pictured above: Students line up Saturday before the start of the Operation Graduation Winter Commencement Ceremony at USC’s Bovard Auditorium. The ceremony presented at-risk teens with high school diplomas and GEDs from alternative education programs run by the Los Angeles County Office of Education.

At USC on Saturday, 170 at-risk teens — young mothers, juvenile camp inmates, troubled students — are awarded their high school diplomas and congratulated by keynote speaker Magic Johnson.

By Seema Mehta (LA Times)

Tevin Bradley ran with the wrong crowd, started doing drugs when he was 14 and picked fights so frequently that he was kicked out of a continuation school for troubled teens. So when the 17-year-old received his high school diploma Saturday, it symbolized not only academic achievement but also a radical life change.

“I didn’t see myself getting here,” said the Bellflower teen, clad in a burgundy cap and gown. If not for a dedicated teacher and his parents, he figures, he would have ended up “in jail or on the streets. Not here.”

Bradley was among more than 170 teenagers who completed their high school education through alternative programs run by the Los Angeles County Office of Education. They were honored at an afternoon commencement ceremony Saturday at USC’s Bovard Auditorium with parents, siblings and friends cheering as they crossed the stage to the familiar strains of “Pomp and Circumstance.” 

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I just recently enjoyed an interview of Magic Johnson on the Tavis Smiley Show. I really have no idea how to respond or how to communicate the feeling it gave me after viewing the clip, but the only real word I can think of is motivation.

It’s truly inspiring to see someone like Mr. Johnson have such a positive effect on the urban community, more specifically Los Angeles. Seeing the difference, knowing the difference, and sharing the same interest in the community leads me to be nothing but admirable for his many efforts and business happenings. Wow.

As I treck through this thing called life and map out my plan of business and community involvement, I will always be a student of “the game”, learning and absorbing, observing and executing.

When time permits, please view the link and be inspired just as I was:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/video/flv/generic.html?s=tavi08s18bfq591

New Book “32 Ways to be a Champion in Business” Offers Tips Gleaned From His Career After Basketball

In his new advice book “32 Ways to be a Champion in Business,” Earvin “Magic” Johnson explains how he translated his fame as a basketball player into a career as an investor and businessman off the court. The title references the number that Mr. Johnson wore when he played for the Los Angeles Lakers from 1979 to 1991 – when he announced his retirement after having been diagnosed as HIV-positive. He returned to the court for the Lakers briefly in 1996.

Mr. Johnson, 49 years old, is CEO of Magic Johnson Enterprises, a closely-held company based in Los Angeles that brings retail outlets like Starbucks and movie theaters, to urban areas. In Business Week’s October 2008 listing of the 100 most powerful people associated with professional sports, Mr. Johnson ranked No. 58.

Mr. Johnson’s book comes at a time when the public’s appetite for such titles appears to be waning. The number of business advice titles fell significantly, to 7,651 in 2007 from 8,719 in 2006, according to Books in Print, which is owned by R.R. Bowker, a provider of bibliographic information. The number is expected to fall again this year as readers turn from get-rich-quick texts to books that explain how to survive in a tough economic climate. Mr. Johnson was interviewed by The Wall Street Journal’s Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg.

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