On Thursday (Feb. 27), RZA made an appearance at PS 78, formerly PS 14 of Stapleton in Staten Island at an assembly to gift the students with well-needed technology, 30 brand new Apple iPads, SI Live reports.
The generous donation was a joint effort between RZA, members of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan and the tech giant Apple. According to SI Live, a teacher from the landmark school, Jo Ann Accardi took to Twitter last May and bravely tweeted RZA a request to donate some new technology to her students. Before mentioning RZA on the social platform, she already started a fundraiser for her class intending to raise enough funds to purchase just five Chromebooks. However, once RZA acknowledged her request, he insisted that the five Chromebooks would not be enough and asked for a headcount of her class.
The distribution of the iPads took place during an assembly, where RZA made an empowering speech and interacted with students. His core message to the youngins? Never stop dreaming.
“I’m here today because one of your teachers sent me a tweet on my Twitter and she said that there wasn’t enough iPads, just enough to go around…,” RZA told the students. “I reached out to my Wu-Tang brothers and Apple, and we have some iPads here going to the school and going to your classes so you guys have a better chance for a proper education.”
The principal of PS 78, Jodi Contento expressed to SI Live that she found relevance in bringing a Staten Island icon such as RZA to meet the students because of his ability to inspire them the become “positive role models.”
“I really want to emphasize that any time somebody who has roots in the community comes back to share their successes, that’s the most priceless thing we could have for our school,” Contento told SI Live. “It’s all about bringing in the positive role models. We know how much is out there that is not always positive for us to see. Having those positive models and success stories are tremendous.”
“I still got dreams to fulfill,” he told the appreciative students. “Never stop dreaming, all right?”
RZA was gifted with a package of snacks and a crafty wooden piece featuring the Wu-Tang symbol and the number 78, in the representation of the school at the end of the assembly.
