CHELSEA — Local teens got their scream on Wednesday morning when television star Nick Cannon came to their high school auditorium for a chat.
Cannon, donning a thick brown coat and shades, talked to the fashion-loving crowd at the High School of Fashion Industries about the growing up without much money. He said he would dig through Salvation Army bins to find thrift store gems.
"It was a task to get fly," he told the crowd.
Cannon encouraged students at the West 24th Street school to work hard to fulfill their potential.
"Everyone's got talent," he said to an auditorium packed with hundreds of fans.
The conversation was preceded by a fashion show featuring students' designs.
The visit was part of an initiative from Get Schooled, a nonprofit that helps high schoolers prepare for college with guidance for standardized tests, financial aid and college applications.
The High School of Fashion Industries won the visit over 60 high schools competing against each other for top college application rates, a representative from Capital One Bank, which sponsors the program, said.
Get Schooled Executive Director Marie Groark, who said she got her start as a high school teacher in the Bronx, said involving celebrities and fun in the process creates a good balance between "substance" and "sizzle."
"If you're too substantive, you're like the College Board, and the College Board already exists," she told DNAinfo.
But math teacher Bruce Lyu said even on normal occasions, the students are often pumped about learning.
"The high school students always have that kind of energy," math teacher Bruce Lyu, 55, of Bayside, told DNAinfo. "Especially when students are motivated to learn, you just want to teach them."