I was introduced to Elevate and immediately felt connected to their mission. Growing up, my home life was dysfunctional, but I was very lucky to have had a village of people outside of my family that guided me when my parents could not. I will forever be grateful to those people who gave so much time and attention to me. I have a blessed life today and I owe it to those who have invested in me as mentors over the years.

I was a guest co-teacher for one of their classes and I walked away from that experience, relating so much to these incredible teens, and wanting to see how I can help them achieve their personal goals. What I find most exciting about their structure is that the high schoolers are taught the class and then the teachers help them teach the class to the middle schoolers. This opportunity for the students to develop their communication and relationship skills by owning the subject matter is genius in my opinion!

Since the class experience, I have been working with Elevate on ideas to keep the students engaged during virtual learning and through the past summer break. Since the Elevate employees are male, there was a need for an outlet for the female students; we came up with Girl Talk where I got to spend time with the young women. It is a mix of class topics, but also just getting to know each other and going on fun group activities. Giving my time to this organization these past couple of years has strengthened my belief that we adults have so much to give our youth, but also, the more we give, the more we ourselves get from those teens and our connections with them. Elevate is a great example of the people of St. Louis coming together to help each other grow together.

****I am currently a proud board member and we are working on a plan to bring in enough funds to hire a second teacher. Please give if you can - this organization is rooted in strong relationships, so paid teachers are crucial to its success!****