Author: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Wednesday, November 12, 2008

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Brice Harney, a sophomore, will use playing cards to demonstrate teleportation in the "Dunbar's Got Talent" program.

With a little imagination and a splash of magic, students at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School hope to provide shoes for kids in need.

The plan hatched at Dunbar will culminate Friday night with a talent show to raise money for the Family Resource Center at William Wells Brown Elementary. Among the 20 or so acts slated to perform is sophomore Brice Harney, who will demonstrate the concept of teleportation using a deck of oversized playing cards.

“This is a really advanced method. It’s taken all my five years of training and skill to be able to perform it,” he said early this week at rehearsal, adding, “This will be the first time I’ve done magic on stage.”

The magic really started several months ago during a chance encounter at a Back-to School Rally in early August. It was there that Jim Adams, who oversees the computer network and advises the Student Technology Leadership Program at Dunbar, met Leslie Calk, coordinator of the Family Resource Center at William Wells Brown. While chatting in the park, Calk mentioned that she always needs shoes to give out.

Within a month or so, Adams called her with the idea of a fundraiser at Dunbar. “The next thing I know, they have this wonderful event planned,” Calk said, citing Adams’ generosity of spirit as a catalyst for the project.

“Our kids are going to benefit from it tremendously,” she said. “We’re blessed here. I couldn’t do what I do here without that community support.”

“Dunbar’s Got Talent” starts at 6 p.m. Friday Nov. 14 in the school auditorium; admission is $5, with an extra donation box and a bin at the door for contributions of new shoes.

The show will feature high school students performing in dance, poetry, singing and instrumental acts. “It’s just whatever talent our students have,” said senior Jasmine Neal, who is helping coordinate the program.

Neal had wondered why her school didn’t hold a talent show. And then she heard that Adams wanted to do a fundraiser for the Family Resource Center at William Wells Brown, which could use a hand providing for the downtown community’s children.

“That just really bothered me,” Neal recalled. “Then it just popped into my head – why not combine the two together?”

Neal is a member of “Leaders in the Making” at Dunbar, a program that gives students an opportunity to organize and coordinate a variety of academic and non-academic programs in an effort to build personal responsibility, teamwork and self-sufficiency. The talent show was such an opportunity for Neal, who organized tryouts and lined up judges for the contest, which will include prizes for the three top acts.

“She’s just taken the lead, and I’m helping any way I can,” Adams said Monday afternoon as he worked on stage equipment before rehearsal.

Adams hopes the talent show is a success for Calk’s sake – and the kids at Brown, of course.

“Whatever funding we get, we’re just going to hand it off to her, and she can get the additional resources she needs,” he said.

If you go

• What: “Dunbar’s Got Talent”
• When: 6 p.m. Friday Nov. 14
• Where: Paul Laurence Dunbar High School auditorium; 1600 Man o’ War Blvd.
• Admission: $5; extra donations and shoes for elementary kids are also welcomed.
• Proceeds: To benefit the Family Resource Center at William Wells Brown Elementary
• Sponsors: Dunbar’s Leaders in the Making and STLP student groups
• For more information: (859) 381-3546