abstinance message to youth

By JAINE TREADWELL

Features Editor

Aug. 28, 2000 10 PM

Urban inspirational recording artist and professional entertainer Lakita Garth will bring her message of abstinence to Pike County youths when she takes the stage at the Claudia Crosby Theater Wednesday morning.

Students from Charles Henderson and Pike County high schools, Pike Liberal Arts School and Banks Middle School will attend the program, which is sponsored by the AIM Project and made possible through a grant from the Alabama Department of Public Health.

Terry Watkins, AIM Project director, said Garth is a versed and noted speaker on various issues such as race relations, politics, feminism, abortion and AIDS and is also one of the country’s leading abstinence advocates.

Because she will be speaking on behalf of the AIM Project, Garth’s focus will be on abstinence.

"Lakita Garth has testified before the U.S. Surgeon General and the U.S. Senate in Washington, D.C. on teen pregnancy prevention," Watkins said. "During motivational assemblies across the United States, the Caribbean and South America, she has spoken to more than a million teenagers. We believe that the message she will bring will be well received and that she will make a difference in the decisions facing many of our young people .She is a very inspiring speaker and we are very fortunate to have her here."

Garth is a former Miss Black America, California and runner-up to Miss Black America. She has appeared in various commercials and television shows, including MTV’s "Sex in the ’90s," "Politically Incorrect," "The Image Awards" and the "Montel Williams Show." She is currently in two public service announcements for the Center for Disease Control.

In addition, Garth has hosted her own radio talk show in Los Angeles. She has been featured in many music, documentary and instructional videos. She has also been a model for Nike Sportswear and has been featured in Vogue, Cosmopolitan and Seventeen magazines.

Garth earned a bachelor’s degree, with an emphasis in real estate finance, from the University of Southern California and an honorary doctorate degree from Aspen University.

The public is invited to attend this special program at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Claudia Crosby Theater on the campus of Troy State University. There is no admission charge.

"This program will be beneficial to parents and to college students as well as high school students," Watkins said. "We invite anyone who is interested in promoting abstinence among our youth to attend."

The AIM Project is sponsored by

Edge Regional Medical Center, Charles Henderson Child Health Center and the Alabama Department of Public Health.