Once Homeless, A San Pedro High Student Snares Full Posse Scholarship

Ella Johnson at the Boys and Girls Club,

A Once Homeless "Anti-Social" Student Finds Her Way at the Boys and Girls Club And Receives Coveted Posse Scholarship; It's a First for San Pedro High

By Diana L. Chapman

Sitting in the dark, Danielle "Ella" Johnson stared at the dirty cot her 3-month old nephew was in. A cold loneliness paralyzed her heart. Nothing seemed right, just bitter.

For the first time in her life, she, her two sisters and her mom were now shut in a Skid Row Shelter in Los Angeles after being evicted from their Watts apartment when her mom could no longer pay the bills. They shared one blanket among all of them that cold night. It was dark and ugly and the way Ella started her first day in 7th grade at Culver City Middle School.

"It was so uncomfortable, I can't even describe it," said the 17-year-old who wanders back to that horrible first night. "It was sad. It's something that will never escape my mind. In the cafeteria, people were standing in long lines to eat.

"I felt like a helpless newborn, vulnerable and exposed," she would later write in an essay.

But after suffering a long, and turbulent road of financial burdens and homelessness in her family, a light began to shine on this troubled youth. With help from the Boys and Girls Club and other programs, she transformed from an angry girl with "an anti-social attitude" to become a remarkable leader at San Pedro High School and at the Los Angeles Harbor area club. She changed so dramatically that this year she was awarded a full tuition scholarship to private Bucknell University through the Posse Foundation worth nearly $47,000 a year.

In addition, Ella will also be among the 320 seniors graduating Wednesday evening from the popular and successful Boys and Girls Club College Bound program that launched eleven years ago. Many of those youths would not have gone onto higher education without it. And there have been hundreds that had gone before them.

For many, including Ella, no crystal ball was showing a way out of their often impoverished circumstances.

 Instead of focusing on her future for the next two years, Ella just worried about the other kids teasing her for wearing hand-me-downs at Culver City Middle School. 

When her mom at last found housing in San Pedro just before Ella was to enter high school, Ella rebelled. She wanted to stay with her friends and continue schooling in Culver City where she could visit her 4th grade teacher who allowed her to visit every day after school.

This meant each day, her mom had to drive her in a "crappy car that I had to push  just to get it to start," Ella said. Once the car broke down, her mom insisted she go to San Pedro High -- and join the Boys and Girls Club where she sat angrily day-after-day, wearing headphones and refusing to talk with anyone.

 "I hated it," she said. "I'd come in and stay in my own little bubble. I was in a new environment and I was reluctant to be involved in anything."

"Ella use to come in, put her headphones on and she didn't talk to anybody," said Maria Flores, the club's College Bound coordinator. "But she saw how the seniors were going on "to school to better their lives and "we had a better understanding of her...she is her mom's right hand."

By all accounts, officials involved with Ella are more than surprised by her keenly intuitive and astute leadership abilities that recently led her to save a girl from continuing to mutilate herself when Ella spotted blood streaming from bathroom at San Pedro High.

"Ella truly is the whole package," said Yesenia Aguilar, who oversees the College Bound program at all of the Los Angeles Harbor area Boys and Girls club sites. "She's a leader involved with our club and community in all areas, academics. Athletics. Service. You name it. She did it with grace, manners and a passion that I have not seen for awhile."

San Pedro High College Counselor Valerie Armstrong said she's thrilled that Ella received the award adding she's the first at San Pedro High to get the scholarship. In fact, one of Ella's close Boys and Girls club friends, Edwin Torres, was nominated for the same scholarship last year, Armstrong said, making it to the last round. He was not picked, but he received a full scholarship from St. John's University in Minnesota. 

Besides the Boys and Girl's staff, Ella attributes her dramatic change to two seniors she met at the club -- Torres, and Tabitha Sanchez, who is now attending California State University, Northridge.

They both encouraged her that she could overcome her issues and had the whole world head of her. Reached by phone, Torres said he wanted "to break the cycle" that San Pedro High students would be nominated for Posse, but not get selected. He spent time coaching Ella, sharing all that he learned, what interviews were like, what types of questions were asked, how she should fashion her story, how she should dress. He believed in her, he said.

"I tried to push her to break free of the picture of her family" troubles and "I have endless Facebook messages back to back trying to coach" and answer her questions to help her receive the scholarship, he said.

"She was so happy and so thankful for that," Torres explained, but "I always knew she was meant for greatness."

 "I believe Ella got the scholarship because she has amazing leadership qualities," the high school college counselor said. "She is a peer tutor, helping underclassmen with English and math homework. She is also a staff intern at the Boys and Girls Club assisting with activities and their tutoring program. She was recognized by the Los Angeles City Council for her work in the Let Up organization, where she mentors younger girls about making wise choices in school and in their personal lives.

"Ella is a well rounded young lady who thrives on being involved on her campus and has a wonderful rapport with both students and adults."

All of those golden opportunities, Ella explains, stem from those who surrounded, persuaded and supported her. After tutoring younger students, Ella said she found her vocation; She wants to be a teacher.

As far as resolving her anger, friend Tabitha Sanchez helped sooth those issues telling her to look forward and not back. Tabitha herself dealt with anger issues coming from "a dysfunctional family."

"Ella and I expressed ourselves through stepping (a dance form) which allowed us to release some of our anger that had been bottled up and other times we had girl talk," Tabitha texted. "The beginning (for her) was to have humbled hopes for her future, a need to experience something more than disorder and a heart that wouldn't allow her to give up."

But her departure will not be easy. Ella worries about leaving her mom, Talitha Johnson behind, especially since her mother had to take in her son's four children ages 1, 3, 4 and 7 and give up her bed.

"It's hard because there is no one else to help her," Ella said. "But she wants me to have a balanced life."

Talitha Johnson says she's proud of her daughter's accomplishments and that Ella is her first child out of six to leave and go out of state for her education. All of her older kids (Ella is number five in the lineup) have gone on and received college degrees locally, said the single mother, but were too young to help when the remaining family became homeless.

In her lifetime, Talitha said she never thought her family would be exposed to homelessness. It was a humiliating experience and when they were forced to live in a motel, they couldn't eat in the room because it was filled with rats and roaches. Now, they can move on.

"I am ecstatic and I am very proud," Talitha said during a phone interview. "I was grateful after all we went through and she turned it around. She was very depressed when we were first came to San Pedro. I told her no matter what struggles you have, you can make it if you keep going."

Financially, Ella's tuition will be paid all four years, but she will have to cover her own room and board, said Aguilar, the club's College Bound Director. Ella will continue seeking scholarships to help her with that, Aguilar added.

Garnering the Posse Foundation scholarship was a huge honor and only came to Ella because of her leadership roles. The foundation searches for youths from  public schools in "disadvantaged urban backgrounds with leadership qualities" who would often be overlooked by some colleges, according to its website.

In  August, the San Pedro High student will begin her first stint at Bucknell, but she won't go it alone at the Pennsylvania school, a private university in the small town of Lewisburg which is tucked along the West Branch Susquehanna River. It's a community that stared at the tall African-American girl when she went on a visit -- a big reason the foundation seeks out multi-cultural diversity in training future leaders.

The Posse foundation selects about nine candidates to head together to each of its 40 plus participating campuses including high end universities such as Boston College to Pepperdine University in Los Angeles. The students are expected to work as a team successfully to finish college and to "transform the landscape of leadership."

When Ella received the phone call from Posse in December, "I was beyond excited," she said. "I ran into my mom's room and she was clapping. I am going to strive to do my best for the next four years. And I'm going to give back to my community. I'm going to give back to the club."

For many here who worked with Ella, they don't doubt that promise for a moment.

Los Angeles Artists Says Earning Lots of Money Wasn't Enough

Artist Nichole Blackburn discovers giving donations of her work makes her feel well-rounded. She painted murals locally at Gulf Street Elementary in Wilmington and the skies internationally.

Los Angeles Artist Takes to the Skies Internationally and Locally

By Diana L. Chapman

Everyone understands skies, the artist says.

Financially, Nichole Blackburn was doing well. Her small business as a professional muralist and decorative painter was thriving. Money was streaming in. She enjoyed her work and the clients who hired her. She was, in fact, booked solid a year in advance.

But despite all the success and all the money, Nichole, who lives in Redondo Beach, found herself unhappy and deeply puzzled by what she was missing.

"The money wasn't buying me happiness," Nichole said during an interview at Gulf Avenue Elementary School in Wilmington where she had successfully pulled off two massive and vibrant murals teeming with wildlife, half of which were donated. "I had all those (paid) jobs and I wasn't feeling fulfilled. I felt empty."

Then the epiphany struck in 2005 when a group asked her Celadon Studio, which she still owns and operates today, to donate a mural to the Center for Troubled Youth in Long Beach -- a project she dove into head first asking the kids and staff to work with her to design the painting for a 15 foot wall in its "Therapy Room." Nichole discovered then she was swimming in waves of happiness and not long after launched a non-profit, Big Sky Countries. Not a believer necessarily in small ideas, the artist drummed up a plan that everyone understands: the "skies," she said. With each visit, she would link those skies around the world through her murals bringing the last sky she witnessed to the next country, state or town.

Each gigantic donation internationally included supplies and paint. And the orphanages and schools she approached eagerly snapped up on her offer.

Between 2007-2008, four pieces went up from Ireland to Thailand infecting each art work with a whirl of near mystical hues draped in a volatile color collection often making her pieces seem alive.

All that was needed as she traveled around the world to do her donated works was giant walls and children to help her design them. American travelers she knew suggested the locations.

  
In Phuket, Thailand, a school devastated by the 2004 Tsunami that carried away 40,000 people across Asia to their deaths, became a brighter and happier place the minute the artist stepped on the campus. With the children, a mega painting of colors splashed up on the wall with festive scenes of their lifestyles.

From there, she painted massive murals at Cranford Elementary School, an  inner city campus in Dublin; a Philippine orphanage where she found kids who were either abandoned, physically abused or child labor victims; and in Sucre, Bolivia at the Institute Psychopediagocico, where children were either orphaned or handicapped.

At each organization, she connected the world with patches of clouds, one sky at a time. Dublin received a scene from Thailand's heavens, the orphanage in the Philippines received Dublin's golden blue clouds, Bolivia received a peachy Philippine's sky and when she returned home she was driven by the Hurricane Katrina disaster and wound up painting murals at Gauthier Elementary (earlier devastated by Hurricane  Katrina and being rebuilt) and the O.T.T.P Youth Center for Inner City Teens in Long Beach.

 Children and staff are always included in coming up with designs, awash in a brilliant array of hues including a palette of thousands of colors. The children and staff draw out their ideas and Nichole brings their visions together in one mural. All an organization needs are big walls. Donations sent into her Big Sky Foundation help pay
for the art.

 "My happiness came from painting and donating my work," she said, while she continues to run her private studio. She now offers local schools and other organizations a way to purchase a mural and get a second one donated.

David Kooper, principal of Gulf Avenue Elementary, said he was thrilled to bring such an accomplished artist to his campus not just because of her exemplary work but because of her affinity with children.

"Through her art, we have recreated our school," the principal said. "She has created a wonderful atmosphere here at Gulf that our school community really loves. I love hearing parents, staff, and children telling me about their favorite mural. I love that they tell me: 'Nichole painted that animal for me.' or 'This one is my favorite mural.

"My favorite one will be the next one she does because every time she does one she outdoes herself."

It's true that the campus practically glows as two striking killer whales leap through indigo colored oceans surrounded by other aquatic creatures. On another wall, Gulf students convinced Nichole to paint a jungle land filled with exotic creatures and when they see her, stop and tell her they like her paintings.

Teacher Niels Goerrissen said he loves the murals too.

"They definitely bring life to our campus," he said. "It has always had a drab, pinkish color, very instructional and uninspiring. I often see students looking at and, surprisingly, touching the animals as if to get the feel of them. They have certainly made a difference in the overall spirit of the campus."

Nichole traces her success to one person -- her now retired art teacher, Ron Kooper, father of Gulf's principal, who helped mold her career when she attended Redondo Union High School. The teacher helped her pin down a scholarship in the Otis Art Center's Young Artist Program and she believes remembering him helps keep her grounded.

The older Kooper guffaws, saying that he hardly had to offer much guidance because she was "comfortable in her own skin" worked diligently and never "over did or under did her work."

He claims it didn't have much to do with him - and all to do with her own skills at counseling herself and using her talent exceptionally well.

His wife, Eleanor, however, said Nichole, who has a twin sister, Lori Blackburn, a travel writer, wasn't excited by academics and found her niche in his classroom. Art opened her eyes and her world and she has stayed in touch with the couple ever since. Nichole and her mother also established a $1,000 scholarship for an "outstanding" art student at his former school in his name.

As time went on, the Koopers said they discovered she was an "extraordinary person" especially when she began her non-profit.

"There's no question about her talent," Eleanor said who added she has gotten to know the artist because she always stayed in touch with the family. "What she does professionally is amazing. And then this work she donates is amazing. We are both in awe of her talent and her humanity."

Another extraordinary person in Nichole's life is her mother, Sonia Blackburn, who drove the artist every Saturday morning to the art school. Her parents divorced when the sisters were in their 20s.

"My Mom would wait in her car for the whole day while I took my art class," Blackburn said. "I would always come out when class was finished and see homeless people trying to wash her car!"

Today, Nichole says without all this help she might never had made it. Those who know her personally believe she's a fantastic artist.

In the end, perhaps, the best to judge the artist works are the kids who they were made for.

Wrote student Abraham Lazo, 4th grade: "I think we should thank the lady who did it for us. She was doing the painting for like a month and she sketched it out with a pencil before she started. You can see turtles, killer whales, seaweeds dories and fish. It makes me feel good to see our school look nice. And we've even had some comments from parents."

"The animals look very realistic. The colors are very bright and vibrant," said fourth grader Jazmin Guerreroage. "The murals make me feel happy and free."

Jefferson March, also in 4th grade, explained it this way: "The ocean had seaweed, starfish, seahorses, octopus, jelly fish, electric eels, all kind of fish and two killer whales. The painting of the rain forest had tigers, a waterfall, two giraffes, rhinos, zebras and vines.

"Those murals made me transform there."

View Nichole Blackburn's work at: http//:www.celeadonstyle.com
or http://www.bigskiescountry.com