A.R. Shaw recently served as the commencement speaker for JSK High School in New York. After being introduced by JSK educator Dr. Lee Gabay, the journalist, author, and executive editor of Atlanta Daily World provided inspirational words and insight on how he became a leading voice in media.
“As a journalist who has covered the music industry for the past 15 years, I’ve interviewed nearly every prominent artist who you can think of,” Shaw shared with the graduates. “I’ve sat down and interviewed artists such as Nicki Minaj, Future, J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar. All are successful. And although I wouldn’t suggest you follow and live by every thing and artists says or the things that they do. There are some nuggets that you can pick up along the way.”
Shaw spoke about a lyric from rapper Latto that he found fun and inspirational.
“In particular, there’s this line by Latto that just keeps resonating with me,” he said. “On the song ‘Put It On the Floor,’Latto raps, ‘Rip me out the plastic, I’ve been acting brand new.’ On the surface, it’s fun and pretty simple. But I realized there are layers to that lyric.”
He proceeded to tell the graduates his story of finding a new path in life following his teenage years. “During my teen years, I didn’t personally know anyone who was a professional journalist, author or who had become successful in the media,” he said. “But in order to be something you have never seen, you have to do something that you’ve never done. So literally, I had to act brand new…I had to come up with new action activities, I had to carve a new path.”
Shaw encouraged the students to also find a new path to success as they set out on their journeys in life.
“That means taking a new approach to your education; that means taking a new approach to how you study and hone your skills; taking a new approach to crushing generational curses to become the best you can be,” Shaw said.
The Judith S. Kaye High School (JSK) is named after the first woman to serve as the Chief Judge of New York State. She was a champion for court-involved youth.
Led by Principal Andrew Brown, Assitant Principal Sara Brown, and Assistant Principal Harold Butler, The Judith S. Kaye High School is a transfer school in upper Manhattan that supports learners from all over the city who are undercredited.
View the entire speech below:
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