Empowering the Youth, Saving the World, and Battling Desensitization: Reflections from my Volunteer Work in Youth Leadership
Itโs no secret that my road to the Fellowship came with its twists and turns โ I changed my major about four times, settled on a different career path every few months all throughout college, and ended undergrad with what felt like more uncertainty than I began with. With nearly enough ambiguity to completely drown me in anxiety, itโs no surprise that when something felt constant and certain, I held on to it tightly. Namely, that thing was my passion for youth leadership. If I knew nothing else, I knew that I cared about young people and that I believed deeply in their capacity to create positive social change.
A sudden inspiration to โsave the worldโ is a temporary feeling... but a decision to solve a problem is the beginning of the ripple effect that leads to a lifelong commitment to social impact.
In 2018, Hugh OโBrian Youth Leadership (HOBY), an organization committed to empowering young people to lead lives dedicated to service and social change, entirely altered the trajectory of my life and has since taught me more than any educational institution ever could. In fact, when Iโve been asked what I feel made me qualified for the fellowship (and to work in social impact in general), my answer has always been some form of โI think it was less my education and more my volunteer work with HOBY.โย
At 16, HOBY instilled in me the semi-absurd idea that I could change the world. At 20, it gave me space to apply what I was learning in my sociology classes as I developed identity-based programming for students at Kentuckyโs local leadership seminar. At 22, it challenged me to understand Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) in a global context as I spearheaded the development of identity-based learning opportunities at HOBYโs international program, the World Leadership Congress.ย
At 23, Iโm writing about it in a blog post because it continues to be a source of growth and grounding, informing how I operate as an FAO Schwarz Fellow, and in life. Iโd like to use this as an opportunity to share a few of the lessons Iโve learned from working with truly inspirational young people, how that work has shaped my journey to the fellowship, and the impact itโs had on my understanding of social impact.ย
1. Young people arenโt the leaders of tomorrow โ theyโre the leaders of today.
As part of her welcome speech in 2018, HOBY KYโs then-Director of Volunteers expressed mild frustration with the way people from outside of the organization described its mission. Often, folks would refer to it as โa program for the leaders of tomorrow.โ Although a seemingly accurate statement, the idea stands at odds with a fundamental belief held by those who do youth leadership work: that young people have the capacity to make change now. As she went on to explain, the goal of the seminar wasnโt to build the leaders of tomorrow, but rather, to empower the leaders of today.ย
This is something Iโve carried with me and repeated to the young people Iโve worked with more times than I can count. To this point, committing my life to social impact has meant continuously challenging the notion that Iโm too young, too powerless, or too small to drive meaningful impact. Instead, Iโve learned to welcome challenges as opportunities for growth, embrace being the youngest person in the room, and identify when it is in my capacity to create positive social change.
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2. Saving the world starts with identifying a problem
I absolutely believe that young people can save the world. I wouldnโt be completing upwards of 300 hours of unpaid volunteer work in youth leadership every year if I werenโt fueled by that belief. At the same time, Iโve come to understand that โsaving the worldโ is a horribly unspecific task โ and a lot of pressure. Over the last few years, Iโve intentionally changed the way I speak to the students I mentor when discussing their ability to address their communitiesโ most pressing social issues. Through my own journey in social impact, Iโve learned that it all starts with identifying a problem.ย
Not only does zooming in from the big picture alleviate pressure, but itโs also more likely to lead to tangible outcomes. Figuring out how to solve a problem is much more manageable, specific, and measurable than โsaving the worldโ (SMART goals, anyone?). A sudden inspiration to โsave the worldโ is a temporary feeling that may wear off, but a decision to solve a problem is the beginning of the sort of ripple effect that leads to a lifelong commitment to social impact.ย
3. In times of hopelessness, you do what you can
I recently asked a mentor for advice on what to do when it feels like the world is crumbling and collectively moving backward. A heavy question, but her answer was simple: โyou do what you can.โย
Although she prefaced that statement with โI know this is nothing profound,โ the impact itโs had on how I operate โ as someone committed to social impact but battling desensitization โ has been, in fact, quite profound. Immediately after she spoke, my mind went to the students I mentor in Kentucky. In founding HOBY KYโs DEIB team, one of my goals was to create space for students to explore the relationship between identity and leadership, which led to the creation of affinity groups. For students from the smallest towns in Kentucky, being able to be in community with other people of color, other LGBTQ+ folks, other immigrants and children of immigrants, meant feeling safe for the first time in their life.ย
So, alluding to the second section, no, it is not within my capacity to single-handedly save the world. But I absolutely still have the ability to continue creating safe spaces for students who donโt have them elsewhere. Even if the world is crumbling, intentionally continuing to do what I can is what keeps me grounded, sensitized, and moving.ย
Shraddha Patel
Shraddha (she/her) is the FAO Schwarz Fellow at Reading Partners in New York City.
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