Youth Leadership Summit

HELLO FROM THE NUL YOUTH LEADERSHIP SUMMIT IN CINCINNATI, OHIO!

After a very early morning we have finally arrived at Xavier University!

Don't let the tired faces fool you! Trecell, Shenella, Natasha, and Xavier are really excited to be flying out so early! ;-)

We left Bradley at 6:30 and arrived in Northern Kentucky just in time for breakfast. Then a quick drive through downtown Cincinnati and we arrived at Xavier University, our home for the next 6 days!



So far we've taken a tour of the campus and checked into our luxe and spacious dorm rooms.



Natasha shows off the chic minimalist decor!

We thoroughly enjoyed our first meal at the dining hall and now have a much better understanding of the term "Freshman Fifteen!"



So much foooooooood!!

Next it's a quick nap before the entire Youth Leadership Summit convenes for the opening exercises! Check back in with us from time to time to see what we're up to!

posted 7/22/14 by Ellen

TUESDAY NIGHT!

The 2014 NUL Youth Leadership Summit has officially begun! Tuesday afternoon the entire group convened for a truly motivational welcome by some of this week's biggest presenters.

We first heard from NUL President and CEO Marc Morial. Mr. Morial quoted one of Langston Hughes' most famous poems, "Mother to Son," by reminding us that "Life ain't no crystal stair." But, he added, despite life's challenges, "You will be great. Each of you will be great."

Naturally the ULGH group had front row seats for the action!

Next Randall Stokes from GE spoke about what we can expect this Friday when we tour GE Aviation! Mr. Stokes compared the NUL to a jet engine. According to Mr. Stokes, a jet engine works by sucking air into a combustion chamber and creating a spark. That spark in turn, creates the thrust which gives the engine the power to lift and propel the jet through the air (this may be an oversimplified explanation of how a jet engine works!). So too with the NUL! Students get drawn into the programming and something changes! That spark is ignited and those students change and develop and can produce something incredible....like a winning Case Competition entry!!

We were also welcomed by Dr. Scott Chadwick, the Xavier University Vice Provost, and Richard Dyer, the President and General Manager of WLWT Channel 5 and a board member of the Urban League of Greater Cincinnati. Mr. Dyer encouraged us to build a strong foundation of preparation because great things happen with a prepared person meets opportunity!

Our first plenary and breakout session was presented by Joel Diaz, the Education Associate at the New York Public Library Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. In this session we discussed some common themes in popular music over the past 40 years, including addiction, violence, and uncertainty. Amazingly we found that a lot of these themes have remained consistent over the years!

Miss, I can't even process things anymore!

After dinner we realized just how tired we all were!  But the night was far from over!First we were interviewed about the Case Competition.  We were asked questions such as why this competition is important to us, why we chose our theme of underemployment, and how we produced our project.  Despite being completely exhausted,  we gave stellar answers; ULGH would be proud!

We finally got a chance to do a dress rehearsal for the Case Competition around 10! This made Wednesday's presentation all that much more real for us!  We also got the chance to size up our competitors which produced both feelings of anxiousness and confidence!

Tired but still smiling!

We finally got to bed around 11:30 after having been awake since 3:30 in the morning!  It was a long day but an exciting one!

WEDNESDAY!  CASE COMPETITION DAY!

Wednesday morning came very quick!  The ULGH team met over breakfast to discuss our rehearsal and run through the script one last time.  All in all we felt pretty good about it!

The morning plenary and break out session was Project Wellness: Teens hosted by Cenpatico.  In this session we listened to a panel of experts discuss how out health, minds, and bodies connect and what it means to achieve personal wellness.

Trecell and Chris Chmielewski, the founder of 'Foster Focus Magazine.'

The ULGH team and 'Hall of Famer' Darrell Green

  During the breakout sessions we had the opportunity to meet two of our panelists, Darrell Green, of the Washington Redskins and  Chris Chmielewski, the founder of 'Foster Focus Magazine.'

Next it was a short lunch and time to get ready for the Case Competition!  Once we were dressed and ready to go it was a matter of hurry up and wait to perform!  Waiting didn't help our nerves so we passed the time by playing 'Head's Up.'

Xavi.....Dr. Arriaga is ready to go!

The lovely ladies of the ULGH!

Our performance was excellent despite our nerves and a few minor mistakes that no one but us would recognize!  Following the performance there was another brief onstage interview which, naturally, we aced!  It was a huge relief to finally have our performance over with.  Now we just have to wait until Saturday to hear the results!  Since our performance we have heard a lot of very positive feedback from everyone!

After our performance things got a little silly!

Something looks very different from that previous picture.....!

After the case competition we enjoyed the keynote dinner and an excellent speech by David J. Johns, the Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans.  Mr. Johns' speech was truly incredible; everyone was riveted!  Following his speech we had the opportunity to meet Mr. Johns and invite him to visit us in Hartford.

Shenella, Xavier, and Natasha meet David J. Johns, Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans.

The night was far from over!  After dinner the entire Youth Leadership Summit was bussed over to the NUL Conference at the Duke Energy Center in downtown Cincinnati.  First we heard the NUL Mass Choir; it was impossible to stay seated for their performance.  Then we listened to NUL President and CEO Marc Morial give the keynote speech on the State of the Urban League.  At the end of the evening we had the opportunity to connect with ULGH CEO Ms. Cochrane for congratulations and a photo op.

THURSDAY: THE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI

Thursday was our first chance in a few days to really explore Cincinnati outside of the Xavier University campus.  Right after breakfast we boarded the buses for the University of Cincinnati, a campus that is huge in comparison to Xavier!  In fact, there is a football stadium right in the middle of it!

Our morning began with a quick video, "Shift Happens", highlighting the impact of technology on daily life and how the United States compares to the rest of the world in terms of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education.  We next listened to a panel discussion on the future of STEM education in the United States.  After the panel we broke out into a series of STEM workshops.  Shenella and Trecell attended a workshop hosted by the Best Buy Geek Squad on Digital photography.  In this workshop they learned how to use a simple flashlight and a digital camera, like the ones on your cellphone, to 'write' with light.

Natasha and Xavier worked with three other students from other affiliates on the Ice Cube Challenge.  In this challenge they had to use a cardboard box, parchment paper, aluminum foil, newspaper, and other resources to construct a simple refrigerator to keep an ice cube from melting too much.  Their team, Da Crew, won!

Ellen and the other chaperones had an opportunity to meet with Dr. Bradford Mallory and Ken Simonson, both of the University of Cincinnati to discuss college access and some of the challenges facing our students enrolled in Project  Ready programming, particularly in the context of STEM education.

After lunch we returned to our STEM workshops.  Shenella and Trecell got the opportunity to program robots to follow a particular path, while Natasha and Xavier played with simple circuitry using LED lights and batteries.

At 3 the entire group reconvened for a Q&A session with some current UC students and staff members and then took a tour of the UC campus.  Our tour ended at the African American Cultural Resource Center where we learned about the events, organizations, and resources available to UC students.

Natasha and Trecell at the AACRC

After our tour we enjoyed a jazz presentation by Jazz @ Lincoln Center.  This event included a live performance and an interactive team challenge in which we worked in small groups to create our own version of the jazz classic, "When the Saints Go Marching In."  Trecell, Natasha, and Ellen created a slowed down version mixed with a little bachata spice!  We had fun with it but our peers amazed us with their creativity and vocal stylings!

Jazz @ Lincoln Center

A quick dinner at UC and we got back on the buses to return to XU.  Finally, after a long week we had some down time to get to know our peers from other affiliates.  Most of us decided to mingle outside in the quad where we could talk, play board games, and toss a football around.

Hey look who we finally captured on film!

FRIDAY: STEM Rising at GE Aviation

Today was one of our earliest days yet! We had to be up and on the buses by 7:00 to travel to GE Aviation in Evendale, OH for STEM Rising: Uplifting STEM Learning through Aviation. This was one of the days that we were most excited for all week! Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take any pictures of the day’s events (in fact we had to leave all of our phones with our chaperones for the entire day) but GE Aviation posted a few pictures on their Twitter account which we have borrowed!

Even though it was an early morning we woke up quickly thanks to the help of our amazing keynote speaker, Dr. Calvin Mackie. His very energetic speech focused on going after the dreams that you had as a small child and the importance of dream building and goal setting for our futures. 

Dr. Calvin Mackie presents a keynote energetic enough to make us take notes!

As a teenager Dr. Mackie had dreams of being in the NBA. Unfortunately he injured his arm badly which ruined his chances of ever playing professionally. This defining moment proved to him that he needed to make some very critical choices with his life. “When you realize the race left you, you’ve got two choices. You either run fast or quit.” Dr. Mackie’s speech was incredibly motivating and really made an impression on all of us. A quote that stuck with Trecell was, “The greatest tragedy in life is when you meet the man and woman you could have been.”

Following the keynote we rotated through 4 different workshops based upon the STEM Model (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).

For Science we explored the physics of flight and drone operation by flying real remote controlled drones. For this activity we took turns trying to fly a drone, which operated much like a helicopter, from the top of one table to the top of another table approximately 20 feet away. It was much harder than we expected. Most of the drones ended up crashing into the grass and many collided with helpless bystanders!

With Technology we investigated innovations in aerospace technology. This included the opportunity to manipulate engine components, try an aircraft simulator, and learn about GE’s history with building aircraft engines. One of the highlights of this session were the 3D printers which were printing chess pieces, tea cups, and geometrical balls!

Finally, the Math workshop was an exercise in air traffic control! For this activity we were given math problems modeled after those that air traffic controllers have to work with every day! They were challenging but it was really interesting to think that our calculations are actually very relevant and necessary in the real world!

It was a long day at GE Aviation, in which we expended a lot of brainpower, but we had a great time. In fact, Xavier commented that this experience has made him really reconsider pursuing a career in a STEM field!

At the end of the day the entire group posed for a picture with our hosts at GE Aviation.

Friday night was one of our first chances to really let loose. This was the first of our Thinkfast Challenges. Thinkfast Challenge is a large scale team trivia game played with remote controls. The questions ranged from topics such as popular movies, television, and music to facts about HBCUs and the NUL. There were even a few throwback questions to the relief of the chaperones! 

Ready for the Thinkfast Challenge!

This was our first experience with Thinkfast, so we were a little rusty and didn't score too well. Despite this we had a great time and are looking forward to redeeming ourselves at the Saturday night Thinkfast Challenge!

SATURDAY: A Legacy of Youth Success

Saturday morning came bright and early and we were up and running again!  First on our agenda was the 2014 Project Ready Invitational College Fair back at the NUL Convention in downtown Cincinnati.   The college fair was held in the exhibit hall at the Duke Energy Convention Center.  We had the opportunity to meet with representatives from over 40 college and universities, as well as the military and various scholarship and financial aid programs.  

Learning about Alabama A&M University

We talked to representatives from Auburn, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Harvey Mudd, Howard, Kentucky, Louisville, and Ohio State to name just a few!  Once we had visited the colleges we were interested in, we had the opportunity to explore the rest of the exhibits.

Touring the exhibits and walking the red carpet!

After the college fair we traveled back to Xavier University for the Legacy of Success Luncheon and Awards Ceremony.  As part of the luncheon we were seated with an influential young professional named Laura so that we could talk to her about her experiences in college, in the working world and, of course, do some networking.  Laura shared her knowledge of college and talked at length about what she liked best about working at GE Aviation. 

Finally it was time to announce the winners of the 2014 YLS Case Competition.  The suspense had been killing us!  There were several awards presented for longevity and service to the Urban League and then our results!  We were very proud to place as 2nd runners up!!  Each of us won a beautiful glass trophy and a pair of powerbeats headphones.  Overall our team received very high scores for the content we incorporated into our presentation.

2nd Runners Up!  

Celebrating our win!

Our trophy! 

Immediately after the luncheon we were back on the buses to visit the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati.  Historically, Ohio was a free state while Kentucky was a slave state.  Cincinnati’s proximity to northern Kentucky, just across the Ohio River, meant that Cincinnati was a landing spot for many American slaves who followed the Underground Railroad during their journey to freedom in the north.  

The view across the Ohio River at Kentucky

While visiting the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center we toured many exhibits which included a beautiful autobiographical quilt made out of found materials, an authentic cabin that once housed enslaved African Americans, a mural by author/illustrator Tom Feelings, and artwork depicting various Civil Rights icons that had been constructed out of soda cans!  

A mural by the author/illustrator Tom Feelings from his book, The Middle Passage.

A handmade autobiographical quilt

A portrait of Emmett Till constructed out of soda cans!

Finally we watched a stage presentation that featured African music and dance and several vignettes about different experiences in the Civil Rights movement.  Our time at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center was brief but powerful.

We returned to Xavier University for dinner and our last official event of the YLS, another ThinkFast Challenge and a dance and open gym celebrating our week.  This time we did much better at ThinkFast, placing 13th out of 40 teams!  After the challenge a dance floor was set up and the Xavier practice gyms were opened up for basketball.

Tomorrow we’ll have our last breakfast at Xavier University, say goodbye to all of our new friends, pack up our things, and fly back home.  All in all it has been an incredible (and exhausting) week!  

We’re already excited for the 2015 YLS in Fort Lauderdale!