daniels, and christian champagne. today, in the same classroom, they sat in eight years ago, at the hyde park academy, high school on the south side of chicago, mr. obama is catching up with them, again. james and lazerus are now 26. christian is 25. he says talking with the president, back then, was life-changing. it was so crazy. that first period that i went to class. it was like, i m fitting to meet the president on my lunch. like, that was the most in unconceivable thing that you could possibly think of. and then, like, my heart was, like, racing. like, when we was just sitting down, he just walked in. it was just like i m forever grateful. and it changed the trajectory of my life, dramatically. that meeting had a big impact on president obama, as well. one of the things that led him to launch an initiative called my brother s keeper. which he announced at the white house, 2014. christian, lazerus, and james were there. james, that was your first
community organizing? well, you know, i probably, i m a little too gray-haired and old to be going door to door, like i used to be. and plus, secret service, still, follows me around so i m pretty disruptive. but i am going back to what inspired me to to get into public life. one of the things that inspires former-president barack obama, these days, are meetings like this one. hey, people. hey, hey. reporter: it s called a bam circle. bam stands for becoming a man. a program that started in chicago in 2001 to mentor and support boys and young men. how is everybody doing? the idea is to create a place for them to safely and honestly share their struggles and successes. issues, at home, in school, or on the streets. president obama, first, joined a bam circle back in 2013. that s when he met high school students james adams, lazerus