Camp New Look grads learn to go for their dreams

By Gracie Bonds Staples

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Thomas Springer wants to become a video producer one day. Jasmine Pollard has set her hopes on becoming a Grammy Award-winning singer like R&B superstar Usher Raymond IV or maybe a psychologist.

What the 17-year-olds know for sure, thanks in large part to Usher and his Camp New Look, is the power to become whatever they choose lies within each of them.

It is but one of many lessons the teens said they have gleaned since first coming to the camp four years ago.

As a star-studded closing ceremony got under way Friday at the Alliance Theater, they talked about those years and the lessons they learned like seasoned professionals used to the glare and public scrutiny of television cameras.

It is why Jasmine, of Atlanta, hesitates when asked whether her soprano voice is any good.

“They tell us to stay humble because there’s always someone who’s better, smarter than you are,” she said, smiling.

Usher started the residential camp, he said, after years of endorsing other foundations.

But what started out as simply mentoring the next crop of entertainers, he said, soon turned into a deeper passion — empowering youth to become the next generation of corporate and community leaders.

It fell to the camp’s president, Shawn H. Wilson, to help implement Usher’s vision.

Each summer, Wilson said, community leaders select a group of teen applicants from some of this country’s toughest neighborhoods for training in the entertainment business. For two weeks, they sit through seminars taught by top executives from organizations such as the United Nations and BET.

They practice hands-on training in studio recording, marketing research and interviewing. They compete with each other to churn out top products, dance routines and business ideas. They learn to go after their dream but to be smart about it.

“And once you get there, always remember to give back,” Jasmine said.

The lessons don’t stop there.

In addition to honing their entertainment know-how, Wilson said youths get the chance to apply the skills they learn to issues they feel are important to their community.

“Every year, we pick a different issue,” Wilson said. “Last year, it was voter registration.”

The end result: The 126 campers went back to their respective communities and recruited 4,000 of their friends to register some 17,000 voters.

Before that, they tackled a beautification project at Morris Brown College, and this year the pressing issue for the 130 campers in attendance was raising awareness about malaria in Africa and any issues they felt were important to them.

“Service has been a key part of New Look since Day One,” Wilson said.

For Thomas, the key issue is violence in his College Park neighborhood, where he said two teenagers — one a close friend — have been killed in the past year.

All of it has left him angry, he said, but he intends to use that anger to produce a documentary exposing the violence in his community and hopefully solutions.

Thomas said that had it not been for Camp New Look he would not have believed he had the power to make a difference.

“I didn’t think I had a voice,” he said.

So can Jasmine Pollard sing?

“Yeah, she can sing,” Thomas said.