BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — For Willie A. Price, prepping sixth, seventh and eighth graders to be successful contributors in society is important.
“When you tell kids, instead of being some pairs of Nike’s you can own Nike stock and then allow Nike to buy you a pair of Nike’s, it’s turns a whole different mindset to them," Price says, who's a public speaker and author from Buffalo. "You listen to television, you hear about women empower this women empower that, and for some reason right now young men are being left out of the equation.”
Price is in charge of the "Boys to Men" program that he taught in Niagara Falls schools and has recently brought to the Charles Drew Science Magnet School located in the same building as the Buffalo Science Museum.
“Their only resource is graduate and go to college, or graduate and get a job or graduate and go into the streets, or not graduate at all," Price says. “They see the streets and the crimes and the drugs, that’s what they emulate.”
For some, Price stands as the lone male figure in his students' lives, where he teaches entrepreneurship, personal finance, nutrition and personal hygiene on Wednesdays.
“Last year I wasn’t good, I got suspended a couple of times. And this year I’ve actually changed since I was in that group," Sixth grader, Kenji Jones says.
Price lacked a male role model in his life from ages 5-13. His childhood sparked his inspiration, he has since written two books, No Dream is Impossible, and This Week in Black History, From Kings to Presidents.
“Time goes by fast, everybody knows that. But most kids think they have all the time in the world. Now 10, 15 years go by and it’s gone, so you wanna learn about money financing while you’re young so by the time you are old, you’ll already know what to do," Sixth grader, Joshua Collier says.
