and gas firm Galp Energia (alongside Portuguese billionaire Americo Amorim), and nearly 19% of Banco BPI, the country's fourth-largest bank She is also a controlling shareholder of Portuguese cable TV and telecom firm Nos SGPS (formerly called Zon). In October 2015, four members of the European Parliament publicly called for an investigation into her investments in Portugal, questioning their legality. A spokesperson for Dos Santos told Forbes that "Isabel dos Santos is an independent business woman and a private investor representing solely her own interests. Her investments in Angolan and/or in Portuguese companies are transparent and have been conducted through arms length's transactions involving external entities such as reputed banks and law firms."


    300x300.jpg?fit=scale&background=000000?fit=scale&background=000000
    3) Mike Adenuga, $6.2 B

    Mike Adenuga, Nigeria's second richest man, built his fortune in telecom and oil production. His mobile phone network, Globacom, is the second largest operator in Nigeria with 36 million subscribers; it also has operations in Ghana and the Republic of Benin. His exploration outfit, Conoil Producing, operates 6 oil blocks in the Niger Delta. He also owns real estate firm Proline Investments, which has hundreds of properties throughout Nigeria. Adenuga studied in the United States, getting an MBA at Pace University in New York, where he worked as a taxi driver to support himself. He returned to Nigeria and made his first fortune trading lace and Coca-Cola. Along the way he made friends with Nigerian military bigwigs who awarded him lucrative state contracts; those formed the foundation of his fortune. His estimated net worth is lower this year due to the drop in value of Nigeria's currency, challenges in the oil sector, and overall weakness in Nigeria's economy.


    300x300.jpg?fit=scale&background=000000?fit=scale&background=000000
    2) Mohammed Al Amoudi, $8.5 B

    Mohammed Al Amoudi, son of a Saudi father and an Ethiopian mother, has accumulated a portfolio of construction, agriculture, and energy companies across Sweden, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia. He made his initial fortune in construction in Saudi Arabia. One of his most valuable assets is oil refiner Preem, which bills itself as the largest fuel company in Sweden. In Ethiopia he has invested in agriculture, cement production and gold mining. His firm Saudi Star Agricultural Development has cultivated thousands of acres of land for fruits, vegetables, cereals, coffee, tea, flowers and rice fields for customers in Ethiopia and abroad.


    300x300.jpg?background=000000&cropX1=209&cropX2=575&cropY1=121&cropY2=487
    1) Aliko Dangote CEO, Dangote Group, $12.2 B

    Nigerian, Sugar, Cement, Flour

    Aliko Dangote is not only Africa’s richest man; he’s also the richest black person in the world. Dangote built his fortune trading in cement, sugar and flour but subsequently ventured into manufacturing these commodities. His Dangote Cement is the largest cement producer in Africa with operations in several African countries. In January he announced plans to establish a $100 million truck manufacturing facility in Lagos in partnership with SINOTRUK, a Chinese firm.
  • 2stepz_ahead
    2stepz_ahead Guests, Members, Writer, Content Producer Posts: 32,324 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Damon Williams 14, Young Millionaire in the Making
    http://www.blackempowerment.net/damon-williams-14-young-millionaire-in-the-making/

    Feb 07, 2014


    Teen-investor_1-300x228.png

    He’s only 14 years old, but already Damon Williams of Chicago Illinois has mastered the art of investing in the stock market and earning a sizeable profit. While others his age worry about buying the latest teen fashion or high school wear, Damon is more interested in owning a piece of the company that produces and markets that product.

    According to Damon, in 2009 he already made a “shade over fifty thousand.” Damon does everything the average high school teen does. He’s popular, and the starting point guard for his varsity basketball team. He doesn’t stress about wasting time playing video games either, instead he said, “it’d be much more cool to know I own a piece of the company that makes that video game.”

    Damon was first motivated to become a young investor after his financial minded mom turned down his request to get a pair of the latest Jordan sneakers on the market. Instead, she made him save his money to buy several shares of Nike before he could by another pair of shoes. Thus he became Damon Williams youth investor in the stock market.

    If you ask Damon about market equities and earnings per share, he knows it, compounds and interest? he’s already got it down pack. He’s by no means a fickle investor, you won’t catch him daytrading in and out of stocks. Damon prefers to buy and hold, based on growth potential of a stock.

    This young millionaire in the making is knowledgeable, and confident about the stock market. He’s put the rest of grown up Wall Street on notice.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbxgv-R5M-U
    
    Dr Boyce Watkins: This Child is DEFINITELY Going To Be A Millionaire!

    props...
  • 2stepz_ahead
    2stepz_ahead Guests, Members, Writer, Content Producer Posts: 32,324 ✭✭✭✭✭
    i love this thread
  • Maximus Rex
    Maximus Rex Members Posts: 6,354 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited March 2017
    i love this thread

    How do y'all use thread? To to use as a point of reference when debating suspect racist white supremacists CACs in order to dispel negative stereotypes about black people, especially black youth? As a personal motivation tool? Or to motivate the youth?
  • Qiv_Owan
    Qiv_Owan Members Posts: 4,125 ✭✭✭✭✭
    i love this thread

    How do y'all use thread? To to use as a point of reference when debating suspect racist white supremacists CACs in order to dispel negative stereotypes about black people, especially black youth? As a personal motivation tool? Or to motivate the youth?

    All of these

    Plus its just nice to see people excel
  • 2stepz_ahead
    2stepz_ahead Guests, Members, Writer, Content Producer Posts: 32,324 ✭✭✭✭✭
    i love this thread

    How do y'all use thread? To to use as a point of reference when debating suspect racist white supremacists CACs in order to dispel negative stereotypes about black people, especially black youth? As a personal motivation tool? Or to motivate the youth?

    I use it as a reference point to the youth I mentor.

    they often say they don't see or they didn't know about people like this. while it's still hard to get thru to some, I can see a light in others.

    I like it personally because I saw so much hatred and self hate and limiting of potential growing up that this makes me smile when I know we are better than what alot of people try to portray us as.

    all these people should be the rule and not the exception
  • Maximus Rex
    Maximus Rex Members Posts: 6,354 ✭✭✭✭✭
  • IceManKam
    IceManKam Members Posts: 2,934 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2017
    From a personal standpoint, I graduate with my Bachelors in Computer Science in a few weeks #BlackExcellence
  • Maximus Rex
    Maximus Rex Members Posts: 6,354 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2017
    Kid genius brothers, 11 and 14, graduate high school and college this weekend
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/05/12/kid-genius-brothers-11-and-14-graduate-high-school-and-college-this-weekend/?utm_term=.ca45c021bccf

    By Katie Mettler May 12

    Claretta Kimp wants you to understand this:

    Yes, she gave birth to two child prodigies, and yes, they’re graduating from high school and college this weekend at ages 11 and 14, respectively. Carson, her oldest, is leaving Texas Christian University with a degree in physics and minors in Chinese and math. Cannan, the kid brother, will head to TCU next fall to study astrophysics and engineering. The first wants to get a PhD, the other wants to be an astronaut.

    All that, Kimp concedes, is impressive.

    But as a mom, her sons’ academic achievements rank low among her favorite facts.

    “Yes, they’re smart,” Kimp told The Washington Post, “but that’s just a small part of who they are.”

    The brothers, she said, are also best friends, study partners and big fans of their puppy, Klaus. They wrestle and laugh and hold the door open for women, just like their mother taught them. At home, Carson and Cannan do not fight, not even during their epic Star Wars lightsaber battles that make Kimp cringe. And don’t worry, Kimp tells the peanut gallery, their social lives are perfectly adequate. Their childhoods haven’t suffered.

    “My boys have more social skills than most adults,” she said. “They are just normal little boys who do normal little boy things.”

    It was their brilliance, though, that first landed them in the spotlight.

    Four years ago, at age 10, Carson was admitted to TCU in Fort Worth and he began classes as an 11-year-old. On Saturday, he’ll become the youngest graduate in the university’s history.


    photo1-1024x652.jpg&w=1484
    Cannan Huey-You, 11, left, and Carson Huey-You, 14. (Courtesy of Claretta Kimp)

    Kimp, who studied early education and business at Southern Illinois University, said she converted the spare bedroom in their home into a classroom before Carson was even walking. At first, he played with blocks there. Then she started sitting him in a chair for class.

    He was so excited to learn, Kimp said, that they created a set school day from 9 a.m. to noon. But Carson would blow through the curriculum she planned in an hour. By age 2, he was reading books with chapters, and at age 3 he told his mom he wanted to learn calculus.

    Kimp home-schooled Carson until he was 5 years old and learning at an eighth grade level. She knew he needed to “get out a little bit,” she said, but she struggled to find a school that was willing or able to accommodate him. She finally found a small, private Christian school and cold-called the receptionist.

    “I’m a normal functioning human being and I’m totally for real,” she recalls saying on the phone. “Here’s my situation.”

    The principal eventually accepted Carson, and five years later he graduated as co-valedictorian.

    Then the search for a school willing to accept a child started all over again.

    Kimp said they visited numerous college campuses and listened to lectures about the Ivy League. But when it came time to decide, TCU bubbled to the top.

    Ultimately, the decision was Carson’s. He told his mom that TCU “felt right.”

    “TCU is our Ivy League,” Kimp said.

    Physics professor Magnus Rittby, a senior associate dean, became Carson’s mentor and, eventually, his research adviser. Rittby knew how to ease Carson’s anxieties, push him academically and, most importantly to Kimp, treat her son like the kid he is.

    “This experience at TCU would not have been possible without Dr. Rittby,” she said.

    arson faced challenges most college kids don’t. Federal financial aid forms, for example, didn’t include his age in the drop-down menu, and his mom had to drive him an hour and a half to school every day in rush hour traffic. Kimp walked him to and from class. And he had a 9 p.m. bedtime — 11 p.m. if he had to cram for a big exam.

    Kimp eventually moved the family closer to campus, so their commute shortened to eight minutes. And the juggling act got even easier once Cannan started tagging along to TCU.

    Because Kimp never wanted to make her sons feel in intellectual competition with each other, the divorced mom tried to avoid forcing Cannan down the same path as Carson. She wanted him to find his own way.

    Cannan began on the traditional route, attending kindergarten with kids his own age. But my second grade, he was bored, and asked to be home-schooled like Carson, reported the Dallas Morning News. Kimp thinks her eldest son’s thirst for learning rubbed off on Cannan.

    Even after she would complete lessons with Cannan, Carson would swoop in to help with homework, demonstrating on the whiteboard in their home how to breeze through complex math equations.

    “They know that they are blessed to have a sibling and to have each other,” Kimp told The Post.

    With both sons, she said she enjoyed “seeing the lightbulb moments.”


    [img]https://scontent-lga3-1.? .fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/p235x350/13007339_1556595164639407_6346804201128307353_n.jpg?oh=0bb68debfb70e7d0ac2f3169a8b7f6e9&oe=59A0E1C8[/img]
    It’s not often that an 11-year old enrolls in a university. We have such a gifted student at TCU. This week, we have the pleasure of spending some time with the now 13-year old and some of the persons who ensure that this young fellow is successful at home, at school and in life. Meet our focus this entire week: Carson Huey-You, his brother, Cannan, his mother, Claretta Kimp, and his mentor, Professor Magnus Rittby, physicist and senior associate dean of the College of Science and Engineering.

    Cannan later enrolled in the same private high school that Carson attended. He went to the school to take exams, but mostly worked remotely from the TCU campus alongside his brother. Cannan even got to begin work on a research project with a TCU astronomy professor.

    On Friday, he’ll walk at his high school graduation, and on Saturday, Carson will receive his college diploma.

    And although her children are geniuses, Kimp chooses to measure her parental success in other ways.

    Recently, Cannan and Carson were playing upstairs with their Star Wars lightsabers, gifts they got this year at Christmas. Made from hard plastic, they made a loud “whack!” every time they clashed together. Kimp listened from downstairs, waiting, she said, for an inevitable scream.

    When it came from Carson, who had been thumped in the arm, she sat there for a minute to see what would happen next.

    “Oh, I’m so sorry,” she heard Cannan said. “Let me rub it for you.”

    She sat back feeling satisfied.

    “Okay, yeah,” she said she thought to herself, “I’ve done a good job.”
  • Maximus Rex
    Maximus Rex Members Posts: 6,354 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2017
    kk7QHF2q.jpg
    NBCBLK28: Marques Brownlee Knows ‘Dope Tech’

    http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbcblk28-2017/nbcblk28-marques-brownlee-reviews-dope-tech-n714396

    by GRANT YANNEY


    Marques Brownlee, 23, Maplewood, NJ

    Tech Reviewer & YouTube Star


    One can arguably say that there aren't many people in tech like Marques Brownlee. If you factor in that he's 23, Black and basically spends his days testing really cool technology and showcasing his findings on YouTube, that disparity is a little more self-evident.

    Our NBCBLK28 recipient has an uncanny knack for shedding light on what he calls "dope tech." You can tell he knows his stuff, but he also breaks down the specifications of the products in a very conversational manner that's easy to digest.

    Affable yet informative. Armed with more than 4 million YouTube subscribers and an alias fit for a Terminator villain, it's no wonder as to how menacing the digital grind is for the New Jersey native known online simply as MKBHD. He's not actually a Schwarzenegger adversary—MKB are the initials for his first, middle, and last name. The HD stands for high-definition.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtXZlpJP-Ik
    
    Dope Tech: The Best Drones!

    Brownlee, a seasoned tech professional who started making tech videos in high school, now boasts more than 883 videos on his channel. Those videos have amassed more than 200 million views. High-definition, indeed.

    Outside of being a tech YouTube star and an ultimate frisbee aficionado, Brownlee prides himself on simply helping everyday consumers buy things.

    "Being a game changer to me means changing the way other people see things," said Brownlee. "I guess for me, I keep saying the words consumer electronics, consumer tech—the biggest purchase decisions people make a lot of times are the phones they buy and the tech they buy. To be able to influence other people's decisions on that front is pretty game changing.
    "

    Influencing white people's purchasing decisions, Black Excellence.