Tomorrow's Leaders Have That Magic Touch
Quite an impressive group of all-stars Magic Johnson brought together for his annual "Midsummer Night's Magic."
The players? They're not bad, either.
It's just hard to have any breath left to discuss them after spending time with the recipients of the Taylor Michaels Scholarship Program, the beneficiaries of this festival of ballgames, banquets and parties.
Listen to their stellar academic accomplishments and it makes you want to go home, take your own diploma off the wall and hide it in a drawer.
See their confidence in the middle of a corporate schmoozing environment, hear their bright hopes for the future, envision them running the world about 20 years from now and, as Johnson said, "You're blown away."
It's as impressive as the growth of this event itself. What started 19 years ago as a ballgame now includes a weeklong leadership conference for the scholarship winners, a black-tie dinner, a children's Mardi Gras day at a park and a swank themed party. It's all capped by the celebrity and all-star game itself, featuring Baron Davis and Paul Pierce on Sunday at the Forum.
The original beneficiary was the United Negro College Fund. After Michaels, the chief operating officer of the Magic Johnson Enterprises, died in 1997, Johnson gave the proceeds from his charity game to the scholarship program created in her honor.
Among the 16 members of the most recent class of scholars at a mixer in Johnson's backyard Thursday night were graduates from MIT and UCLA -- and those are a brother and sister from one family. One man was a triple major at Columbia. You had a preacher, a teacher, a doctor, an engineer, on and on.
The lessons continue, even out of school. If there's one thing the students learned early on, it's that they wouldn't have to go through the challenges of college -- the pressure of midterms, the loneliness of being away from home -- on their own. Taylor Michaels Scholarship winners get more than financial support, they get a network, even if it means that Kawanna Brown, president of the Magic Johnson Foundation, has to drive them to campus and help them register. Each student gets a laptop computer, they are assigned a mentor and they get internships with sponsor companies. Plus, there's the Magic touch.
