UPDATE: Check out the photo gallery here. Watch Gov. Schwarzenegger’s speech above, and a highlight film here.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger knows a star when he sees one. The Hollywood celebrity and action figure turned governor also serves as the National Honorary Chairperson for After-School All-Stars, and took some time Monday morning to praise the students of Brown Middle School who participate in the program.
Schwarzenegger, who was in town over the weekend as commencement address speaker at Emory University’s graduation ceremony, praised APS officials, Brown Principal Donell Underdue Jr., After-School All-Stars Executive Director Dr. Walt Thompson and Georgia Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle as leaders in working to provide students with after-school opportunities that including physical-education and other extracurricular activities as well as academic support such as tutoring. He also singled out After-School All-Stars Kirk Posmantur for his fundraising support.
But Schwarzenegger reserved his most glowing praise for the students at Brown Middle and their embracing the After-School All-Stars, a national program he started in California. He pointed out that 200 APS students and 2,000 Atlanta students attend afterschool programs. “Thank you to the students who have done such an outstanding job,” he said. “Afterschool programming is such an important program because it helps the kids in the afternoon to keep them away from the streets and to keep them here and help them with homework assistsance. Let’s help them wtih tuoring and give them arts programs, sports programs, fitness programs, and all those things they need so that they can get smarter. And because of that, you’re grades are going up, you’re improving, and you’re going to graduate.”