Hollywood Popular Artists

Dec 14th 2012, 23:30

There are after school programs. And then there are AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS. Stoked is most definitely the latter. It's an amazing youth mentoring program for under-served youth. How do they engage students? Not through chess or tutoring but through skateboarding, surfing and snowboarding. Beyond rad, right?

"In most mentoring relationships, people just sit at a table and they eat pizza or they go to the movies. There's nothing that takes mentoring relationships to a whole new level. For any relationship to grow you have to go through things together and that laid the groundwork for Stoked," explained Steve Larosiliere, founder of Stoked. And the program also believes that whether you're black or white, poor or rich, each and every kid should have the same opportunities. Through making skateboards or surfing in the summer, kids gain confidence, knowledge, learn the power of great teamwork and positive energy.

I recently stopped by The Bushwick Latin School in Brooklyn, NY to see what the program was all about IRL. I met some of the amazing students in the program (Shout out to Jazmin, Luis, Julian and Christine!) and even learned how to make a skateboard.

+Watch Stoked makes afterschool programs a good time.

Stoked kids get involved with sports but they also do other cool things like ya know, create a commercial for Lil Wayne's DEWeezy campaign for Mountain Dew. FORREAL. This past summer, 10 Stoked kids created a great commercial for Weezy. We got behind the scenes footage on how they made it all happen!

+Watch Stoked teens make DEWeezy commercial for Lil Wayne.

+ Watch Lil' Wayne's DEWeezy commercial.

I MEAN....how dope is Stoked and what they do? For ways to get involved with the org, check out our action widgets below and remember the power of mentoring -- and how fun it can be!

In partnership with The DEWeezy Project + Stoked Mentoring, MTV Act has created a DEWeezy hub to bring you exclusives with Lil Wayne, stories from youth involved in The DEWeezy Project, and resources on how you can get involved in your community. Every action counts!

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