What NAF Means to Me
My name is Gionni Foreman, a now graduated Senior from KIPP DC Legacy College Prep where I was Student Body President, Captain of the Football team, Student Ambassador, member of Legacy Acts, Student Assistant Athletic Director, Co-founder of the Bulldog Bodega – the student-founded and student-run school store, proud member of the NAF Academy of IT, Honors and AP programs, Prom King, a 2026 Gates Scholar, and Salutatorian of my graduating class. Today though, I’m simply your student speaker! I volunteered to give this speech today because NAF has a special place in my heart. Can you guess why? Welp, I hope not because that’ll ruin my speech.
NAF means something different to every student. For me, it’s a big part of my journey and has helped shape who I have become so far. Now as we all know, media mogul Oprah Winfrey is known for many accomplishments, but one question she has asked over the years stands out to me: ‘What’s your why?’ So today, I’d like to share my answer to a similar question: Why NAF?“
Go back to 9th grade with me. I was a semi-quiet individual: just someone trying to find their way, dealing with a lot both mentally and physically. Meeting new people, from peers to teachers, was something I loved to do and that year I met someone who would be instrumental to my future success academically, professionally and personally, my former NAF director, Ms. Trinh.
I’ll be honest when Ms. Trinh first mentioned NAF to me and my peers, I was sold … at the field trips; Now, that may or may not have been the only part I heard or what I paid attention to. Can you blame me? Telling a 9th grader they’ll go on field trips almost every week for the foreseeable future is like telling Lebron James he has to play the Raptors in the playoffs. To all my non-basketball fans, this is like being told you’ll have every Friday off!! Basically saying, I thought it was going to be a very easy and low lift commitment with lots of chances to be outside of the school building, and my smile grew uncontrollably as I just thought about the future but not the journey of growth that’ll come with it!
When I first joined NAF, I thought I was more excited about its field trips and events, because, again, what student wouldn’t be. What I didn’t realize was how much those experiences would help grow and shape the person standing in front of you today. My first real NAF experience was taking part in the First-Generation Investor program, which I did my freshman year before actually joining the NAF Academy. We did this program with Georgetown students and 10th graders in my school who were already in the academy. We learned about stocks and investing and at the end we had to present what we learned. I was the only 9th grader, and to say the least, I was a fish out of water. I was scared of messing up and not knowing what to do next or even how I got to participate. I had self-doubt and uncertainty in myself. I’m guessing it was easy to spot because Ms. Trinh pulled me to the side and told me something I’ll never forget. She said, “Gionni, you got this, if you mess up just act like you didn’t. You have to always demonstrate confidence in yourself to strive and achieve what you want.” At the time I didn’t know this, but I was afraid, afraid of what I didn’t know and afraid of what could happen next. I feared the unknown, which really isn’t a fear at all, just the absence of understanding. But who knew that a chat with Ms. Trinh, I’d have a better understanding of myself. This was my N, notice.
As time went on and I joined the academy in 10th grade, I began to grow more confident in myself, branching out, doing more and trying more. I joined more programs in and out of school and met more people just because of a simple chat I had with Ms. Trinh and joining this simple program at school. I learned about my strengths and weaknesses. I was stretching my limits and it felt like I was growing in this area, but little did I know I was overworking myself.
Another big opportunity as part of my NAF experience was PPMD (Professional Power Moves Day). It was a special event where professionals in IT talked to us about different aspects of their career fields along with tips for things like resume building and interview skills. But also, how to better yourself, As a kid who was just trying to make his way, this hit me hard. I got paired with Ms. DeMong who at the time worked at Legacy, someone who just like Ms. Trinh would become very instrumental to my success. She said, “In order to change and grow you must first acknowledge what must change on the inside.” Just like Ms. Trinh’s wisdom this stuck with me. But remember, I was only a tenth grader…I had no idea what she meant but it stuck with me for weeks! The year went on and work kept piling up. It felt like I was drowning and becoming overwhelmed balancing schoolwork, sports and more personal life, but I pushed forward, even though asking for help would have helped me tremendously. I suppressed those feelings and continued on through the 10th grade…drained. In 11th grade, I had a similar experience. Assignments kept stacked up, responsibilities grew, and for the first time in high school, I felt like I was losing the confidence I had worked hard to build. I didn’t know how to help myself then Ms. DeMong’s words came back to me. So I looked within and it hit me, I needed help. This was my A, Acknowledgement.
Once I learned to see and embrace my potential and acknowledge my faults, I was finally able to flourish. I leaned on the network I built through NAF, from my teachers like Mr. Johnson and Mr. King, the academy leaders like Ms. Trinh, and my peers like Nina, Joi, Mya, and Antonio. NAF allowed me to grow; not only a professional level but a personal one as well. It allowed me to find what I was good at, what my limits were and how I could push them and never feel limited again. Nobody ever wants to feel limited and growing into something I was good at helped me forge my own path. NAF taught me to notice my potential, acknowledge what needed to change, and ultimately flourish into the person standing before you today. A great example of that was my Dual Enrollment course, where my classmates and I took on college-level coursework during our 11th grade year and not only succeeded, but excelled.
That is how I became a 2026 Gates scholar, Salutatorian of my graduating class, Dual enrollment member of Trinity Washington University and so much more. That is my F, Flourish. From a quite struggling ninth grader who joined NAF because he wanted to go on field trips. 4 years later I realized it was never about the destination but the journey, the people and the person I became along the way. This is why I plan to open up my own non-profit, where I’ll promote the importance of asking for help, helping students discover their own potential and giving them mentors and opportunities to help them foster their own success both personal and professional. I’ve learned that asking for help isn’t a weakness, it’s often the first step towards success.
That is what NAF means to me.
