What would you do?
“If you had the power to change the course of history in your community, what would you do?”
I originally planned to sit down today and write about my experiences collecting content for the social media campaign we have going on right now. We’ve been interviewing students, families, teachers and community members to gain their perspectives and highlight the ripple effect of our Youth Leadership Program as part of our end-of-year fundraising campaign: Be the Drop. If you are curious, you can see the videos and student perspectives we’ve shared so far by clicking here.
Before diving in to share my perspective, I decided to check my email real quick. What I found sent chills down my spine. I thought, "what could I possibly say that would get the message out there as to the value of our work better than this?" I couldn't think of anything that would, so, with the permission of the author and formatted for the aesthetic pleasure of this blog post and newsletter, I am sharing with you what I found in my email.
Verbatim. His words. His thoughts. His experience.
Essay written by Ryan Elijah Watford for the honors college at George Washington. Essay question was “If you had the power to change the course of history in your community or the world, what would you do and why?” Ryan wrote about Cypress Adventures and what he gained from participation in our programs from 6th - 11th grade and how the world would be different if more youth had access to such experiences. Ryan is now a senior at the Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics.
Image of Ryan Elijah Watford
Be the Drop, Create the Ripple of Positive Youth Development
In a small, rural town in South Carolina, something magical is happening. One drop is all it took. One drop of funding back in 2015 created a ripple that strengthened the relationships and leadership skills of close to 1000 youth, their peers, their families, their schools, their communities. This is Positive Youth Development. This is hope.
Be the Drop that Creates the Ripple of our next 10 years.