JA Fellows - Third year's a charm

Thursday night was the JA Fellows Awards Ceremony, the culminating event of the 2008-2009 program year. I have had the honor of working with this program over the past three years and helping it to grow from 115 students in 2007 to 220 students in 2009. The video above includes some highlights from the JA Fellows Expo that took place on April 18. The Expo is the day that all companies compete and display their accomplishments throughout the year and it was an awesome event.

At the Awards Ceremony on Thursday, we honored all of the students in the program who represent 15 JA Fellows Companies and awarded prizes to the individuals and companies who won awards from the JA Fellows Expo. Together, these students earned over $30,000 in sales over the course of 16 weeks, from October 2008 to March 2009. As if it is not enough for high school students to have started 15 companies and sold $30,000 worth of products in such a short time period, it is also important to note that these students accomplished all of this during the worst economic climate of our lifetimes. It is an exceptional feat!

Beyond the particulars of these students' collective successes, it has been a real joy to watch individual students grow and learn throughout their involvement as JA Fellows. Students deal with many obstacles from communication to motivation to personal challenges, and still they persevere to achieve great things. I have been priviledged to develop personal, and hopefully lasting, relationships with students and their families throughout my three years with the JA Fellows. Working with these students has brought me great joy and personal fulfillment and I am grateful to all of them and to Junior Achievement for providing me the opportunity to develop this important program. The successes of the JA Fellows could not have been possible without the efforts of many people: JA Staff - Sunil, Joy, Laura, Jack and many others, JA volunteers, JA Board Members, and the financial/volunteer support of many individuals, organizations, and corporations.

My work at JA has helped me to see that I have a passion for empowering others through education and economic development and I will be applying that passion in new ways while in Guatemala. I will also be using some of the products that our JA Fellows created this year! When I visited Edd in March, I took a Project My World bag, thinking that he could use its convenient size and toting ability. It was a huge hit and people have asked that I bring more back when I return. I also have my JUMP bracelet and my Twelve Fingers water bottle to take with me. Information about the 2008-2009 JA Fellows companies is here http://www.jafellows.com/companies.

Until June, you can also vote in the first ever JA Fellows Video Challenge! This contest highlights three videos that our JA Fellows created this year about their experiences: http://www.jafellows.com/video-challenge/.

I am exploring the possibility of having students from the school in SMT participate in the JA Company Program themselves once I am there. If it will work, you'll be sure to hear about it here!

Thank you to all the students, families, friends and supporters of the JA Fellows who have enriched my life over these last three years. I am extremely grateful.

Big step

One of the hardest parts about leaving Atlanta is ending my formal relationship with my Little Brother, Sergio. We have been matched through Big Brothers Big Sisters since 2004 and it has been awesome. Initially, I wanted to be paired with a 12-year-old girl (who doesn't love awkward adolescence?) but I ended up with a 7-year-old boy. Normally, they do not make cross gender matches but because there are so many more boys to match and less male mentors, they sometimes make exceptions. It has turned out to be a really great match for both of us. Now Sergio is 12 and about to finish his 6th grade year.

I'm extremely excited and relieved that my friend Clay has volunteered to take over as Sergio's Big Brother. BBBS has approved the new match so they are undergoing the process of making things official. I think it's a great time in Sergio's life to transition to a male role model and I couldn't think of a better person to be matched with Sergio now. Clay has taken us rock climbing a few times and it quickly became Sergio's favorite activity we've done together. This kid has no fear of climbing walls and Clay will continue to encourage him to take risks and try new things. Other friends in Atlanta have also become close to Sergio so I know I'm not only leaving him in Clay's care but the care of Yves, Tina, Bruce and others. I'll be excited to hear about everything when I'm in Guatemala!

Sergio and his whole family have become very important to me and I know that I will stay in touch with them for a long, long time. Here are some photos of Sergio and me throughout our years together. Note that both Sergio and I have had some significant transformations with hairstyles these last few years:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lifeisforlivingguatemala/sets/72157617019868667/

If you are interested in learning more about Big Brothers Big Sisters in Atlanta and finding your own awesome Little, please visit www.bbbsatl.org. To become a Big in your area, visit www.bbbs.org.

Yard Sale!

Have you ever decided on a Tuesday that you're going to sell as many of your belongings as possible on Saturday? If not, I suggest giving it a try sometime. The awesome feelings of parting with things you haven't used in years are truly cathartic.

Allow me to walk you through my evening. I started by thinking I would just empty one closet of things I knew I wanted to sell. But after one closet, I was hooked. I got things out from under the bed, the deep recesses of my closet, boxes on the top shelf near the attic...I couldn't stop once I started. In fact, it became rewarding for me to see how much STUFF I could pile on the kitchen table and chairs. I'm not going to lie - I impressed myself.

By the time I was about half-way to my first photo here (and consistently tripping past the picnic cooler), I realized that I would not be able to sort through all of this by myself. I called in reinforcements and along came Phil and Kyle to sort through my crap and arbitrarily assign monetary value to it. This is also a suggestion I have for future yard-salers: have people who have never seen your stuff price it. They don't care that you paid $30 for that bowl - it's ugly and should sell for $4. Maybe.

Four carloads later, many of my belongings were at Allyson's house and proudly displayed for all of Kirkwood and East Atlanta. I went home with money in my pocket, significantly less stuff and a carload of donations. One step closer!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

I have recently decided to move to Guatemala in June with my friend Edd to work in Santa Maria Tzeja (SMT). SMT is an indigenous community of about 1,200 people located in the Department of Quiché in northwestern Guatemala. Santa Maria Tzeja was sadly centered in the violence of the Guatemalan Civil War, lasting from 1960 to 1996. After the war, the community has rebuilt itself with a strong foundation in education and community cooperation.

The community is dedicated to continuing to grow and develop. Edd is teaching English in fourth to ninth grades and I have the opportunity to help the community build economic development projects. I'll also get to be back in the classroom working with Edd and having children give me lots of high fives. I am very excited about this work as I want to continue my career in international nonprofit work specifically focused on economic development and education.

We'll be updating this blog regularly to keep friends and supporters up to speed on SMT life so check back to see what's new!