Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN 6) — It’s 5:30 a.m. on a cold November morning, much like every other morning for Amanda Collins and her 14-year-old son Robert.
The first step is to drop off her son at the nearby donut shop, where the straight-A student will study for three hours before riding his bike to the LEP Charter High School . Then she heads out to work one of her two jobs, in the billing department at Providence Health and Services.
They call themselves Team Collins.
“She works really hard and she is one of my inspirations to be in the business and be a business man,” Robert said.
He understands the reason his mother works two jobs — the other is at a security company — is so she can afford an art studio space for her son’s budding talent.

” he said. “I wouldn’t be the person I am today if she was not around or if she had no say in everything I did.”
One day when he was about 5 or 6, Robert told his mother he wanted to be an artist.
“I was just, like, OK,” she said. He had been drawing and painting practically since he was born.
“It was just something he always would do,” she told KOIN 6 News.
So she set out to get him his own studio and start his own business at 14.
“It was, like, ‘OK, son, what do you want? You have four years left of school, public school. What do you want before you go to college? What do you want for your life, because you have to tell me so we can set things in motion.'”
Money was tight, but she set out to make her son’s dream of is own art studio a reality. Amanda said she wasn’t thinking about the money. Instead she thought about how she was going to make it happen.
The drive
One day, Robert said, “We were driving and she was taking me to the weird place, and I was, like, ‘OK, where are we going?'”
They arrived and walked into a building and “met a guy named George,” Robert said. “He said a lot of things about, ‘OK, so you’re here for the new studio.’ I was like, wait, what? New studio?”
Six months later, the studio is now a business — Robtacus Studios (http://robtacus.blogspot.com/) at 1127 SE 10th.
“I don’t want him out in the street peddling his art,” Amanda said.
In September, Amanda and Robert Collins were named Family of the Year by Portland’s Black Parent Initiative. (http://thebpi.org/)
“Our goal this year was to try to showcase a family that we felt was an example of nobility,” said BPIs Velynn Brown. “When you get to know Robert you want to be his cheerleader. He’s just contagious like that. He draws you in.”
The night Team Collins received the award, Robert presented BPI with a painting.

Rroigbhetrti-n the middle of the picture there is a very thin line,” Brown said. “He says, ‘I think black boys can go either way. There is a

His school

very thin line.'”
She said Robert, a high school freshman, is aware of the choice he makes every day and wants to see himselft as something greater and something bigger.

Carl Reinhold, the vice principal at LEP Charter High School ,said Robert is an inspiration.
“Really speaks to my heart because often the images we see, unfortunately, of young men of color tend to be connected to something that is not necessarily positive,” Reinhold said. “With everything that is kind of going on in the world right now, we need more Roberts out there who are demonstrating no matter where you come from or what your background is in this world you can still be a gentleman.”
This gentleman/student/artist/businessman has a mother who made it all happen.
“I’ve always told her I appreciate what you do,” Robert told KOIN 6 News. “We’re basically best friends.” “It’s like we always joke around,” his mother said. “Team Collins.”