Why we should place our hope in young people, now more than ever

             

I recently attended the annual LAMP (Leadership, Achievement, Management, Professionalism) Mentor Scholarship Luncheon sponsored by the Gamma Zeta Boulé Foundation.  The Foundation is a subsidiary of the Gamma Zeta Boulé (Chapter) of the Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, the oldest African American Fraternity in the nation. Founded in 1904 to serve adult male professionals, its roster includes such notables as W.E.B. Du Bois, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Vernon Jordan, Arthur Ashe, Ambassador Ralph Bunche, former Atlanta Mayor, Andrew Young and former Attorney General, Eric Holder. Gamma Zeta Boulé was founded here in Pasadena in 1984. The GZB Foundation, which was set up in 1998, has as its special mission, the development of young men during their high school years in order to better prepare them for higher education. The cohort meets once a month throughout the academic year at various locations in and around Pasadena (including La Salle). The young men are exposed to a variety of opportunities to explore the world they might want to occupy after college. At the end of their senior year, the Foundation hosts a luncheon in which a variety of scholarships are awarded to the participants. I was pleased to applaud three La Salle seniors – Angelo LeRoi, Myles Bailey and Rodney Wagner – who were awarded scholarships (more than one for each of them).

              As I sat in the packed dining room of the University Club, it occurred to me that there is a great synergy between the goals of GZB Foundation (as well as the Boulé which sponsors it) and the aspirations of La Salle’s Mission Statement. We like to summarize our Mission by highlighting its four main values:

·       NURTURING THE TALENTS OF EACH STUDENT

·       INSPIRING IN STUDENTS A SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR OTHERS

·       CHALLENGING STUDENTS TO EMBRACE DIVERSITY

·       MOTIVATING OUR STUDENTS TO RESPOND COMPASSIONATELY TO THE NEEDS OF OTHERS, ESPECIALLY THE POOR.

The event’s program contained brief resumés of each honoree. Here’s what I noticed:

ü  Each young man brought athletic, artistic, community and/or co-curricular talents to his high school experience

ü  Each young man engaged in direct involvement in activities which encouraged his high school peers to take responsibility for those around them (school, church, local community)

ü  Each young man experienced some level of diversity within the context of his high school experience (La Salle, Flintridge Prep, Maranatha, La Canada, Marshall Fundamental and San Dimas)

ü  Each young man could cite his significant engagement with service to the poor and marginalized

It was this latter characteristic which particularly struck me. At La Salle, we take great pride in the depth and breadth of the service opportunities which our students encounter over the course of their four years with us. I had generally assumed that, while all Pasadena-area private high schools expect some engagement with community service, at La Salle, it is built into the school’s DNA. And, while I still believe that to be true, I was gratified to learn that an impressive organization like GZB Foundation prizes this component above all other criteria by which they encourage and honor the next generation of young men who they expect to be adults imbued with passion, commitment, integrity and service.

              So, as I left this remarkably encouraging moment to celebrate the potential of these young men to shape the future of a world that we tired and – sometimes discouraged - adults often despair of evolving into a better place – a place La Salle’s Mission espouses – realizing that none of us do this alone. Parents, teachers, school administrators and – equally importantly – community organizations such as Gamma Zeta Boulé – recognize that, as the delightful guest speaker so beautifully articulated (with visuals):

You can easily break a single toothpick…try, as you might, for as long as you might, you can’t break a bundle of them.

As I left the event, I came away with a wonderfully encouraging message from Gamma Zeta Boulé: together, we make a difference – but it must be a “long game.”  Not a bad way in which to breathe a sigh of relief that a busy year is behind us; but more importantly, to remind ourselves that what we do to encourage our young people to achieve their potential matters.