Youth Spotlight

Hiking Trip Teaches “If You Push Yourself Hard Enough, You Can Do Whatever”

Brianna, a student at Evanston Township High School, at first wasn’t sure she was up for the challenge when she got the opportunity to canoe the Boundary Waters in Minnesota.

“When I went (on a Big City Mountaineers sponsored trip), we did a hiking trip in Michigan,” Brianna explained. “I had said during the trip, I wouldn’t go again, because I wasn’t used to all of that walking every day … but after it was over, I appreciated it a little bit more.”
In the end she decided after all to go on another Big City Mountaineers Trip two years later — and this time as a peer leader.

“My least favorite part was the portaging – that’s when you have to carry the canoes on your shoulders,” she said.

But she found valuable life lessons through eight days of portaging, hiking, and canoeing she did with four other Y.O.U. participants and four adult volunteers.

“I learned that if you push yourself hard enough, you can do whatever,” Brianna said. “After you look back at it, you think to yourself, ‘wow, I can’t believe I was in the wilderness for a week just rowing … I learned how to push myself and never give up.’”

Y.O.U. Programs Nurture Talent, Leadership

David and Henry are brothers who attended Evanston Township High School. They are talented and hard working, and their parents place a high value on education, so they probably would have succeeded academically on their own.

But their participation in Y.O.U. programs helped them to develop their talents even further by strengthening their social skills and letting them discover their true leadership potential. With the extra help from Y.O.U., they developed the friendships and the support systems that enabled them to fully nurture their unique gifts.

“Both of these kids are extremely intelligent,” says former Program Director Jason Price. “But both of them, for different reasons, were struggling in middle school … socially, they were distracted.”

Henry started attending Y.O.U.’s after-school program at Chute Middle School when he was in seventh grade and rejoined when Y.O.U. started a new program at ETHS. David was introduced to Y.O.U. at about the same time as his older brother. For both boys, it was a critical time in their social development.

“We helped them try to build their self-esteem and encouraged them to try new things,” Price explains. “Now, they are both much more outgoing socially and more confident within groups of peers.”

Y.O.U. had not launched its after-school program at ETHS when Henry entered as a freshman, but he quickly reconnected when Y.O.U. started the high-school program. Henry appreciates that Y.O.U. staff members treat him and his peers like adults. He says Y.O.U. provides a way for him to get involved, as well as a good atmosphere for studying.

“I like the homework part,” says Henry, whose favorite subject in school is history. “There’s peace and quiet, and I can really concentrate on my homework.… They definitely help with homework, and they give advice. The best advice [Site Coordinator Brian Williams] has given me is to start early when it comes to college and career.”

Henry has taken that advice to heart. A Seventh-day Adventist who is very active in his church, he is well on his way to achieving his goal of becoming a pastor. He is already a deacon and has delivered sermons to other congregations. According to Price, a career that incorporates public speaking is a good fit for Henry, who has a gift for drama and the sort of magnetism that easily commands an audience

Like his older brother, Davidis already focused on his goals beyond high school. He hopes to attend Northwestern University or the University of Illinois at Chicago and go on to medical school. David, whose academic strengths lie in analytical subjects like math, says Y.O.U. helps him stay on task.

Through Y.O.U., David also connected with Chill, a six-week snowboarding program sponsored by Burton Snowboards, which aims to bring snowboarding to kids who otherwise would not have the opportunity. Because he stood out on the slopes and as a leader at Chill, David was later invited to go to Canada, where he snowboarded with other students from across North America and worked with some of the world’s top snowboarders.

Opportunities like Chill, says David, have helped him figure out where he fits in: “They’ve helped me realize that I need to be a leader, and that I should go out and do my own thing, and my true friends will stand by me.”

“Pretty Cool … And Pretty Helpful Too”

Marie S. knows her friends wouldn’t steer her wrong, so when they told her about Y.O.U. shortly after she moved to Evanston from Chicago, she didn’t hesitate. “When they told me they got a program for the kids, I went right away to fill out the application,” she recalls. Two years later, all three of her children are involved with Y.O.U.

“They tell me Jobed’s working very well,” she says. This is encouraging news, because Jobed, Marie’s only son, hasn’t always pursued success at school. Some time ago, he’d never have said, referring to Y.O.U., “They’re pretty cool.” Then, stopping to think a moment, he adds casually, “Pretty helpful too.”

It wasn’t always like that. When Jobed first arrived in Evanston, homework wasn’t his top priority. “Teachers tell me Jobed’s very smart but he never do no homework,” says Marie. “Jobed likes to play. He plays volleyball and golf very well … basketball, football. But Y.O.U. taught him how to do homework.”

Before Jobed started attending Y.O.U. after school, he was having trouble completing assignments and bringing home report cards showing Cs, Ds, and even an occasional F.

“I was slipping a little bit,” he admits. When his mother first told him about Y.O.U., he wasn’t so sure he wanted to go. But once he met the other students and Y.O.U. staff members, Jobed was sold.

Jobed hasn’t abandoned his love for sports – football is his favorite.
He dreams of playing wide receiver for ETHS in a couple of years – but now he manages to find more time for homework. Lately, he’s been getting help after school with science and his favorite subject, math. But even more than the help he gets with homework, he says he just likes hanging out with friends and the Y.O.U staff.

Marie’s youngest child, Melchi, is the latest to give Y.O.U. a try. According to her mother, she is usually up for just about anything, so it’s no surprise she jumped at the chance to get involved at the 21st Century Community Learning Center at Oakton Elementary School.

If Melchi takes after her teenaged sister, Scheba, she’ll still be involved with Y.O.U. when she enters ETHS. Marie says Y.O.U. helped Scheba, her eldest child, with the transition from middle school to high school, where she’s a standout student. “Everything’s so good for her: all B-pluses and A-pluses,” says Marie proudly.

Marie says one of the most important things her children have learned from Y.O.U. is that there are people in the community they can turn to for help. “I support my kids doing whatever they want,” says Marie. “But I can’t help them with homework because I speak French and Creole.”

Marie, who emigrated from Haiti to the United States when she was 25 and taught herself to speak English, never experienced the U.S. educational system firsthand. Her mother, who lives with the family and helps to raise the children, speaks mostly Creole. So Marie says she sometimes relies on Y.O.U. staff members for a connection to the schools and updates on her children’s progress.

Learning Responsibility and Caring: The Darfur Project

Y.O.U. guides young people to learn responsibility for themselves in their own academic skills and social conduct. But our programs also try to give them a broader perspective on the world and to teach them the responsibility of caring about the needs of others.

In the Darfur Project, the Boys’ Group at Nichols Middle School viewed a documentary on the atrocities occurring in Darfur and then attended a seminar at Lake Forest College where two refugees from Darfur spoke about their experiences. After becoming deeply interested in and concerned by what is happening to the people of Darfur, the boys hosted a car wash and sent the proceeds to the Save Darfur Coalition.4

Building Friendships and Community Spirit

Brianna started attending the Y.O.U. program at the Chute Site when she was in sixth grade, after her mother heard about Y.O.U. from another parent. Now at ETHS after five years involved with Y.O.U. activities, she says that being part of Y.O.U. has helped her in several ways, including academics and finding ways to give back to the community.

“It helped me do volunteer work that I would not usually do. And it helped me with my homework,” she says. “My mom’s not home when I get home from school so I have a resource through Y.O.U. The staff helps me.”

Y.O.U. has also given Brianna the opportunities to make more friends and get to know a variety of people. “You get to meet other people,” Brianna explains. “You get to be social with people you wouldn’t talk to at school without Y.O.U.”

Brianna definitely feels she has gained a lot and that the program is a good fit for her. “We are kind of like a little family,” she adds. “I don’t like going home after school. It is a routine. It is in my head. You get out of school and walk to Y.O.U.”

“Way More Than Just Help with Your Homework”

Giovanna started participating in the Y.O.U. program at ETHS as a freshman. “Brian [Williams, the ETHS Site Coordinator] introduced himself at lunch and asked me to get involved,” she explains.

According to Giovanna the program helps her academically, and “really helped me with my homework this last year. I’m not a focused person and Brian would sit me down and help me with my homework.”

But she is also quick to add that Y.O.U. has given her more than just help with her homework.

“It made me more outgoing. It helps you talk to people you go to school with and never thought you would talk to,” she says. “I like Y.O.U. because it is a hang-out spot for kids. You get to hang out with your friends and do different activities. And, we get a chance to contribute our own ideas. There is way more than just help with your homework.”