Lakeview Teens Bring Home Gold

Sarah L. Burroughs is not your typical 16-year-old.

When the Lakeview teen talks, most might assume she is at least 20 because of her eloquence and maturity, which stem from a serious drive for success.

Burroughs, a junior at the Waldorf School in Garden City, has been working in a law office since she was 9, volunteers as a tutor at the Lakeview Public Library and although college is still over a year away, she already  has plans to double major in law and science.

"I think I'm really good at law," she said, as she explained how she spends her summers and winters at court, preparing trial notebooks and performing other work as a legal assistant for a firm in Carle Place. (Since 2004 she has worked there alongside her grandmother.) 

Her passion, however, is for science, but it was actually her literary talents that won her gold and silver at the ACT-SO competition held in mid-April.

Forty-five local teens competed at Suffolk Community College on April 16 in various categories, including the arts, science and humanities. Of the 17 gold medals awarded, six went to Lakeview teens, who were celebrated by their community during a reception at Harold Walker Park in Lakeview on Saturday.

Various chapters of the NAACP sponsor contests like this, dubbed the "Olympics of the Mind,"  around the country with the winners from each going on to a national competition, which will be held this summer in Los Angeles.

Burroughs took home gold for poetry and silver for original essay.

"I have been writing poetry since second grade," Burroughs said. Her winning poem originated in her freshman English class, when she was asked to write about America.

"I wrote about how we deplete America's [natural] resources - sometimes without knowing and sometimes we know," she said. "We don't deserve it...look at our oceans now and all the pollution."

The poem later ran in her school newspaper and became an obvious choice for ACT-SO.

The winning piece didn't come quite as easily to Darnell Davy, 18, of West Hempstead. The senior at West Hempstead High School had to do some research to find the composition that later won him gold in the contemporary music category. He went with "Here's That Rainy Day," a 1950s piece composed by Jimmy Van Heusen. (See video to the right for Davy's performance.)

"It's challenging but not too challenging," said Davy, who has been playing piano for a decade now. "I practiced every day. I did nothing but practice."

Well, that's not entirely true. In addition to practicing on the piano, Davy continued to juggle school and working at the local CVS store.

"We all had school and work or after-school activities," he said, speaking for his fellow award winners.

In end, the hard work paid off as Davy won gold along with a silver medal in the classical music category.

Joining him in the winner's circle was Malverne High School senior Jordan Mayers, whose film "Stress Ball" earned him gold in the visual arts portion of the competition. (See video to the right.)

"Teens today have a lot of stress at home, school, people and rest of life," he said.

The five-minute piece captured the stresses of an average teenager using scenes but no dialogue. Mayers shot it at the Nassau BOCES in Westbury, where he spends half of his day taking classes through the video production program. 

Mayers originally started out as a graphic design student then transitioned into animation before finally finding his real passion - movies.

"I know everyone wants to be the next Spielberg, but I want to be a film professor," Mayers said.

Mayers plans to start classes at Borough of Manhattan Community College in the fall and later attend Brooklyn CUNY. In addition to his dream of one day teaching film in a college setting, he also hopes to start a film summer camp for kids.

"I don't want to get very technical with them," he said. " I just want to put a camera in the hand of a 7-year-old and ask them to use it to tell a story."

Also, bringing home gold for Lakeview in this year's ACT-SO competition was Aalique Graham (Mathematics), Kal Lancaster (Dance) and Kaila Williams (Biology/Microbiology).

"I'm so happy to see that here in little Lakeview, we have six gold medalists," said Phyllis Tinsley, co-chair of the Nassau-Suffolk NAACP.

Tinsley explained that the ACT-SO program was started by civil rights activist Vernon Jarette nearly 30 years ago.

"He saw the potential in black youth," she said, adding that some big names have even come out of the program including Jada Pinkett Smith and John Singleton.

Tinsley explained that the six Lakeview teens had worked from October to April to prepare for the competition and had some mentoring help in the final months.

"I'm so proud of you," said Town of Hempstead Councilwomen Dorothy Goosby, as she presented citations to the award winners Saturday. "I know you had to work very hard to get here."

All the winning contestants will now have the chance to compete at nationals on July 21 in California, but the NAACP is calling upon the community to help get them there. A fundraising luncheon is scheduled for June 13 at 3 p.m. at the American Legion in Brentwood. Tickets are $40 for adults, $20 for kids 12 and under, with the proceeds going to pay for the teens to make the trip to Los Angeles. (Call 631-435-9636 for details or to purchase tickets.)

"We need your support to make sure they have a great trip," Tinsley said.