Inspiration

INSPIRATION comes to all of us from many different places.
So what inspired ME to become dedicated to The Summer Search program that challenges low-income, severely disadvantaged, high school students to develop character and leadership? My mom.

When I was 7, we moved back to the US from overseas to McLean, VA, where I attended our local public school. I became friends with an African American classmate named Brad. Brad was the only child of a single mother who regarded school as simply the building across the street where your child could stay while you went off to work to pay the rent.

Brad was quietly ushered from one grade to the next but in fifth grade it came as a surprise that he could not read. Just another young African American boy destined to fail. You have to remember that in the 1960’s, there were very few services offered for kids struggling in school.

One day I was walking by a classroom and there was my mother sitting with him alone. I was stunned because this had never been spoken about at home. Not only did she teach him to read, but through her help and encouragement he learned to believe in himself, which gave him the confidence to complete high school and even go on to college.

I have since learned that when a young person goes to college, it changes not only them but their children who are 70% more likely to go to college than if a parent had not done so. That investment in an individual creates a change that affects generations.

I had somehow forgotten this aspect of my mother until I began to get involved with the Summer Search program. It may have lain dormant for four decades but my mom’s selfless example of what is valuable in life is now guiding my own actions in ways that I am extremely proud of.

Investing in kids, one student at a time is what Summer Search is all about. Through their Summer Search experience, with a lot of hard work that is mentally and often physically challenging, they emerge hopeful, independent, proud, motivated and forever changed. 93% of our Summer Search kids go off to college and a staggering 87% graduate----this figure is not duplicated by any other youth development program.

As a Board member and volunteer, I have found work that is personally and professionally extremely rewarding and inspiring.
And best of all, I hope my children will follow my example, the way I have followed my mom’s.