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Prince George’s County, Md. author and veteran celebrates National Mentoring Month with “No Fear to SUCSEED Challenge” for youth and adults
Temple Hills, Md. — January is National Mentoring Month, and Army veteran, author, and mentor André T. Miller is living up to his community commitment. For over 15 years, the Fort Washington resident has carefully balanced managing fatherhood, civilian life, and mentoring local area youth through sports clubs and coaching football. Based on his book, The Fear to SUCSEED (support, uplift, and cultivate the soul to enlighten, empower, and deliver), Miller’s Mentoring Month “No Fear to SUCSEED Challenge” is a call to motivate and increase adult-youth mentoring relationships.
Miller, who during his childhood relocated from the Eastern Shore to Landover, understands the critical role that mentors fulfill. He was raised in poverty mostly by his mother in the absence of his biological father, and later was guided by his stepfather when they married.
“I moved to the Landover area as a result of a family tragedy, and the role of mentors made a huge difference in my life” Miller, a former NFL hopeful of Saint Paul’s College, admits.
“ADHD and PTSD were both major challenges that I faced, as well as the lure of street life. Despite labels of disability, I found my talent to be in football, and I discovered that I had a special way with guiding people in distress. After serving in Afghanistan and transitioning back to civilian life in 2010, I felt the need to give back, pay it forward.”
Out of the military, he helped the Boys and Girls Club and a rec center in Kentland, supported JV football, and served as a parent coach for the Marlboro Mustangs flag football team, where he personally guided his son as well, who is an honors student.
“Push NonStop’ is my motto for life and what my own stepfather instilled in me—to never give up, to find a way,” Miller shares of his brand of motivational media, apparel, and transport service. “The ‘Fear to SUCSEED Challenge’ is about taking a chance to recognize the value in one’s self as well as to see it in others and help it grow, like an investment—a seed for success,” he explains.
“We tend to look at the generation after ours and ask ourselves, How did it come to this? My answer is it began with the amount of time being devoted to our children because that’s where it starts.” Miller admits that outside of church and school, he had a huge amount of idle time not guided by mentorship, and he like many others was misguided by his atmosphere. His goal is toexpand his reach by visiting youth detention centers and encouraging adults, some of which have told him that his motivating words prevented them from committing suicide.
To meet the “No Fear to SUCSEED Challenge” is simply to encourage a youth in the local community, and then support the efforts of a local youth mentoring organization.
Resources:
- Mentoring – Boys & Girls Clubs of America, bgca.org
- National Mentoring Partnership – engage.youth.gov/opportunities/national-mentoring-partnership
- Our Fatherless Foundation – ourfatherless.org
Contacts:
Aisha Asare
RGM International
(240) 441-0122
publisher@rgminternational.org