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MESSAGE TO INNER CITY YOUTH: Pull them up: Pants, Grades, Test Scores
Educators today face tough choices. Limited funds, increasing expenses and class sizes, and the requirements imposed by federal legislation combine to challenge even the most experienced of educators.
Inner City educational reformer Orrin C. Hudson has a simple message students: Pull them up: Pants, grades and test scores.”
Hudson is the founder and president of Be Someone, Inc., and an Atlanta-based nonprofit that promotes academic achievement.
Be Someone uses chess, as both a metaphor and a teaching tool, to further self-esteem, responsibility, and analytical thinking among at-risk kids.
Said Hudson, “Be Someone helps kids to develop the practical skills and techniques that enable them to overcome obstacles, seize opportunities, and realize their potential. My own life is proof that every move counts. A two-time world-open speed chess champion, author, Air Force veteran, and former Alabama State Trooper and entrepreneur, I grew up in an Alabama housing project, the seventh of thirteen children. Lacking direction and purpose during my early teens, I was headed down the wrong path. My high-school teacher took an interest in me and got me on the right path.”
And the right path is one big understatement. Since 2001, Orrin has taught more than 40,000 kids in eight states the meaning of making every move count. Students under the positive influence of Orrin Hudson have won three Atlanta Public City-wide chess championships and his DeKalb students become state-wide chess champions. Parents and teachers report increased classroom participation, grade point averages, and attendance, along with improved concentration, problem-solving skills, and behavior.
Orrin’s work has been featured nationally on CNN, Good Morning America, CBS Early Morning Show, People magazine, and USA Today, as well as in Essence Magazine, Sports Illustrated for Teens and numerous local media outlets.
Mr. Hudson is available as your Talk Show interview guest and he also conducts hands on workshops in schools.