Starbucks and YV Team up at Woodson High School

Before coming to Youth Venture, I taught middle school and high school English in the Baltimore City Public School System. This week, when I learned that I would be able to participate in YV's social entrepreneurship class at Woodson High School, I was beyond excited to get back in the classroom. On Wednesday, three YV staff and three Starbucks store managers joined a business class at Woodson High School where Melissa led the class in a discussion of social entrepreneurship. What is it? How do we as budding entrepreneurs distill our core characteristics and--most importantly--how do we translate those characteristics into real solutions to problems in our community?

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Each YV staff person and Starbucks employee teamed up with a group of students to begin to answer those questions. In my group was a student named David. David's passion was boxing. From the time he was five, David explained, he's taken to the punching bag when he was angry rather than let that anger spill into other arenas. Now a competitive boxer, he travels the country competing and sees real potential for a career in the sport. He spoke with confidence and enthusiasm as he explained the benefits of boxing and his excitement for his future. His enthusiasm was infectious.

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As we talked about the issues facing students at Woodson, I saw the wheels start to turn in David's mind as he envisioned how he could use boxing as a tool to teach conflict resolution and anger management to fellow students or youth in the community. Next week we'll return to the classroom to begin putting our ideas on paper, and I couldn't be more excited to see what David and his classmates develop.

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Although the questions we asked were not new to me, I realized that I began to see them in new ways as I worked through them with the students. So I ask of you what I've been asking of myself--What is your unrelenting passion? And where does your passion meet one of the world's greatest needs? No idea is to big or too small. The important thing is to make that idea a reality.