mens hairstyles 2011: Dyhemia Young

Showing posts with label Dyhemia Young. Show all posts

Friday, August 19, 2011

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Det. Carroll's message to Dyhemia

Detective Carroll's message to Dyhemia

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Seeing is believing

Dyhemia being able to see for the first time in 2 years!

Dyhemia: "Oh my goodness, I can see!"

On my way to Portland, OR, for the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Portland Chess Club, I made a quick detour to East Palo Alto to visit Dyhemia Young and Ms. Sheila George (she is caring for Dyhemia).

Dyhemia, Lisa Suhay, and I got to spend the afternoon together. After Dyhemia told me in Lubbock that she has not been able to see in over 2 years, we made sure that she got new glasses and contact lenses. The first words out of her mouth were: "Oh my goodness, I can see! I can see! I can see everything now!"

We also had Sushi for lunch (Dyhemia LOVES Sushi). After that, we visited the NorCal House of Chess in Fremont so Dyhemia can meet super chess coach Ted Castro and his many wonderful pupils! Ms. George and her friend were able to join us at the club and dinner after.

It was a wonderful day!

Jada Pinkett Smith: What inspires you?

Young chess phenom wins scholarship to Texas Tech at tournament

Dyhemia Young's journey to the Susan Polgar Girls' Invitational chess tournament was long and difficult, and though she didn't win the competition, she did receive a scholarship to Texas Tech.

By Maria L. La Ganga, Los Angeles Times

August 4, 2011

Reporting from East Palo Alto, Calif. -- Dyhemia Young left for Lubbock, Texas, with a black eye — compliments of a girl at her East Palo Alto group home — and returned the proud recipient of a chess scholarship worth $40,000.

Along the way, the 15-year-old from the wrong side of San Francisco, who could not have made it to a prestigious chess tournament without the kindness of strangers, became a nationally rated player.

Photos: Dyhemia Young wins chess scholarship

"My journey here, it was tough, because I had a lot of situations going on at home," she said tearfully after her first win, Game 3 of the six-game Susan Polgar Girls' Invitational.

The tournament takes place each year at Texas Tech University, drawing the top-rated girl from each state. Polgar, the first woman to earn the title of grandmaster, also issues two "wild card" invitations to gifted players who haven't traveled the pricey road of official competition.

Dyhemia, who has spent the last three years in and out of foster care, received one of the wild card bids. But when Adisa Banjoko, her chess mentor, called in June with the good news, Dyhemia had disappeared.

It took nearly a month and the help of a San Francisco police detective to locate Dyhemia; after a short stint in juvenile hall, she had ended up in the teen home.

Then there was the matter of money — nearly $3,000 was needed to send the high-school junior and a chaperone to the six-day event. After reading her story in The Times, generous donors sent thousands of dollars Dyhemia's way.

Problem solved? Not so fast.

The night before her flight to Texas, Dyhemia was sitting in the group home studying for her driver's license test with the help of a staff member. When the woman left the room, Dyhemia continued to drill herself. "Why don't you just shut up?" one of the other girls said before charging Dyhemia and punching her in the face.

"It all stemmed from jealousy," Sheila George, who heads the group home and accompanied Dyhemia to Texas, said in a phone interview from Lubbock. "Dyhemia came down here with all this in her soul and mind and heart. She had to get rid of all that junk."

When the rattled girl and her worried chaperone stepped off the plane in Texas, they were greeted by Polgar and a cheering group of chess players — Dyhemia's competitors and new found friends.

More here.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

The long road to a new move

The Virginian-Pilot
© August 7, 2011

By Lisa Suhay

The story of the Chess Cinderella of Palo Alto, Calif., started here in Norfolk in June during a phone call with an international chess grandmaster in Lubbock, Texas. Susan Polgar and I were talking about the free chess program I run at the Lamberts Point Community Center and how hard it is for many to get a shot at a scholarship.

I was complaining that I never see much diversity in scholarship tournaments, and she decided to put a fully charged magic wand in my hands. She offered to give whatever player I recommended a wild card invitation to the Susan Polgar Girls’ Chess Invitational at Texas Tech. Three girls in the tournament would win $40,000 scholarships to Texas Tech, in addition to two days of instruction from Polgar herself.

Because my players are beginners, I knew the wild card girl should be Dyhemia Young, 15, of Palo Alto. Adisa Banjoko, founder of Hip-Hop Chess Federation, had often told me about her many trials. I was struck by how much of a fighter she was and how, no matter what befell her, chess always pulled her through. It was her life raft in a sea of chaos.

She deserved a chance at a scholarship, so I submitted her name, never realizing what an epic saga was being set in motion.

Dyhemia would prove nearly impossible to locate. She was in foster care. Somewhere. Banjoko put the word out to her friends and teachers. For nearly a month we looked for her, with zero results.

In desperation I began to Google her and found a missing child flyer that led me to San Francisco Police Missing Persons Detective Joseph Carroll. After spilling the story, I prepared for the brush-off. Instead, he said, “I am going to find this girl. She deserves her shot. Let’s make something happen.”

He called 30 minutes later. She was in juvenile hall, being held for running away. Carroll hooked me up with the Department of Social Services, and after hearing the story of our Chess Cinderella, they agreed to help. Dyhemia was moved to a group home in Palo Alto.

Then the city attorney got involved, banning Dyhemia from traveling without a Social Services chaperone. We needed a court order, plus an additional order allowing her to speak to the media so we could raise money for both plane tickets and double room and board.

The orders were obtained. Dyhemia, who had just 72 hours until the start of the tournament, talked to the press, and a story ran on the front page of The Los Angeles Times.

More here.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Competition and lasting friendship

By Maria L. La Ganga, Los Angeles Times
August 4, 2011

Reporting from East Palo Alto, Calif.—

Dyhemia Young left for Lubbock, Texas, with a black eye — compliments of a girl at her East Palo Alto group home — and returned the proud recipient of a chess scholarship worth $40,000.

Along the way, the 15-year-old from the wrong side of San Francisco, who could not have made it to a prestigious chess tournament without the kindness of strangers, became a nationally rated player.

"My journey here, it was tough, because I had a lot of situations going on at home," she said tearfully after her first win, Game 3 of the six-game Susan Polgar Girls' Invitational.

The tournament takes place each year at Texas Tech University, drawing the top-rated girl from each state. Polgar, the first woman to earn the title of grandmaster, also issues two "wild card" invitations to gifted players who haven't traveled the pricey road of official competition.

Dyhemia, who has spent the last three years in and out of foster care, received one of the wild card bids. But when Adisa Banjoko, her chess mentor, called in June with the good news, Dyhemia had disappeared.

It took nearly a month and the help of a San Francisco police detective to locate Dyhemia; after a short stint in juvenile hall, she had ended up in the teen home.

Then there was the matter of money — nearly $3,000 was needed to send the high-school junior and a chaperone to the six-day event. After reading her story in The Times, generous donors sent thousands of dollars Dyhemia's way.

Problem solved? Not so fast.

The night before her flight to Texas, Dyhemia was sitting in the group home studying for her driver's license test with the help of a staff member. When the woman left the room, Dyhemia continued to drill herself. "Why don't you just shut up?" one of the other girls said before charging Dyhemia and punching her in the face.

"It all stemmed from jealousy," Sheila George, who heads the group home and accompanied Dyhemia to Texas, said in a phone interview from Lubbock. "Dyhemia came down here with all this in her soul and mind and heart. She had to get rid of all that junk."

When the rattled girl and her worried chaperone stepped off the plane in Texas, they were greeted by Polgar and a cheering group of chess players — Dyhemia's competitors and newfound friends.

More here:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0804-chess-girl-follow-20110804,0,14884.story

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-chess-girl-pictures,0,3756581.photogallery

Competition and lasting friendship

By Maria L. La Ganga, Los Angeles Times
August 4, 2011

Reporting from East Palo Alto, Calif.—

Making the best of the one shot

San Francisco Bayview’s Chess Star Wins Big
by Julianne Hing
Wednesday, August 3 2011, 6:38 PM EST

They’re calling her a “Chess Cinderella.” Dyhemia Young is a 16-year-old chess star who won a coveted wild card seat in the prestigious all-girls annual Susan Polgar Girls’ Invitational chess tournament in Lubbock, Texas. But there were a couple obstacles standing in her way. For one, airfare from Young’s home town of San Francisco to Texas was steep, and then Young’s mentor Adisa Banjoko had trouble locating her when he heard the news about her invitation.

Banjoko mentored Young in chess through the Hip-Hop Chess Federation, a non-profit that uses music, chess and martial arts to help young people in rough neighborhoods navigate their tricky lives.

It turned out that Young had been bouncing around the foster care system for the last three years, and it was only after finding a missing person’s poster and scouring leads that led them to the San Francisco police that Banjoko was able to get ahold of Young.

More here.

Making the best of the one shot

San Francisco Bayview’s Chess Star Wins Big
by Julianne Hing
Wednesday, August 3 2011, 6:38 PM EST

Banjoko mentored Young in chess through the Hip-Hop Chess Federation, a non-profit that uses music, chess and martial arts to help young people in rough neighborhoods navigate their tricky lives.

More here.

Friday, July 29, 2011

If we can impact one girl, it’s worth it

Girls develop their chess-playing at Susan Polgar Invitational

Posted: July 29, 2011 - 11:39pm | Updated: July 30, 2011 - 12:13am

By CHANA ELGIN

THE AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

Slouched far into her chair, nametag fumbling in her hands, Aksitini Ramalingam seemed more interested in her lanyard than her father’s explanation of her love of chess.

“The girls started playing chess in January,” Eswaran Ramalingam said. “We have a private coach and are trying to help them with lots of focus.”

Ramalingam spoke in reference to his two daughters, Aksitini, 10, and Ashrita, 5. Both were competitors in this week’s Texas Tech Susan Polgar Invitational- an educational and competitive chess tournament.

Ashrita sat in her mother’s lap, shy and whispering to her parent, as her father continued to speak.

“We are very thankful to Susan and what she’s doing for girls’ chess,” he said. “She takes players’ game to the next level and we love to come every year.”

Originally from India, now residents of San Jose, Calif., Ramalingam explained his daughters’ chess levels in terms of points, Aksitini, coming off a 1300-point gain, putting her at the fourth level and 1572 points overall.

The soon-to-be sixth-grader spoke softly.

“I like playing chess.”

She quickly looked to her father. He smiled at his daughter, eyes gleaming.

Eight years since its conception, the chess invitational began this year with three days of chess class where more than 50 girls from across the nation and around the world learned chess strategies under direction of Grandmaster Polgar herself.

Polgar, with assistance from Paul Truong, coaches the Texas Tech Knight Raiders, 2011 President’s Cup national champions. According to Tech’s biography page on Polgar, she was the number one ranked chess player in the world.

“People don’t realize how lucky they are to have access to Susan in Lubbock,” Jill of Shreveport, La., said. “She is changing these girls’ and our lives.”

Wyzywany, a mother of four, said the family of six drove nine hours to have their two eldest daughters, Amelia and Annastasia, compete in the chess invitational.

Her husband Ken Wyzywany said his 12-and 13-year-old daughters respectively are the ones encouraging their family to pursue chess.

“They are the ones dragging us to the lessons,” the U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel said. “Commuting gets expensive and we can’t have ready access to Susan from Louisiana. Too bad there’s not an air force base here in town.”

Five-year-old Elle and her 10-year-old brother are the two younger siblings to Amelia and Annastasia. All are homeschooled, practicing musical instruments, learning another language and familiar with the game of chess.

Each yes and no question was followed with a confident, “yes, ma’am,” or, “no ma’am,” regardless of who asked.

“I prayed to God about what to put my children in,” Jill said. “When he told me it was chess, I told him he would have to make it happen to be so. A few days later a friend whose son played gave us a chess set, an instructional book and the offer of her son’s help.”

The two girls sat with their eyes forward as their mother shared their particular rankings.

“Anna has been the highest rated female in the state for two years,” Jill said with her unwavering smile, eyes wide. “She’s also the Louisiana state champion and she’s rated second highest overall.”

Amelia said she had won two of her three games during Thursday’s second round of play.

Later during Wednesday’s matches, Annastasia said she defeated Philadelphia player Vanita Young, featured Tuesday in The Avalanche-Journal. She, like Annastasia, said she won two of her three games Thursday.

A few corrections to Tuesday’s article: Vanita has never been involved with the foster care system, she lives with both grandparents and her chess invitational chaperone, Melanie Brennan, wears glasses - not Vanita.

After Thursday’s rounds, known shoe enthusiast, Polgar, treated Vanita to three pairs of shoes at DSW. Vanita made her selection carefully before deciding on two pairs of sandals and a pair of Nike running shoes.

“I have about 60 pairs of shoes,” Polgar said trying on a black suede, spiked heal shoe. “I just really like them.”

Paul Truong said Polgar’s generosity extends beyond Vanita’s evening in the shoe warehouse. He said the chess grandmaster also presented Dyhemia Young, featured in also Tuesday’s article.

“Susan got her a laptop because she wants her to continue her education,” Truong said. “If we can impact one girl, it’s worth it. We’ve definitely impacted more than one.”

Polgar also founded the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence, an organization dedicated to academic excellence through chess with a focus in young women.

Jill Wyzywany and her daughter Annastasia were also present at Thursday evening’s break from chess.

Wyzywany was moved to tears as the group wrapped up their purchases.

“I am just blown away by Susan’s generosity,” Wyzywany said explaining to her daughter why she was crying. “She has done so much for these girls.”

Friday’s closing ceremonies of the chess tournament followed a pizza party paid in part for by friends and family of the players’ generosity, Peggy Flores said.

Flores, the unit coordinator for the event, handled media contacts and players’ day-to-days during the weeklong training and playing tournament.

“We are so grateful for everyone’s support,” Flores said. “We cannot thank everyone enough.”

Polgar stood before the crowd of about 75 people Friday afternoon for the closing ceremony and gave a few remarks before presenting the tournament’s awards.

“This is about a lot more than just a few chess games,” Polgar said, her Hungarian accent masked behind a smile. “This plays into society and as you all have seen chess can be a life changing experience.”

Awards commenced with words from Lubbock Mayor Tom Martin and Tech’s vice president of Institutional Diversity Juan Munoz, Ph.D.

The two gave their congratulations and an invitation to the University for Future Educational Endeavors.

Besides receiving pairs of shoes, Vanita’s Cinderella story continued as Polgar began the award ceremony. Vanita received a $1,000 scholarship and finished 12th overall with four wins and two loses according to the results posted on Polgar’s blog, www.susanpolgar.blogspot.com.

Dyhemia Young, a California team living in a group home in San Francisco at the invitational courtesy of Jada Pinkett-Smith, also received a $1,000 scholarship. She was emotional upon returning to her seat.

Both girls said they have plans to attend college in the future. Dyhemia said she was interested in pursuing sports at Howard or Georgia Tech among other historically African-American universities. Vanita said she was interested in attending Tech.

The overall winner of the tournament with a perfect 6-0 record for games played was Apurva Virkud of Michigan.

Polgar spoke directly to Virkud before presenting the silver handled tournament cup to be adorned with her name on an engraved black and gold plaque.

“I remember you 500, 600 points ago,” Polgar said. “I remember you 5-to-6 inches ago. You have made tremendous progress.”

Virkud was also presented with an Acer Netbook and congratulations from her opponents.

Truong spoke before the crowd Friday reminding those in attendance of Polgar’s struggle to overcome gender adversity. The four-time winner of the Women’s World Championship and five-time Olympic Gold medalist Polgar was the first woman to break the gender barrier in the game of chess.

“No woman ever played at this level before Susan. She was denied a chance to compete in the world championship cycle because she is a woman,” Truong said. “This wasn’t 100 years ago either.”

He paused as his emotions choked his throat and tears swelled in his eyes.

“I just wanted to remind you you’re making a difference by playing this game,” he said. “Remember that you are special and share your experience with us here with the world.”

The crowd clapped as the last of the awards was presented including a congenial award to Maraani Kamphorst of Brazil. Kamphorst said she was at the invitational by special invitation from Polgar and finished her games played with a perfect 4-0.

“Everything beautiful has to come to an end. Be proud of your success,” Polgar said. “Until next year.”

Source: Avalanche Journal