Tag Archives: Chiron Hunt my hero

UPDATE: Chiron Hunt

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For those that read my blog or that know me they know about Chiron. Basically the man changed my life. I met him almost a year ago when he was working in my neighborhood we became good friends and the rest is history. I haven’t seen Chiron since last August so I am not going to lie and say I don’t miss him! Ahhh to be 19 again. . . the good old days Y2K 01.

I know I give GW a hard time so that’s why I am so thrilled to report of Chiron’s successes which can partially be attributed to the The George Washington University’s Prime Movers Media Program which pairs veteran and retired journalists from leading news media companies with students in elective media classes at Washington, D.C., high schools to help them create or strengthen student-run media. (GW Media & Public Affairs, Newswise)

“The Prime Movers program gave me hands-on experience of what it is like to work as a broadcast journalist,” said Chiron Hunt, a 2007 graduate of Ballou High School in Washington, D.C., and a three-year student participant in the program. “The professional mentors who came into my classroom brought real life experience that you can’t get in a normal class.”

Hunt added, “At first, I just took the course as an elective. After a while, I got a feel for what I was doing and started to feel comfortable on screen and was enjoying it. Now, I’m majoring in broadcast journalism at the University of Nebraska and hope to someday work for ESPN as a sports broadcaster.”

Dorothy Gilliam, founder and director of GW’s Prime Movers Media Program & prize-winning journalist who retired from The Washington Post after 33 years to start the program at GW in 2003 and Sam Ford, general assignment reporter with WJLA-TV (ABC-7) have been two major VIP’s in Chiron’s life. Ms. Gilliam and I spoke once last summer and we both agreed that Chiron was going places! It’s official I have got to meet her! I know I could have some fun discussions about my constant fight against the evils of tobacco marketing to the black community :)

I hope Chiron remembers the fan club he has rooting for him! There will never be anyone that will ever have made such a direct impact to change the course of my life. Thank you Chiron.
Last fall Chiron had me proof read a paper and he said that I could use this quote in my blog this is the first time I am using it. .

These [gangbangers and drug dealers] are the names and stereotypes I deal with everyday. Majority of the time people don’t even say anything, you can just look at their facial expression and tell! Some are good and most are bad, but I’m trying to change that by going to school and graduating. By doing this, I am showing people of the world that an African American Male born and raised in “the hood” and being surrounded by guns, gangs, and drugs everyday made it out with a degree in his hand!

-Chiron Hunt

*For information about Prime Movers please contact Dorothy Gilliam @ 202 994 0761 or visit http://www.gwu.edu/~primemovers

UPDATE: Chiron Hunt

Posted on
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For those that read my blog or that know me they know about Chiron. Basically the man changed my life. I met him almost a year ago when he was working in my neighborhood we became good friends and the rest is history. I haven’t seen Chiron since last August so I am not going to lie and say I don’t miss him! Ahhh to be 19 again. . . the good old days Y2K 01.

I know I give GW a hard time so that’s why I am so thrilled to report of Chiron’s successes which can partially be attributed to the The George Washington University’s Prime Movers Media Program which pairs veteran and retired journalists from leading news media companies with students in elective media classes at Washington, D.C., high schools to help them create or strengthen student-run media. (GW Media & Public Affairs, Newswise)

“The Prime Movers program gave me hands-on experience of what it is like to work as a broadcast journalist,” said Chiron Hunt, a 2007 graduate of Ballou High School in Washington, D.C., and a three-year student participant in the program. “The professional mentors who came into my classroom brought real life experience that you can’t get in a normal class.”

Hunt added, “At first, I just took the course as an elective. After a while, I got a feel for what I was doing and started to feel comfortable on screen and was enjoying it. Now, I’m majoring in broadcast journalism at the University of Nebraska and hope to someday work for ESPN as a sports broadcaster.”

Dorothy Gilliam, founder and director of GW’s Prime Movers Media Program & prize-winning journalist who retired from The Washington Post after 33 years to start the program at GW in 2003 and Sam Ford, general assignment reporter with WJLA-TV (ABC-7) have been two major VIP’s in Chiron’s life. Ms. Gilliam and I spoke once last summer and we both agreed that Chiron was going places! It’s official I have got to meet her! I know I could have some fun discussions about my constant fight against the evils of tobacco marketing to the black community :)

I hope Chiron remembers the fan club he has rooting for him! There will never be anyone that will ever have made such a direct impact to change the course of my life. Thank you Chiron.
Last fall Chiron had me proof read a paper and he said that I could use this quote in my blog this is the first time I am using it. .

These [gangbangers and drug dealers] are the names and stereotypes I deal with everyday. Majority of the time people don’t even say anything, you can just look at their facial expression and tell! Some are good and most are bad, but I’m trying to change that by going to school and graduating. By doing this, I am showing people of the world that an African American Male born and raised in “the hood” and being surrounded by guns, gangs, and drugs everyday made it out with a degree in his hand!

-Chiron Hunt

*For information about Prime Movers please contact Dorothy Gilliam @ 202 994 0761 or visit http://www.gwu.edu/~primemovers

World AIDS Day 2008: Washington DC and the "Youth of Today"

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I am constantly referring to the “youth of today” which in general means the young people ages 12-19 which in DC means majority are Black living in the DC area.
How Does HIV/AIDS affect the “youth of today” in DC?
Very seriously.

According to Metro TeenAIDS

Our community risks losing a new generation to HIV.

Washington, D.C. has one of the highest AIDS rates in the country. But very few of those infected are getting the treatment they need. Between 1,000 and 1,500 infected young people live in the Washington, D.C. area. Yet only 100 of them are receiving medical care.

Across the nation, half of all new HIV infections occur among people under the age of 25. But as many as one third of all HIV-infected young people do not know they carry the virus.

With so much ignorance, and such limited healthcare, young people face the highest risk of infection. They also live in a culture that heightens those risks. Adolescents tend to distrust adults who could help them, yet face intense pressure to become sexually active at an early age.

How do we help young people to protect themselves?

MetroTeenAIDS speaks to youth in their own language and in their own space. With our team of specially trained young people, working alongside professionals, we reach out to them in schools, nightclubs, youth centers, shelters and the streets.

Thank you to the people that I know are currently serving the youth at Metro TeenAids: Kafui Doe and Gorkie Balthazar
(pictured below L-R Gorkie, Kafui, me)

I have personally had the opportunity to meet amazing youth that are doing amazing things in their lives from fashion, to art, to rap, to sports these are the leaders in the DC community and I would like to share a few with you.

Thank you to Ashley Blakeney, Aaron the Bomb dot com, India Fresh, Chiron Hunt aka Chevy, Crucial Thoughtz, Rashad Tucker, TeVaughn Riot Brunson, Shomari Eccentric.inc, Daniel Lavish Adonis Johnson for leading the community “youth of today” and always offering to be leaders in the community or to reach a little higher!


World AIDS Day 2008: Washington DC and the "Youth of Today"

Posted on
Reply

I am constantly referring to the “youth of today” which in general means the young people ages 12-19 which in DC means majority are Black living in the DC area.
How Does HIV/AIDS affect the “youth of today” in DC?
Very seriously.

According to Metro TeenAIDS

Our community risks losing a new generation to HIV.

Washington, D.C. has one of the highest AIDS rates in the country. But very few of those infected are getting the treatment they need. Between 1,000 and 1,500 infected young people live in the Washington, D.C. area. Yet only 100 of them are receiving medical care.

Across the nation, half of all new HIV infections occur among people under the age of 25. But as many as one third of all HIV-infected young people do not know they carry the virus.

With so much ignorance, and such limited healthcare, young people face the highest risk of infection. They also live in a culture that heightens those risks. Adolescents tend to distrust adults who could help them, yet face intense pressure to become sexually active at an early age.

How do we help young people to protect themselves?

MetroTeenAIDS speaks to youth in their own language and in their own space. With our team of specially trained young people, working alongside professionals, we reach out to them in schools, nightclubs, youth centers, shelters and the streets.

Thank you to the people that I know are currently serving the youth at Metro TeenAids: Kafui Doe and Gorkie Balthazar
(pictured below L-R Gorkie, Kafui, me)

I have personally had the opportunity to meet amazing youth that are doing amazing things in their lives from fashion, to art, to rap, to sports these are the leaders in the DC community and I would like to share a few with you.

Thank you to Ashley Blakeney, Aaron the Bomb dot com, India Fresh, Chiron Hunt aka Chevy, Crucial Thoughtz, Rashad Tucker, TeVaughn Riot Brunson, Shomari Eccentric.inc, Daniel Lavish Adonis Johnson for leading the community “youth of today” and always offering to be leaders in the community or to reach a little higher!


"You Can have Whatever you Like"

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You never know where you will meet people that will inspire you in life and confirm that what you are doing in life is “worth it.” Chiron has been a constant reminder that good people exist in all situations of life.  I first met Chiron at my local Safeway where I was fortunate enough to experience his great customer service skills through the checkout line.  As always, I asked Chiron what his “story” was and it wasn’t until we hung out a couple times that he shared a few stories of his life growing up in Chicago.

I told him I really wanted to meet his family and I asked him on a scale of 1 to 10 how safe is your neighborhood he said “honestly?” and I said “of course!” he said, “an 11″ and that he would never let me come there. Tears welded up and I just cried and said “friends should be able to visit friends without the fear of violence.”

He described to me his bus ride from DC to Nebraska when he left for his freshmen year of college and again the tears started to roll down my face because I thought about how the idea of coming from Utah to DC on a bus would have never even crossed my mind- ever. I have been trying to help Chiron find some options to be able to find fare back to Nebraska because as he knows Education is one of the ONLY ways “out.”

The other day I was riding the metro and a tourist shook the hand of a solider which I thought was kind, but again the tears started and I thought to myself who shakes the hands of women, kids, mothers, fathers and young men like Chiron that have defied ALL odds? I am grateful to have shaken his hand!

Thank you Chiron for your courage and example.

Teen Gets a New Life in Nebraska
by Melissa Lee/ Lincoln Journal Star
Monday, Sep 24, 2007

In this back-to-school story, there was no family car loaded up with dorm supplies.
No Dad to carry a few things up the stairs.
No promise from the new college student to come home for Labor Day.

Chiron Hunt, a UNL freshman from Washington D.C., plays basketball with friends at the student Rec Center.

In this week’s Long Story Short we are introduced to Chiron Hunt, a UNL freshman from Washington, D.C.
In this story, there was only an 18-year-old boy, his mother and all the bags they could carry.

Twenty-odd hours of bus rides from their home in Washington, D.C., to Nebraska. A delayed arrival in Omaha that left them stuck until a University of Nebraska-Lincoln journalism instructor came to get them.

Unusual journey to campus? No doubt.

Then again, little has come easy in Chiron Hunt’s life.

One of nine kids reared by a single mother, Chiron always knew success would be an uphill battle.

With no money around, home life was tough.

So was school. Guns took more than one of Chiron’s friends, including a female basketball coach who was like a mother to his team.

Chiron heard the guy who killed his coach thought she was somebody else.

“Gives you something to think about.”

He found refuge on the basketball court and in broadcasting class.

He hoped to play ball and study journalism in college, but doubted he could afford it. Then, he says, a broadcasting teacher helped get him a scholarship to UNL.

Chiron didn’t know much about Nebraska, 1,200 miles from home. But he knew this was his chance.

So he packed his bags and with his mother boarded a bus.

And you know what? He likes it here, likes the slower pace of life. He’s making friends even though it’s a funny feeling to look around your lecture hall and realize you’re the only black student around.

He’ll try for a walk-on spot on the NU basketball team this fall. Even dreams of playing in the NBA someday.

In fact, shooting hoops is one of his favorite things about Nebraska.

The weather’s nice.

You don’t hear gunshots at night.

And there is time, lots of time, for basketball.

"You Can have Whatever you Like"

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You never know where you will meet people that will inspire you in life and confirm that what you are doing in life is “worth it” and that good people exist in all situations of life. . . I first met Chiron at my local Safeway where he was one of the few with great customer service skills. . . we hung out a couple times and have become buddies- he told me his story before I even read the article below. I told him I really wanted to meet his family and I asked him on a scale of 1 to 10 how safe is your neighborhood he said “honestly?” and I said “of course!” he said “an 11″ and that he would never let me come there. Tears welded up and I just cried and said “friends should be able to visit friends without the fear of violence.”

He described to me his bus ride from DC to Nebraska when he left for his freshmen year of college and again the tears started to roll down my face because I thought about how the idea of coming from Utah to DC on a bus would have never even crossed my mind- ever. I have been trying to help Chiron find some options to be able to find fare back to Nebraska because as he knows Education is the ONLY way “out.”

The other day I was riding the metro and a tourist shook the hand of a solider which I thought was kind, but again the tears started and I thought to myself who shakes the hands of women, kids, mothers, fathers and young men like Chiron that have defied ALL odds???? I am grateful to have shaken his hand! Thank you Chiron for your courage and example.

Teen Gets a New Life in Nebraska
by Melissa Lee/ Lincoln Journal Star
Monday, Sep 24, 2007

In this back-to-school story, there was no family car loaded up with dorm supplies.
No Dad to carry a few things up the stairs.
No promise from the new college student to come home for Labor Day.

Chiron Hunt, a UNL freshman from Washington D.C., plays basketball with friends at the student Rec Center.

In this week’s Long Story Short we are introduced to Chiron Hunt, a UNL freshman from Washington, D.C.
In this story, there was only an 18-year-old boy, his mother and all the bags they could carry.

Twenty-odd hours of bus rides from their home in Washington, D.C., to Nebraska. A delayed arrival in Omaha that left them stuck until a University of Nebraska-Lincoln journalism instructor came to get them.

Unusual journey to campus? No doubt.

Then again, little has come easy in Chiron Hunt’s life.

One of nine kids reared by a single mother, Chiron always knew success would be an uphill battle.

With no money around, home life was tough.

So was school. Guns took more than one of Chiron’s friends, including a female basketball coach who was like a mother to his team.

Chiron heard the guy who killed his coach thought she was somebody else.

“Gives you something to think about.”

He found refuge on the basketball court and in broadcasting class.

He hoped to play ball and study journalism in college, but doubted he could afford it. Then, he says, a broadcasting teacher helped get him a scholarship to UNL.

Chiron didn’t know much about Nebraska, 1,200 miles from home. But he knew this was his chance.

So he packed his bags and with his mother boarded a bus.

And you know what? He likes it here, likes the slower pace of life. He’s making friends even though it’s a funny feeling to look around your lecture hall and realize you’re the only black student around.

He’ll try for a walk-on spot on the NU basketball team this fall. Even dreams of playing in the NBA someday.

In fact, shooting hoops is one of his favorite things about Nebraska.

The weather’s nice.

You don’t hear gunshots at night.

And there is time, lots of time, for basketball.