'Apprentice' Runner-Up To Be Among Conference Speakers

Entrepreneur Kwame Jackson from the hit NBC reality show "The Apprentice" will be one of the keynote speakers for an upcoming conference hosted by Richland One’s Student Support Services Department.

"Removing Barriers from Student Learning" will be held Sept. 12-14 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. Guidance counselors, nurses, social workers, psychologists, parent educators and other school support services professionals from throughout the Southeast will participate in the conference. The objective is to provide participants with intensive training and professional development which will enable them to recognize obstacles that hamper the instructional process and work to help students overcome those obstacles.

Dr. Howard Aldeman and Dr. Linda Taylor, co-directors of the Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA, will conduct a pre-conference session at 6 p.m. Monday on using existing learning support resources to maximize a school’s capability for addressing barriers to student learning.

Jackson, who grew up in Charlotte, N.C., will address conference attendees at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. The UNC-Chapel Hill and Harvard graduate finished second in the competition to be real-estate mogul Donald Trump’s protégé for one year during the fall 2004 season of "The Apprentice." Jackson is the founder and chairman of Legacy Holdings, LLC.

Child psychologist Dr. Adolph Brown III, a renowned motivational speaker and former head of the Psychology Department at Hampton (Va.) University, will be the keynote speaker at noon Wednesday.

For more information about the conference, contact Dr. Sean Alford at 231-6754.