YOUTH ACTIVIST AND ‘HIP-HOP PREACHER’ ERIC THOMAS TO SPEAK TO STUDENTS AT CHALLENGE ACADEMY, NEW HOPE ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL

Message encourages teens to ‘break the cycle’ of hopelessness and live up to their full potential
YORK, Pa. (Nov. 8, 2010) – Renowned motivational speaker Eric Thomas will share his inspiring story of triumph over adversity when he speaks to students and faculty at Challenge Academy and New Hope Academy Charter School on Wednesday, Nov. 10.

Eric Thomas is the founder of Break the Cycle Inc., a program that serves at-risk youth and young adults. Break the Cycle helps students address their academic, personal and spiritual needs by providing positive alternatives in a community-based setting. By sharing his firsthand experiences, Thomas delivers a high-energy message that tells kids how to live up to their full potential by breaking the cycles of crime, hopelessness and despair that many urban youth face on a daily basis.

“We’re excited to have Eric Thomas speak to our students and faculty and share his incredible message of how to overcome struggles in your life, no matter how difficult they may seem,” said Isiah Anderson, managing officer of 3Cord Inc., which manages Challenge and New Hope academies. “I know our kids will be fascinated to hear how this high school dropout who lived on the streets transformed his life to become a college graduate and successful businessman who gives back to his community. We can all learn from his personal insight to rise above our problems – no matter how big or small – and find strategies to help not only ourselves but others around us.”

The schedule for Eric Thomas’ visit is as follows:

• 8 a.m. – Mr. Thomas will observe the morning Trenches program at New Hope Academy Charter School, 459 W. King St., York
• 8:45 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. – Mr. Thomas will speak to middle school students at New Hope Academy
• 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. – Mr. Thomas will speak to students at Challenge Academy, 200 W. Princess St., York
• 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. – Mr. Thomas returns to New Hope Academy to speak to high school students

About Challenge Academy
Opened in 2005, Challenge Academy is an alternative education school for students in grades 6 through 12. Located in York’s historic Salem Square, Challenge Academy contracts with school districts in York County to provide academic, therapeutic and transition services. Challenge Academy is a service-centered program. The key to its success has been strong parental involvement coupled with intensive relationship building between students and staff.

About New Hope Academy
New Hope Academy, opened in 2007, is a public charter school located at 459 W. King St. in York. With approximately 500 students, the school currently serves children in grades 6 through 12. New Hope Academy will graduate its first senior class at the conclusion of the 2010-11 academic year. The school’s mission is to provide a small, hands-on learning environment that engages a diverse population of students who might be underserved in a traditional public school setting.

About Eric Thomas [www.etthehiphoppreacher.com]
Thomas is no stranger to the ills that plague our urban communities. Born in Chicago and raised on the streets of Detroit, he grew up without a relationship with his biological father. At the age of 16, defiant and hard-headed, Thomas left home and dropped out of school, choosing to live on the streets of Detroit. By divine intervention at age 17, Thomas met a pastor who saw a young man with tremendous, unrealized potential. This mentoring relationship led Thomas to complete his GED and to enroll at Oakwood University in Huntsville, Ala. Understanding the struggles of the streets, he reached back to his fellow drug dealers and helped many of them get their GEDs and go to college. In so doing, he provided them with a much-needed positive alternative to the life of crime and illiteracy they led.

While in college, Thomas started Break The Cycle I Dare You (BTC), a nonprofit youth development and special event organization that focuses on developing programs for youth who have made bad choices and most often have had family, social and academic struggles along with the lack of a father figure in their lives. Today BTC has developed and produced many supportive community-based programs and conferences across the country, which provide youth and teachers alike with activities, self-improvement exercises and motivational strategies to help them reach their highest potential in life.

Thomas obtained his master’s degree in 2005, and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in education administration at Michigan State University. He serves as senior pastor of A Place of Change Ministries in Lansing, Mich., and as a consultant at Michigan State where he has developed The Advantage Program, an undergraduate retention program targeting academically high-risk students of color.