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7:15am-8:15am
Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:15am-8:30am
Welcome, Judge Charles F. Pratt
8:30am-9:30am
Keynote,TBA
9:30am-9:45am
Break
9:45am-11:15am
Morning Workshops
11:15am-11:30am
Break
11:30am-12:30pm
Keynote, Salome Thomas-El, "I Choose to Stay"
12:30pm-12:45pm
Break
12:45pm-1:30pm
Lunch
1:30pm-1:45pm
Break
1:45pm-2:45pm
Keynote, Dr. David Walsh, "The Effects of Media Violence on Youth"
2:45pm-3:00pm
Break
3:00pm-4:30pm
Afternoon Workshops
Speaker publications will be available for purchase and speakers will be available for book signing throughout the day Service Fair will be open throughout the day in the Expo Hall
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Salome Thomas-El: Principal, Russell Byers Public Charter School, Philadelphia, PA; Author I Choose to Stay; The Immortality of Influence |
Salome Thomas-EL was born and raised in the inner city of Philadelphia and has been a teacher in the Philadelphia School District since 1987. He received national acclaim as a teacher and chess coach at Vaux Middle School, where his students have gone on to win world recognition as Eight-Time National Chess Champions. Armed with only a chess board and a profound belief in their potential, Thomas-EL's faith and commitment has motivated hundreds of children in Philadelphia to attend magnet high schools, major colleges and universities.
Thomas-EL is a graduate of East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania. He is currently a doctoral candidate and has studied in Cambridge and London, England. He has received the Marcus A. Foster Award as the outstanding School District Administrator in Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania's distinguished Martin Luther King Award. Philadelphia Magazine honored him as the 2006 "Best Philadelphian," and he frequently appears on C-SPAN, CNN and NPR Radio.
Thomas-EL is the former Principal of John F. Reynolds Elementary School in North Philadelphia and the author of the best-selling book, I Choose to Stay. The Walt Disney Company recently purchased the movie rights to I Choose to Stay. His second book, The Immortality of Influence (foreword written by actor Will Smith), was released in May 2006 and stresses the importance of leadership, parenting, mentoring and service to others.
Currently, Thomas-EL is principal at the Russell Byers Public Charter School in Philadelphia and coordinates after-school chess programs in the School District. Thomas-EL has continued his life-inspiring chess and tutoring programs at Vaux and Reynolds. As part of his commitment to opening the world up to show his students that there are other ways to be than those to which they have been exposed, Thomas-EL takes them to visit colleges and then attends their graduations. Reflecting on how it feels to see a young person he has mentored walk down the aisle toward a real future instead of to an early grave, Thomas-EL says, "I've been to too many funerals; I need to go to more graduations."