"Survivor: The Amazon" contestant JoAnna Ward assured legions of young fans Friday that preparation and a positive attitude will help them overcome challenges.

For her first public appearance in Orangeburg, Ward led a pep rally at Robert E. Howard Middle School in advance of the series of high-stakes Palmetto Achievement Challenge Tests, which begin today.

"You're going to ultimately survive PACT on Monday, right?" Ward insisted. The students let out hearty cheers. "Your teachers have prepared you very well," she said confidently.

"There are a lot of people who are going to tell you what you can and can't do. They're going to tell you there are things you can't do. How many of you believe it?" she asked. There was a chorus of protests.

"Nobody knows what you're going to become some day," she said. "Everybody is like, 'How did you get (on 'Survivor') from little old Orangeburg? ... Anything is possible! I think positive!"

"How many of you guys watch the show?" she asked. Hands waved all over the gymnasium.

Later, Ward reflected, "It seemed like 90 percent of them were, 'We watch it. We know who you are and know what's going on. You went out there and did it.'

"And if I can make that impression on them, and if (Principal Jacqueline Vogt) can tie it back into passing the PACT, I really, really believe the kids will do well," Ward continued.

"They were so enthusiastic, cheering loud and well organized. They were not rowdy."

In an interview, Ward recalled her rebellious youth in Niagara Falls, N.Y., and Atlanta. "I was one of the worst ones. I was like, I don't know what's going on here, I don't want to be in here," she said.

"I was just, 'I don't care. I don't care. I'm not doing nothing. So? So? Call my mother! I don't care,' you know, and she would discipline me and I still didn't care," she said.

"If my teachers would have given up on me any time, at any given time, where in the world (would she have ended up)? I was really, really off the chain," Ward said.

"But you can't write anybody off. You just never know who's going to turn into what. You just never, ever know."

Ward said she "got a grip" on her life when "I started playing basketball and started realizing I wanted to go to college and play basketball."

A basketball scholarship brought her to South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, where she received her bachelor's degree in English education and her master's degree in education in school guidance counseling.

"I actually used to live in an apartment right across the street (from Howard) and I watched the school through its transitions. I spoke for Career Day, before 'Survivor', as a fitness expert and educator," Ward said.

She told Vogt, "You're doing a great job. You speak their language. Too many other people are not identifying with what's going on in 2003. ... The whole vibe of the school is different than what it was a few years ago."

Ward was living in Orangeburg and working as a guidance counselor at a middle school in the Columbia area when she was selected as a contestant on the highly rated CBS-TV show.

Although she has been voted off the show, "I'm still under CBS guidelines and regulations" limiting what she can say and do. "I'm doing personal training and some appearances, basically waiting for the show to be over." The finale will air live Sunday.

"I'm really strongly considering going back to some aspect of education, even if it's just on a part-time basis," Ward added. "As I see it, it's extremely important to keep our hands on our students, especially at the middle school level. This is a very pivotal age, the middle school years. They are going through so many transitions."

"Somebody has to be there for them, other than their parents. A lot of times it's like they become deaf to their parents because they've heard them so long. They need to hear somebody else say, 'Hey, pay attention, get it together, you're da bomb, you've got it, take hold of yourself.' And it works if we all pull together."

Wearing military fatigues, boots and cap, Ward sang, danced, cheered and rapped her way into the students' hearts.

She smiled as she posed for photographs, hugged old friends and signed dozens of autographs. She didn't just sign her name, but added a little inspirational message. She said she writes "whatever comes to me."

Vogt was thrilled that Ward accepted her invitation to visit the school.

"She's from Orangeburg, and her personality is very positive, upbeat. She has that approach that there's nothing before me that I can't overcome," Vogt said.

"That's what we want the kids to leave here with: a positive feeling that all their work all through the year has not been in vain. We don't want to let a test say something that's not a fairly good representation of their abilities," she continued.

"We know they're prepared," she said. "It's up to them to give it their all. Everybody can be a winner."

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