This past week NOMA Boardmembers Bryan Hudson and Timothy Johnson attended the 2013 Annual NAACP ACT-SO Convention in Orlando, FL. ACT-SO, the Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics, is a youth program under the administrative aegis of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Hudson, a registered architect in Chicago Illinois, is long-time, dedicated mentor to students in the architecture division of the competition. Tim Johnson, NOMA's South Region Vice-President, presented the awards to the national finalists at the convention. View video of the event at http://new.livestream.com/naacplive/2013-conventionStudents’ journey from incarceration to classrooms featured in premiered film

FITE Film, a documentary depicting the path to success in higher education followed by several formerly incarcerated UC Berkeley students, premiered on campus Thursday night.

Four current Berkeley students and alumni are profiled in FITE, which stands for From Incarceration to Education, a film produced by alumna Skylar Economy and co-producers Clarence Ford, Sheila Wagner, Tristan Caro and Christian Collins, also an alumnus.

The documentary tells the stories of Ford, a first-year master’s candidate at the Goldman School of Public Policy; Ph.D. student David Maldonado; undergraduate Shalita Williams; and undergraduate Richard Rodriguez-Leon.

The young filmmakers hope to show their work in prisons, county jails and juvenile detention centers across California and beyond — and illustrate to inmates there that they too can