The latest blog post from Frank Azar:
On Thursday, November 13, 2014, Youth Design held its second annual Designer Carnival Event at the W hotel. Youth Design, which was piloted in 2003, is a Boston based non-profit organization, geared towards preparing a diverse group of urban high-schoolers to realize their full creative potential, live their dream and become the next generation of designers.
The event supports Youth Design’s powerful mission to help change the course of these student’s lives by encouraging them to pursue a higher education and fulfilling careers. Youth Design is the leading program in Boston, that “focuses on addressing the critical socioeconomic needs of urban youth”, Zoey Gulmi, a writer and founder of Style by Zoe writes, “by teaching them highly marketable design skills”. Youth Design hopes that the next generations of “Youth Designs” will develop the necessary skills to achieve financial stability and sufficiency. And how better to work towards this goal, than by getting today’s professional design community involved and utilizing them as mentors.
The arts play such a crucial role in our society. The importance, however, goes unnoticed by too many. Frankly one could say that the arts are mostly just taken for granted. As a society, the arts keeps us grounded and complete us a human beings – they allow us to be available in the moment and be vulnerable. They allow us to communicate and express our emotions in the most genuine of forms. Furthermore, they bridge cultures and bring people together. Additionally, a recent study conducted by the National Endowment for the Arts has found that “lower-income students have higher academic results, college aspirations, and civic participation when they are engaged in the arts for long periods of time”. Due to this, Youth Design has made it their purpose to give back to Boston’s future by teaming their students up with exceptional mentors each year to support their endeavors and offer their expertise.
An organization that is devoted to nurturing our youth in an effort to better both themselves and our society as a whole, is as inspiring as it is motivating and in the words of this year’s mentor of the year, Jay Calderin, “One should never stop learning. Being involved in a perpetual education and nurturing a boundless curiosity are the only ways you will evolve as a designer.”
To learn more Youth Design and their mission, take a look at their website.
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