January 2014 Sports


'Climbing' to the Gridiron End Zone While 'Lifting' to Smell the Roses


Rose Bowl Bound MSU Has HU Graduate on Staff The last time


Michigan State


Spartans made it to the Rose Bowl, the now Director of College Advancement and Performance & Camp Director, Curtis Blackwell, was just a 10-year-old tyke throwing around a football with dreams of a career in sports.


25 years later,


August 2013, MSU made it official in hiring Blackwell to oversee Spartans'


football


recruiting efforts. Deemed a "game


changer" by MSU Coach, Mark Dantonio, just three weeks into his tenure, Blackwell was credited with immediate recruiting gains.


As Blackwell "climbed the


ladder" with a Bachelor's degree in Sports Management from Hampton University, the first recipient of the American Football Coaches Association/Baylor University joint Sports Administration Graduate Scholarship, a Master's degree in Sports Administration from Baylor University, and Co-Founder and


Curtis Blackwell - MSU win over OSU on December 7, 2013.


former Vice President of the "Lifting As We Climb Foundation," via the Foundation's "Sound Mind Sound Body" football camp, coupled with his unparalleled connections within football, Blackwell "lifted" a few of the nation's top collegiate prospects right up to MSU.


On August 1, when MSU made


the official announcement, talk of such flooded the Twitter newsfeed (to quote a few):


GRIDIRON PAGE 13 This month, Democrats and A Better Deal FROM PAGE 2


Nearly two in three voters oppose cuts to Head Start.


Sheila Arias of Durham, N.C.


says that when she lost her job as an interpreter, she couldn’t afford to keep her daughter Jaslene, who was two at the time, in daycare. Arias went to the local Children’s Developmental Services Agency for help, and was told that Jaslene would probably qualify for Early Head Start.


The agency helped Arias apply,


and three weeks later, her daughter was accepted into the program. Jaslene has developmental disabilities, and Arias says that the teachers “offered her important structure and a regular daily routine” that, in addition to therapy, have helped with managing her special needs.


Jaslene will start kindergarten


next year, and Arias says that Early Head Start is now helping her with her younger child, who is showing signs of a disorder that also affects his sister.


Republicans reached a budget deal that would restore some of the funding to programs that were affected by sequestration. First Focus reports that if sequestration relief were to be applied proportionally to children’s programs, about $3.6 billion federal dollars would be restored to these initiatives in 2014, including $1.8 billion for K-12 education and $370 million for Head Start.


The poll found that when voters


are asked to prioritize deficit reduction or protecting investments in children, 31 percent of respondents place a higher priority on investments in children and 41 percent rate the two options as equally important. “Voters reject what they consider a false choice,” says Walz. “What this shows is that 72 percent of voters reject that the way to reduce the budget deficit is to cut children’s programs.”


“Congress has struggled to prove


responsive to the concerns of the American people,” he says. “What the current deal does, in a nutshell, is create an opportunity for Congress to undo some of the damage done in this budget year.”


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The brothers of the Alpha Phi Lambda Chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. welcomed former NFL linebacker Steve Grant to speak at Lake Taylor High School recently. Mr. Grant spoke to over 300 stu- dents about goal setting, time management, and decision making. Mr. Grant also visited Norview Middle School to speak about similar topics to 35 young men. Shown above are (L-R) Alpha Phi Lambda President


Lyndon Clark, Mr. Steve Grant, and Bro. Gus Eady. Photo courtesy of the Alpha Phi Lambda Chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.


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