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BETH N. GRAYLearning magic opened him up to learning. Now as a magician he performs that trick for others and gets them believing in themselves.
SPRING HILL - Jamahl Keyes was a slow reader in elementary school. He didn't like to read. So, his mother got him books on magic. Soon the South Bend, Ind., youth was eagerly borrowing library books, learning magic while becoming a better reader.
"Never give up. Never give up! You can do anything you put your mind to," the professional magician exhorted J.D. Floyd Elementary School students Wednesday as he turned a wizard's pointy hat into a ball-capped wig, made water disappear and transformed an egg into a silk scarf and back again.
Wearing a flashy black and fuchsia suit, Keyes skipped into the audience with a cup of water, announcing his intention to pour it over someone's head. Teacher Georgette Marston was an easy target.
"You have to always believe in yourself," he declared, as Marston tried not to flinch. Keyes up-ended the cup, from which the water had mysteriously vanished, and Marston remained dry. The amazed kids giggled, applauded and leaned forward for more.
Keyes' program, The Magic in You, aims to teach "three things to help (kids) succeed in life," he said before taking the stage for three shows tailored to grade levels. They include:
"Never give up.
"Stay focused.
"It doesn't matter how you look on the outside; it's how you feel on the inside that matters."
Keyes' appearance was sponsored jointly by the school's Parent Teacher Association and new principal Marcia Austin. Any endeavor that promotes self-esteem and self-worth is valuable, said PTA president Arlene Cotto.
"I loved the message he brought across, the magic in you," said Cotto. "It was appropriately titled. I talked to teachers and they thought it was positive. And the kids loved it."Sandwiched among tricks, Keyes had his audience repeat the principles after him until he was satisfied the youngsters were yelling loud enough.
"Through magic and comedy we get a lot of points across," said Keyes, who arrived here from a gig in New Orleans. His next stop is Los Angeles. As he travels from school to school lugging his bag of tricks, Keyes also carries a message of preparedness.
On Wednesday, he summoned kindergartener Karina Arciniegas to the stage to be his apprentice. Keyes draped her with a cloak "to prepare her to be a magician" and gave her a magic wand. The wand became two, then three, then four, to the audience's delight.
In another scene, Keyes produced an authentic straitjacket and directed first-grader Xavier Rios and teacher Patrick Kirchman to buckle him in.
"It's not how you look on the outside. It's how you feel on the inside that matters," Keyes declared. As he maneuvered himself out of the straightjacket, students sang "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands . . . . If you're happy and you know it, say I am."
Later Keyes explained and demonstrated the "secret" of his vanishing egg trick - wrapping it in a scarf, revealing it again by stuffing the scarf into the hollowed out wooden egg. But first-grader Christian Alicea wasn't convinced of the you-can-do-anything-you-want adage.
"I don't think so," said Christian, "because he tricked me (so many times)."
Classmate Adrian Rivera said he'd learned one trick but wasn't sure he could do "anything."
Countered first-grader Briana Padgett, "Don't give up."