There are two high school seniors in the audience
today from South Carolina.
This is their first trip to Los Angeles.
It's about to be their first appearance on a talk show.
Come on down, Jaheem and Darius.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Hi.
I'm going to put this you on you here.
[INAUDIBLE]
And you're Jaheem?
Yes, ma'am.
OK.
That means you're Darius.
Yes, ma'am.
All right.
Better know me.
Let's put this on you.
You can have a seat.
Oh.
Got you.
I do a lot of jobs around here.
I do.
I can roll with that.
Sometimes I do catering.
It just depends.
[LAUGHTER]
All right.
So hi.
Surprise.
I don't know if you knew you were going to be on the show,
but you are.
Yeah.
No.
Yeah.
Isn't this great?
Yes, ma'am.
What a pleasant surprise.
It's your first trip to Los Angeles, right?
Yes, ma'am.
First of many.
And you go to school in South Carolina.
Yes, ma'am.
Where?
Ashridge--
Ashridge High School in a country town,
where we've got cows, and goats, and everything.
Yeah.
Yeah, like--
We have cows and goats here too, just so you know.
So-- and you're seniors?
Yes, ma'am.
You're graduating high school.
Yes, ma'am.
And what do you want to do when you get out?
Become-- become a public educator.
Really?
Yes, ma'am.
You both do?
Yes, ma'am.
Yeah.
That's fantastic.
[CHEERING]
Thank you.
So why?
Why do you want to be teachers?
You say.
Well, so my main inspiration to become a teacher
was because for the kids I want to be what I didn't
see when I was growing up.
So for me, because my father was in a car accident
when I was four years old.
So not having that male presence growing up,
like that's really important.
Because like the older I get, the more
I understand things and like having a father--
like having a father.
Even if-- even if it's at school seven hours a day
that still helps.
You see what I'm saying?
Mhm.
Yeah.
And for the kids, like that's what I would do,
that's my goal.
I want to be for them what I didn't have.
Yeah.
I just-- I have to move this, because yeah--
For me I didn't have my father growing up,
and so being a teacher has impacted me.
My teachers have impacted me.
One, Victoria Merritt in the audience.
Yeah.
Merr, Merr.
And she has impacted me, and so I
believe that teaching is the greatest way I can give back
to what they have done for me.
So teaching--
That's amazing.
And I think that that's-- what you said I think sometimes what
you don't have actually teaches you more than something that
you have.
And that's so true.
Yes, ma'am.
That is so true.
Yeah.
That is so true.
You look at something, and you're like, well,
I didn't have this, but I would love to have this.
Yes, ma'am.
Exactly.
So what would it mean to go to college for both of you?
For me it would be everything.
Actually, I will be the only male in my family
that has gone to college without being
a football player or a jock, so it would mean a lot.
My mom-- she was--
she went to tech school, and she couldn't
finish, because she had me and then she had my sister.
So this would mean a lot for me to show her that, hey, mama,
we got it.
I'm a man.
That would be amazing.
It'll be good.
For me it just means beating odds, you know,
because my whole life it would have been easier
to take the other route.
Yeah.
You know, but it shows me that it's not
what you go through in life, it's
how you react to what you go through.
Yep.
[CHEERING]
So you've been accepted to a college.
Yes, ma'am.
College of Charleston.
I'll be the first generation, out of my entire family,
like grandma, grandfather, mom, and dad.
Four years.
I'm telling you.
So--
It's big.
You're waiting to hear.
Yes, ma'am.
I've been stressing out for the last five months,
but I believe in--
He'll get in.
--positive energy.
So College of Charleston, if you're watching, accept me now.
Yeah.
Cougar, cougar, cougar.
Accept me.
Definitely.
We may have told them to slow the process down.
We may have said, we would like to let him know.
So the answer is here in this envelope.
I think your mother's going to be happy if it works out,
right?
Yes, ma'am.
And if not, we really picked a bad time to have you on.
[LAUGHTER]
Uh-oh.
You're certainly going to college.
[SHOUTS]
I'm going to college.
Good job, baby.
All right.
One more thing.
OK.
One more thing.
The College of Charleston heard about you and Darius,
and they want to cover your college tuition for all four
years.
All four years.
Yes, ma'am.
We'll be right back.
You said that you were inspired by your teachers
and also by your mothers, right?
Yes.
Of course.
Because she was a single mom, you said.
Yes, yes.
Yeah.
So who else besides--
there's a teacher in the audience
that you-- is that Miss Merritt?
Yeah.
Victoria Merritt.
Miss Merritt, herself.
Yeah.
Hi, Ellen.
Hi.
So this must feel really good that you inspired
them to become teachers.
I mean, that's a pretty powerful thing
when you know you're that good of a teacher
that you are inspiring-- and we need good teachers.
That is so important.
We do.
We absolutely do, Ellen.
So-- so that means you're a good teacher.
Well, you know what.
They make it easy, because they are awesome young men,
and they're going to do great things in the classroom
for our future students.
So it's so exciting.
I know.
All right.
Cheerios and I are encouraging acts of good,
and I certainly think this qualifies.
So we want to give your high school a check for $10,000.
[CHEERING]
Thank you.
All right.
Of course.
And we want to give each of you a check for $20,000.
20.
Oh!
Thank you.
Oh my god.
We--
What am I going to do with $20,000?
Like--
It'll help with some things you'll have--
you know, some stuff.
Backpacks and stuff.
Pencils, paper.
We want to hear about your acts of good.
So go to my website.
Tell us what you're doing.
We'll be right back.
Thank you, Cheerios.