The room rustled with the kind of stirring that comes when several hundred people sup together.
But then the clatter of utensils against plates went quiet, the energetic waiters stood still and the rhythm and blues that had piped softly in was suddenly turned down. Up to the balloon-festooned microphone came ”Miss Mamie Brown`s baby boy.”
Les Brown, renowned motivational speaker and the so-called slow half of an orphaned set of twins taken in by a Southern, single mother, was at the University of Illinois at Chicago on Saturday night telling local high school students his story and urging them to ”Remove yourself from the Endangered Species List . . . Cultivate a vision of your life beyond your current circumstances, beyond the poverty, beyond the gangs and the drugs . . . Figure out what it is you love to do, then find or create a market for that . . . Folks who are obviously headed wrong, get them out of your life . . . No matter how bad it is or how bad it gets, you can make it.”
Brown, a bearded man with a contagious giggle and a sunburst smile, gave the keynote speech at the fifth annual TRIO Awards banquet. The $50-per-person chicken-and-pasta dinner honored local leaders for their good will toward Chicago youth and showcased students who excelled in the university`s programs that help low-income and otherwise disadvantaged teens successfully complete college.
Chicago Board of Education President Florence Cox, who did not attend, was among the civic leaders honored.
”Most of what (Brown) said I had heard before, but he put that extra kick on it so that now I don`t think I`ll ever forget it,” said 18-year-old Whitney Banks, a graduate of Project Upward Bound, the oldest of the TRIO programs.
Later, Banks said, ”Working with the program has made me a stronger student and helped me to realize that hard work can be the answer to most problems.”
”I will treasure my experience with Project Upward Bound for the rest of my days,” said Kimberly Lewis, 18, an aspiring dietitian who plans to attend UIC this fall.
The federal government-sponsored TRIO concept was instituted in 1965, with three programs. But it has grown to six.
Project Upward Bound, which prepares high school students for college through seminars on test-taking, exposure to college courses and internships, is an original TRIO program.
Other programs include Educational Talent Search, which provides counseling and college placement for low-income, first-generation students;
and the Math/Science Initiative, a six-week on-campus program that draws students from throughout the Midwest.
