Video From 2019 Pave the Path Youth Leaders Summit

This short video will give you a feel for the Pave the Path Summit. And that feel is “Exciting and Promising”!

Sequoyah Huguley - Young Visionary Starter Grant Winner

Say hello to Sequoyah Huguley, one of the seven winners of a Young Visionaries Starter Grant at the 2019 Pave the Path.

Sequoyah Huguley

Sequoyah’s story starts with a twist. One of the more enthusiastic participants at the 2019 Pave the Path, she had to leave a bit early for work - so she missed the time when people pitched project ideas for starter grants. But she emailed later and asked if she could still apply. We said “Yes!” and were totally impressed with her idea, application, and initiative. So, she won a $200 starter grant.

Sequoyah is a sophomore at South Side High School. Her project envisions helping the high schoolers (starting at South Side) whose families are unable to afford some of the basics like clothing (socks, hats, coats, and so forth) and healthy food or snacks. Living with makeshift clothing and being hungry can be major stressors for young people - and affect the way they learn and grow. Sequoyah envisioned building a space at South Side where she could house items for students in need, and then expanding to other schools.

And she got off to an amazing start. On the day when we delivered her check, South Side’s principal joined us in the office and announced that he had reserved a space for Sequoyah’s Young Visionaries project!

Sequoyah Huguley and South Side HS Principal Adam Swinford

Only a few days later things started to accelerate once again. As Sequoyah says, “Then today I had a meeting with other students from my school, I told them my vision and they loved it they came up with lots of cool ideas and they told me that they would help me decorate the room. Four hours later we have already 15 people who want to donate to my vision. I am so grateful and happy.”

Add a couple of weeks after that, and the room is now fully prepped, ready to receive donations, and primed to get to work helping students! From idea to launch in a VERY short amount of time. That, readers, is how a Young Visionary LEADS!

Now we need your help! She'll need plenty of clothing items and healthy shelf-stable food - or even more funding to help some worthy students out. To donate and help Sequoyah’s worthy cause, email Steve Franks at Believe In A Dream at steve@biadinc.org.

This post was originally published at wepavethepath.org.

Meet Young Visionary Cheyenne Moss

Cheyenne Moss

Cheyenne is one of Believe In A Dream's 2019 Young Visionaries Fellowship winners. She was one of the 5 who were rewarded with a $1,000 grant to pursue a project to make her community a better place!

Cheyenne is a junior attending New Tech Academy at Wayne High School. Her hobbies include working out, bowling, and road trips. Even though she is the life of the party, she is also a businesswoman running her own business being the brand HER by Chey LLC. She says, “If it weren’t for Steve Franks, Jeff Roberts and other Pave the Path mentors, I’m not sure that I would have believed in myself enough to follow this dream.”

Through Pave the Path, she has comprehended the importance of individualization. She has attended all the Pave the Path summits that have been held and from each one she has learned that most of the people she has met became successful by sticking to their path. She is beyond grateful to have the opportunity to be a Pave the Path member because by being in Pave the Path she is inspired to wake up every day to be someone that somebody looks up to. In fact, Cheyenne was profiled as Pave the Path February Leader of the Month!

In her future she hopes to attend a four-year University where she will study a major in Business Administration with a minor in Marketing. Once she has received her bachelor’s degree, she will pursue her dream of being a basketball event coordinator. She also plans on starting her own beauty salon and barber shop where she will grant felons a second chance at employment and career training.

After that is all said and done, she will give back to the youth who has been through the foster care system by opening a non-profit organization that educates them on life necessities such as paying bills, keeping good credit, buying a home, filling out job applications and etc.

She is highly inspired by every person who has been through tough situations emotionally, mentally, physically and financially. She says,” There are times when I face small hardships and I feel like giving up, but because of those amazing individuals who have been through hell and back, and still saw the peak of the mountain, I will never give up!”

by Jonathon McCullough

Introducing Jonathon, Believe In A Dream's New Intern

Jonathon McCullough in front of Theoplis Smith’s mural at The Friendly Fox

Please join us in welcoming Believe In A Dream’s new entrepreneurship intern, Jonathon McCullough! He’ll be working with entrepreneurship program manager Steve Franks to produce Believe In A Dream’s web assets, programming, and help with the Pave the Path Youth Leaders Summit.

A junior at Snider High School, Jonathon was born and raised in Fort Wayne. He has lived his entire life in the same house by Lane Middle School. Coincidentally, he played percussion in Lane’s band under the direction of Believe In A Dream’s Colleen Patrick Phillips. He continues to play, but now on a family friendly electronic drum set with headphones.

Jonathon has participated in all of the Pave the Path Youth Leader Summits that have been produced by nonprofit’s 4WARD and Believe In A Dream. Happy to have been selected to participate in 2018, Jonathon found he loved the connections, mentorship, and real life interactions with other students.

He came back to the 2019 summit as a volunteer to help “give new members the same I experience I had” and to be “a walking example” for the new students. We can testify he was indeed that example. The workshop leaders were all asked to pick students who contributed well to the summit to receive recognition. Even though as a volunteer he wasn’t eligible to win, Jonathon was picked more than once!

A football player since 6th grade at Lane, he has been played as a cornerback, receiver, and this year was in Snider’s rotation as a free safety. Next year he will start as free safety for the Panthers! He plans to study criminal justice (his father is in law enforcement) and play football in college. Jonathon is scouting colleges, so - universities get those scholarship offers ready for a true leader on and off the field!

Welcome, Jonathon McCullough!  It’s great to have you on board!