Duarte Youth to Compete in NAACP’s
ACTSO Competition on April 30th
DUARTE, CA, April 14, 2011 – Approximately 32 local youth will compete on April 30th during the local competition for the Pasadena Branch NAACP’s Academic Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO) for African-American youth at the Duarte Senior Center.
Free and open to the public, the local competition will take place in the main room of the Duarte Senior Center located at 1610 Huntington Drive from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. High school students of African descent from Duarte and other San Gabriel Valley cities will compete in a variety of categories including biology, math, original essay, poetry, entrepreneurship, computer science, chemistry, physics, oratory, dance, dramatics, musical instrumental classic/contemporary, vocal, photography, painting and drawing. Youth who achieve a gold medal in their respective category will proceed to the National competition slated for July of this year during the 102nd NAACP Convention held in Los Angeles.
Duarte Teen Center Supervisor, Marilyn Mays, who once served as president and executive administrator of the NAACP in Eugene, Oregon where she oversaw the ACT-SO program for eight years, has been named to chair the Pasadena NAACP’s ACT-SO competition. Duarte Deputy City Manager, Karen Herrera and Duarte Public Safety Crime Prevention Specialist, Aida Torres are co-chairs.
ACT-SO, founded in 1978 by renowned author and journalist Vernon Jarrett, is an enrichment program designed to recruit, stimulate, improve and encourage high academic and cultural achievement among African-American high school students. There are 25 categories of competition in the sciences, humanities, performing and visual arts. The ACT-SO program is intended to be a learning experience. The focus is on enrichment and mentorship. Students work with ACT-SO volunteer mentors who are professionals in their field who serve as coaches in promoting academic and artistic excellence among African-American youth. Famous ACT-SO alumni in the performing arts include John Singleton, Kanye West, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Roy Hargrove, Michael Bard, and Anthony Anderson.
Come out and support community youth and cheer them on during the competition. For information contact Marilyn Mays (626) 303-0863, ext. 402, Aida Torres at (626) 359-5671, ext. 316, or Karen Herrera, (626) 357-7931, ext. 221 or visit www.accessduarte.com.
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