A local high school is celebrated Black History month Friday by introducing students to local entrepreneurs. NY1's Lisa Yip filed the following report.
John Thomas, 16, started working two part time jobs in September to save money for a new computer.
He said he already reached that $1,500 goal, with money to spare. But the Dwight Morrow High School junior is not wasting his cash.
"I want to invest money now, so in the future, it will sort of be a breeze, because I want to start my own business," said Thomas.
Thomas's dream is to start an electrical engineering company someday. The Englewood teen decided to try to save at least $150,000 to finance this goal, after hearing from Sterling Ashby on Friday morning.
Ashby started his own toy company and is a Circles of Color Network member. Volunteers from the professional networking group visit Dwight Morrow on a regular basis to talk to kids about their careers. |
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"By telling the stories of what's possible, the fact that I have a toy company, it's something that's a little unusual and it gets them thinking a little bit about what they can do and what's possible," said Ashby.
While Circles of Color brings a different professional to speak with kids every week, Black History month has a special theme -- entrepreneurship and being an inventor.
"They get to see a black man who comes from similar backgrounds of most of these kids in this school and he still got a chance to achieve some of his goals," explained the group's co-founder Isaiah Jefferson. "And he made decisions along the way, and he did not have silver spoon given in his month. But he made decisions that set him up for his future."
Even though Thomas said he is focused on his goal of launching his own business by the time he is done with college, the 16 year old said he is realistic.
"I think I have a very long way to go," said Thomas. "But I'll get there. Eventually the hard work will pay off."
- Lisa Yip |
