Atlanta Select salutes Acey Palmer, a member of the 16u Black Team last season and a true student athlete. Here is Acey,pictured on the right with fellow Atlanta Select alumnus, Herbert Humprey on left, in his own words.
"On Friday November 16, 2007 at 7:30 in the morning I left on a flight to Tokyo, Japan. I was able to take this trip by being one of 30 teenagers chosen by Good Choices, Inc. to participate in a financial literacy program. One of the program's purposes is to teach students the importance of saving and investing at a young age so they won't have to work for income all their lives. My journey to Tokyo started last year in August when I applied for the program. To apply, a student needed to be an honor student, a disciplined student, and provide two written references. If selected, the applicant would also have a face to face interview with a panel of six interviewers to see if they possessed the character and personality to represent Good Choices, their church, Atlanta and America.
After applying, I was called for an interview where I was told I was accepted to be a part of this year's group on a trip to New York City and Japan. In addition to the selection process, the 30 teenagers chosen had to go through rigorous classes learning about finance, the stock market, and Japanese culture. Good Choices Inc. has been taking youths to New York for the last ten years to visit the New York Stock Exchange and learn about America's financial markets. This past summer, on June 5, 2007, my group was the first youth group ever to Ring the Closing Bell! Our group had to do a few more fundraisers to continue on to Japan. We reached our goal in November, so last week we took off on the 14 hour plane flight to Tokyo.
Japan was truly an experience I will always remember and I am so fortunate to have been a part of this experience at my age. Upon arrival in Japan, we experienced a ride on the famous Bullet train. We took the train into the city and then went to check into The New Otani Hotel. The Otani Hotel is one of Japan's top 5 hotels so this was an absolutely wonderful experience. One thing that totally awed me with Japan was the cleanliness of the place. I mean everyone was clean, and the streets were almost immaculate. Our next site to experience in Japan was the Imperial Palace. We took several pictures here because the climate was just beautiful. We then spent a lot of time at the Tokyo Stock Exchange where we studied the difference between the Tokyo Stock Exchange and our New York Stock Exchange. I learned that the major difference was that Tokyo did just about everything with technology. America is just now beginning to use electronic system.
We also visited the Tokyo Tower and on the way back, I figured out how to ride the Japan Rail and saved our group hours of walking. We spent the next day shopping. This was the fun part that our group was looking forward to because in America people always say that the prices overseas are so much better than in America. Actually, we found out that everything basically was more expensive, especially clothes. The only big price difference was of course in the electronic market. The next day we went to the infamous Sony Building where we viewed what goes on at Sony and saw some up and coming devices. I, along with another of my group, Herb Humprey, had the honor of being chosen to test a new invention at Sony that animates a simple picture. Wow! I am now Sony animated! Outside of seeing so many sites, another big experience was our tasting of authentic Japanese food. Trust me it is nothing like what it is here. Everything is eaten raw. Then I came back home and shared my experiences with everyone. Sometime soon I will be on Hot 107.9 talking about my adventure."
This is a "life skills" experience that these young people will never forget and we hope that others will seek unique experiences.
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