Newsletters

FALL 2011 NEWSLETTER

BRYC Retreat – Youth Government

In September, nearly 50 Fellows and staff bonded over a weekend retreat at the Feliciana Retreat Center. From Friday to Sunday, Fellows swam and canoed, shared life stories, completed a challenge course and trust falls, and stayed up past midnight writing the BRYC Constitution! Now, with 8 elected BRYC student-leaders, BRYC’s youth government meets weekly to plan program, advocate for student needs, and build an increasingly youth-led culture in BRYC. BRYC officially launched its 2011-2012 after school program on Wednesday, August 31, 2011. More than 100 participants—Fellows, families, and mentors—came to Orientation at Mentorship Academy in downtown Baton Rouge. This year, due to BRYC’s ongoing expansion, we have partnered with Mentorship Academy and are holding our program on the downtown campus. BRYC Fellows meet at Mentorship (M-Th evenings) for ACT class and Leadership Team program.

Fellow Spotlight

Elizabeth Cheri is a senior at Parkview Baptist High School and currently serves as the Vice President of her senior class and the Vice President of the Spanish Club. She works the concession stand at Parkview Baptist Church and regularly volunteers at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital. In her spare time, she enjoys listening to music, hanging with her friends and family and reading books by her favorite author, Nicholas Sparks. Elizabeth was recently honored by Governor Bobby Jindal and awarded a scholarship from the Baton Rouge State Fair.

Quote: “BRYC has been very instrumental in helping me to become a better student and helping me to achieve the things that I never could on my own.”

Parent Spotlight

April Hawthorne is the mother of BRYC Fellow, Ke’Gan Taylor. She works for the Louisiana State Legislature as the Legislative Assistant to Senator Sharon Weston Broome. She has assisted BRYC by procuring donations from Whole Foods, Buffalo Wild Wings and other vendors. In her free time, April enjoys reading the Bible, current events, history, philosophy and non-fiction. She also enjoys spending time with her family & friends, running marathons, traveling to national parks and shopping.

Quote: “As a single parent, it is my responsibility to train Ke’Gan up in the way she should go, but the support of the BRYC leadership & staff makes my job a lot lighter. I support BRYC because it mentors and prepares students for college success. BRYC also challenges Ke’Gan to be a critical thinker, problem-solver, and leader of the future. I am a proud parent of BRYC!”

Atlanta College Tour

From October 14-17, 25 upperclassmen Fellows toured seven colleges across the Southeast: University of Alabama-Birmingham, Georgia Tech, Morehouse College, Spellman College, Clark-Atlanta University, Emory University, and Auburn University. Staying on Georgia Tech’s and Auburn’s campuses for those three nights and visiting classes by day, Fellows gained valuable insight into what kind of atmosphere they desire in college. We even had BRYC alums leading the tours of Morehouse and Spellman, and giving the “real deal” versions of college life on their campuses.

In addition to collegiate activities, Fellows experienced downtown Atlanta, dinner and a laser show at Stone Mountain, and watched the live dedication of Martin Luther King Jr.’s memorial in Washington, D.C. from his gravesite at the MLK Historic Center in Atlanta.

Parent Committee

Thanks to the efforts of BRYC’s Youth and Family Advocate Darlene Shaffer, our Parent Committee has made tremendous strides this year. Parents continue to support BRYC Fellows for all our meals and have successfully solicited donations from Whole Foods, Coca-Cola, Buffalo Wild Wings, Piggly Wiggly, and Walgreens. Special thank you to parents April Hawthorne and Joyce Rogers for all your efforts on this front.

In early October, BRYC’s parent-led raffle fundraiser raised more than $2,500 to support BRYC programs. They are already planning their second fundraiser, a chocolate sale, for December. Special thank you to parent Sheri Dotch for leading the charge on BRYC fundraising.

Better Baton Rouge – YOUth World Workshop

Anna Penido from Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative collaborated with BRYC to bring her You^th World Workshop to Baton Rouge. The You^th World Workshop is a 30-hour interaction process designed to engage young people in a very in-depth conversation about how they can contribute to reduce inequalities in their cities and how adults can enable them and collaborate with them in this direction. This past summer, Anna travelled to cities in Bangladesh, France, Mexico and South Africa to train facilitators and launch her original project.

In October Anna came to Baton Rouge and over the four-day workshop, five BRYC Fellows produced their own original video based on of their stories and observations of our city and its relationship with young people from all backgrounds. The angles students took and the issues they raised were entirely their own and emerged from workshop conversations.

Star Hill Baptist Congregation Pastor Raymond Jetson spent last year at Harvard University in their Advanced Leadership Initiative. There he convinced a number of his colleagues that Baton Rouge is a city both in need of their attention and ready for transformation. Last November, his colleagues convened here and the Better Baton Rouge Initiative was born. Friday, BRYC Fellows launched the “Youth Cluster” of Better Baton Rouge and released this short video: BRYC Fellows: How Young People Can Transform Our City.

Thank you, Pastor Jetson, for your sponsorship of this invaluable project and believing in our youth. The hope is that this video will bring young people into the Better Baton Rouge movement through the newly created Youth-Adult Alliance and serve as a catalyst for wider changes our city needs.

Chief Academic and Program Officer

We are thrilled to share with you the arrival of BRYC’s first Chief Academic and Program Officer. Will Minton joined our staff this summer and brings tremendous knowledge and experiences to BRYC. Originally from the Pittsburgh region, Will arrived in Baton Rouge in fall of 2008 after teaching middle school math for two years in the South Bronx with Teach for America (TFA).

After serving as Policy Analyst at the Baton Rouge Area Chamber (BRAC) for two years, Will joined the Big Buddy Program’s senior staff as the Arts and Leadership Institute Manager in 2010. In this capacity Will oversaw WordPlay Teen Writing Project and Teens as Leaders. Given his experiences, determination, commitment to high expectations, and proven ability to coordinate large-scale programs, and develop relationships with students, Teach for America and community partners, Will is a tremendous asset to BRYC and will help ensure our growth for years to come.