Teen Promise Inc.

Special guest speaker, Alexis Rogers, Reporter, KATV Channel 7 provided words of inspiration, motivation and wisdom: "Expectations and Standards!"

It will be an exciting 10 weeks of learning how to become more positive, poised, professional, productive and polished young ladies!

{ Workshop Highlights of June 29, 2013 }

Ladies Pressing Forward and Raising the Bar is the theme for the 16th Annual Miss Teen Promise Female Preparatory workshops that kicked off Saturday, June 29.  

As the Teen Promise young ladies entered the workshop room, they stepped into the 1960's; and, began a journey of learning about pivotal issues that laid the foundation for the rights and privileges they enjoy today.  Civil Rights, integration, voting rights, equal pay for women were just a few of the topics discussed throughout the day.

"When you look at me who do you see?" asked Mrs. Evangeline, Teen Promise Founder & Executive Director.  Who Am I? Some of the ladies described Mrs. Evangeline as a radical and many said activist.  There expressions were based on the way Mrs. Evangeline was dressed.  Wearing a blue and gold dashiki and combat boots reminiscent of 60's fashion, the ladies were very quick to make their assessment.

As she delivered insightful historical facts about the 1960s and discussed women who changed the world; the young ladies still described Mrs. Evangeline's appearance as an activist.

Throughout the morning Mrs. Evangeline could be heard saying, "Don't always judge a book by the cover, read the book." Reading they did, because displayed on the walls throughout the workshop room were short biographical highlights of sheroes who made history; however, the ladies had to work together to figure out what historic woman was being displayed before them.

The biggest question the young ladies still had on their minds was what historical woman is Mrs. Evangeline representing?  Will she tell them?

Teen Promise workshops are always filled with discussion that usually leads to an interactive activity. As the young ladies engaged in a discussion about their natural talents, the Abdullah sisters and several other young ladies shared their love of writing and reciting spoken word. 

It took only seconds for a challenge to find its way floating around the room. Lydia Page, Miss Teen Promise 2011 along with other Miss Teen Promise royalty was challenged by the Teen Promise ladies to develop a theme/topic for the writing exercise.

The topic selected was inspired by Ms. Oprah Winfrey and her "I Speak Your Name" segment she presented on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

"Create a spoken word piece that celebrates the women who have influenced your life and speak their name in your piece," said Page.  The ladies were given 20 minutes to write an "I Speak Your Name" spoken word piece.

 To assist the young ladies with their writings, Mrs. Evangeline gave everyone big, bold colored writing journals she called the Creativity Journal. "Exercise your creativity power with these journals and write, draw create something unique and special not just today but every day," said Mrs. Evangeline. 

The impromptu "I Speak Your Name" creative writing session proved to be an awakening for many in the room who never before sat and wrote from the depths of their heart and soul.

The Teen Promise ladies spent the rest of the day in full communication mode, participating in mock interviews, discussing new stories they brought to share during the "Ms Networker: In the News" segment.

During the Networking lunch, the "I AM..." speaking segment gave the young ladies the opportunity to deliver a speech that expressed who they are, dreams, goals, challenges and victories.  Three of the speeches stood out as crowd favorites and during the July 13 workshop one young lady will be awarded the "I AM... Speaker" award and $500 Teen Promise Bucks!

Yes, in the world of Teen Promise, there is Teen Promise money that can be earned for a variety of reasons including completing assignments and acts of kindness, etc. The bucks are very valuable in the world of Teen Promise, so the young ladies are encouraged to earn as much as they can.

The afternoon workshop session featured the "Natural Talent Showcase." The segment gave participants an opportunity to showcase their God-given natural talent. As the young ladies heard their names called to come to the stage many left their nerves in their chair and displayed their dancing, singing and spoken word talents.

However, once again a challenge found its way into the room. When the final name was called it was Mrs. Evangeline. To her surprise, she was being called out by several of the Teen Promise young ladies and the Miss Teen Promise 2012, Cierra Santa-Cruz who served as the mistress of ceremonies for the session.

 Because of her attire, many of the young ladies labeled her earlier in the day as a radical, an activist; and, while observing her funny antics throughout the day determined that she has no vocal singing ability.  A couple of the young ladies made their thoughts clear to Mrs. Evangeline throughout the day.  Little did they know, the truth would be revealed before the end of the workshop day.

For those who know Mrs. Parker and her long list of talent awards, noted performances including a performance at the world famous Apollo Theater, the showcase was about to be so good!

Mrs. Parker appeared somewhat reluctant to go up onto the stage.  As she made her way center stage, she began her presentation by discussing stage presence and the key to using a stage as a performer and immediately transitioned into a soulful rendition of a medley of songs including "Hero, The Greatest Love of All, and I Believe I Can Fly." Her powerful, soul-stirring performance rendered the doubters in the room to a paralyzed silence with their jaws dropped in amazement.  

Mrs. Evangeline’s big voice showered the room with inspirational notes of power and praise. Some of the ladies started to lift their hands and shouted as if they were praising the most high on Sunday morning. "Sing Mrs. Evangeline; sing the song,” some of the ladies shouted.

As Mrs. Parker sang her last note, the room erupted into applause and screams and many could not believe what they had seen and heard.  A couple of the young ladies asked, can we have a do over on our talent? 

"When you come to the stage, when you enter a room you must always, always bring your "A" game ladies; because, in life you don't get a second chance to make a first impression," said Mrs. Evangeline. 

"Today, if someone offered a million dollars to the person who brought their "A" game to this talent stage, would you be awarded the money," asked Mrs. Evangeline. The resounding reply by the young ladies was "NO."

Mrs. Evangeline explained to the young ladies that over the next 10-weeks they will be taught to take the stage by storm.  She concluded the "Natural Talent Showcase," by reminding the young ladies of here words throughout the day: "Don't always judge a book by the cover and ladies read the book, research, ask questions and support each other."

The day ended with the announcement of the "Teen Promise Ready, Set Read Book Club" selection.  It is the very inspiring Beatrice's Goat.  All of the ladies were given copies of the book compliments of Mrs. Evangeline! The ladies will discuss the book during their next session.

This is the Knowledge Activist reporting for Teen Promise Female Prep!