But on Monday, the four-time Celtics All-Star walked into MIT’s Media Lab, bright-eyed at 9:30am sharp, eager to greet the more than 100 students who were about to embark on his week-long Bridge program.
The students, who largely hail from Dorchester and Roxbury, were carefully selected to attend the full-week, interdisciplinary program centered on robotics, artificial intelligence, climate change, food insecurity, data visualization, and a range of other topics.
They weren’t picked because they were academically gifted or because they scored particularly high on exams. Instead, Jaylen and his mother, Mechalle Brown (who is also the president of the 7uice Foundation), worked to pick students recommended by various local Boys and Girls Clubs due to their character.