Danny Glover will headline as keynote speaker at summer leadership programs for minority students at Princeton U.

PRINCETON, N.J. – Actor, producer, and humanitarian Danny Glover will join other celebrities and notable speakers who are scheduled to address young minority students attending leadership programs at Princeton University Sunday.

At The Well Conferences, Inc. will be offering two leadership academies for black boys and girls who are in the ninth to 11th grades. The program for young women is in its eight consecutive year on the campus of Princeton University, while a similar program for young men is in an inaugural stage, beginning this year. These academies started July 22 and will run through Aug. 3.

The young women’s premiere program called At the Well Young Women’s Leadership Academy is designed for current 10th and 11th grade girls. The new program for young men is called From the Fire: Leadership Academy for Young Men, and it offers guidance for boys in the ninth to 11th grades.

“We are offering guidance and instruction that encourages these students to see the power within them and others,” states Toby Sanders who is the co-founder and director of curriculum of From the Fire. He also holds a Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary.

From the Fire: Leadership Academy for Young Men focuses on leadership development, mentoring, and rites of passage. The girls’ leadership program concentrates on developing leaders through academic, social, and career segments.

Speakers at these conferences will provide encouraging messages to inspire, uplift, and motivate the young men and women throughout the two weeks.

For the men, the leadership component will provide transformative education, while the mentoring activities will offer a form of “deep caring” to overcome widespread indifferences to these most vulnerable young men, states Linda Peavy, director of communications for At the Well Conferences, Inc.

She also states that the rites of passage leadership sector of the program will be a journey of self-discovery that unlocks the hidden resilience of the boys as fundamental to their manhood.

Meanwhile, At the Well Young Women’s Leadership Academy encourages the girls to participate in small group projects that build lasting bonds.

The girls have a curriculum that includes critical reading, essay writing, and leadership workshops.

Academics are intense, and there is nightly tutoring with teachers who are also Princeton University professors.

Workshop topics include financial literacy, body image, entrepreneurship, health and wellness, and self-esteem.

The girls’ academy offers a safe place for them to share the challenges of their daily personal and school lives.

“For the first time in forever, I am able to read books in a day and actually understand what I am reading because I am using these techniques you have taught me. I will continue to use these skills throughout my career,” said Dahnielle Milton, a 2017 alumnus of the program.

The curriculum and programming for these conferences are research-based and is designed by educators and leaders with decades of experience in young adult education and social change activism.

It is rooted in the spiritual and intellectual traditions forged in the justice struggles of African Americans.

Dynamic speakers are the highlight of the leadership component of the programs.

The program chair for From the Fire is Delroy Lindo, who has appeared in memorable film performances such as The Cider House, Heist, Clockers, Crooklyn, Malcolm X, and Ramson.

Lindo hopes “…that the experience of From the Fire will give students a boost to take the next steps in whatever goals they have planned for their lives.”

From the Fire will also feature additional speakers who include retired NBA players Charlie Ward and Jason Richardson, Hon. Ras J. Baraka, mayor of Newark; Artist Hank Willis Thomas; Attorney Kevin Harden; Life Coach Pervis Taylor; MacArthur Fellow and Music Educator, Aaron Dworkin; and Bishop Donald Hilliard, pastor of Cathedral International.

Also, other speakers from the Academy for young women will include actress Erika Alexander; the D.L. Hughley Show co-host Jasmine Sanders; Scholar Julianne Malveaux; Motivational Speaker Brandi Harvey; 2016 Democratic National Committee Chief Leah Daughtry; Dr. Michele Reed; QVC inventor Lisa Ascolese; Attorney Renee Hill; and Supermodel Liris Crosse.

Currently, 100 per cent of the women Academy alumni have been accepted to colleges.

Jacqueline Glass, the Academy founder and Princeton Theological Seminary alumnus states, “The Academy lives out our mission to empower young women locally to become effective leaders globally.”

Both programs are unique to Princeton University and to an Ivy League campus.