ABOVE PHOTO: Businessman and Audenreid High founder Kenneth Gamble and Darryl McDaniels of Run DMC talk about success to their young audience. (Photo Bill Z. Foster)
By Kharisma McIlwaine
What do you get when you put Philadelphia International founder Kenneth Gamble and Darryl ‘DMC’ McDaniels of Run DMC in the same room?
The answer is legendary wisdom, which is what a group of Universal Audenreid High School students got when the two men spoke to them recently as part of a Black History Month program.
As a video tribute to Run DMC played on the projector I rapped along with the lyrics “I’m DMC. in the place to be I go to St. John’s University and since kindergarten I acquired the knowledge and after 12th grade I went straight to college.”
I looked around the room and saw a room full of students eager for insight. There was so much to gain simply from hearing Gamble and McDaniels talk about their journey to success.
One theme was prevalent throughout the panel discussion: structure your thinking to positive thinking only and the possibilities are endless McDaniels said the following “As a man thinketh so is he. What you behold, you become. You can make believe that you’re doing something, but if you imagine that it’s real, it becomes a reality. Imagination is just an image that you thought of in you.”
“Inside of all of you is something that was given to you to use to change the world. There’s a special unique gift and each one of you.” McDaniels added.
“I started my own company because there weren’t many opportunities for us,” said Gamble, who is also the co-founder of Universal Companies, managers of the high school. “If the door is closed, you have to make a way for yourself. You can’t make excuses. Don’t say they won’t let me do this they won’t let me do that. That’s impossible… You have the power to do anything you want to do. You just have to have enough patience, and be committed to what you’re doing.”
I’m grateful for leaders like Gamble and McDaniels who broke down doors, eliminated barriers and destroyed the mold that comes with allowing other people’s limitations become your own. The youth are the future and it starts with them. DMC left us with this final thought, “One positive person has more power than a make million negative people”.
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