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KLF selected 6 student-athletes from St. Vincent & the Grenadines to bring to Orlando, Florida for 2 weeks of basketball and learning. Read about their experience in their own words!
Participating Kids:
- Azizah Stowe, Union Island, 15 yrs
- Consolo Adams, Barrouallie, St. Vincent, 15 yrs
- Jemmie France, Bequia, 15 yrs
- Leandru Edwards, Union Island & Calliaqua, St. Vincent, 14 yrs
- Nemiah Alexander, Mayreau, 14 yrs
- Zanif Sandy, Canouan, 15 yrs
We wanted to make sure that our Student-Athletes’ first day set a balance between learning and fun. We started them off with a session on financial management with Michael Peterka and Ahmed Ali, financial advisors from Merrill Lynch.
 Consolo: First we went to a meeting we had with two men, Mike and Ahmed. They are investors. They were talking about what you can do with your money when you start to work. One new thing that I learn today is that you got three ways that you can do with your money: you can spend your money, save your money and give away your money.
Zanif: They talked and taught us the importance of finance and goal settling.
Leandru: What I liked most about it was when Michael told us about investing in stock in something that is being used by a lot of people, which makes you have a share in that specific company and collect a dividend at every three months.
 The kids were then given medical checkups, courtesy of Drs. Lewis and Lewis, PA.
Zanif: The doctor we went at was a Vincentian, Dr. G. Lewis and so there we took a general check up on ourselves. Age: 15; Weight: 145 lbs; Height: 5’8”; Eyes: 20/20. We took blood pressure and checked other vital signs. He took blood from us to take to the lab and test for flaws.
Consolo: The hard part is when you have to have a blood test. The first time I have it, they miss the vein so in total I had two pricks. This was the first time I have ever taken a blood test.
Then it was time to give the kids a reward for their good work that day so we took them to a 3D movie. For most of them, it was their first experience of watching a movie in theatre, and none of them had seen one in 3D before (no movie theaters in St. Vincent & the Grenadines).
Leandru: The Last Air Bender was our movie of choice. It was something I wanted to watch since I was in St. Vincent. This was full of action and I enjoyed it a lot because it was in 3D.
Consolo: We have to watch the movie in a special kind of glasses. That was the biggest flat screen I have ever seen. That movie is not shown where I come from.
The kids were required to read each day, so we took them to the bookstore and let them pick out a book to read that was interesting to them.
Leandru: After we went to the book store because Shiyana said we need to read for 30 minutes a day. I chose a book about fundamentals of basketball because you cannot be a great basketball player without the basics.
The day wasn’t over, as we had some special gifts for the kids courtesy of Nike.
 Leandru: We went to see what the KLF has given us to play ball in and it was surprising yet the moment was cherishable. We got Nike bags with slippers and clothes and shorts. Also we got new Nikes with our initials. That is when I was very happy and said, “Thank you, God,” in my head.
Consolo: This was the best part when we were opening our [Nike] bags. The shoes were so great my shoes had my signature on it, you know how cool that is.
Go to Day 2 (Acclimating to the USA) >
Go to Day 3 (First day of basketball camp) >
Go to Day 4 (Visiting the Orlando Magic practice facility) >
Go to Day 5 (Camp & Medieval Times) >
Go to Day 6 (Busch Gardens) >
Go to Days 7 & 8 (Vist to Fox 35 TV studio and the doctor) >
Go to Days 9 & 10 (Shopping and Universal Studios) >
Go to Day 11 (Orlando Science Center and Etiquette lesson) >
Go to Day 12 (Interviews and basketball) >
Go to Day 13 (Thank you party) >
Go to Day 14 (Wet 'n Wild and JW Marriott experience) >
Go to Day 15 (University of Central Florida and Cirque du Soleil) >
ASA Program Page >
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