Looking for a few good college students
Ten years ago, 13 young people, primarily high school students, started an organic, grassroots organism we call Generation Xcel. I was one of them. Three years ago I returned to Xcel as its first director with the goal of seeing if the organism could transform into an organization while preserving its indigenous "by youth for youth" DNA. That remains to be seen, as the transition has been marked by more than our share of growing pains and financial challenges. But today I had one of those aha moments. Actually, I had a similar thought about six months ago, but without someone with whom to share it immediately, it evaporated almost as quickly as it appeared. Today it returned, only this time I had four NYCUP volunteers (InterVarsity students from NYU and Rutgers on a spring break mission trip) with whom to dream, a grad student and three undergrads. The basic idea is fairly simple (or maybe not?). Just as thirteen inspired, but totally unqualified and unskilled teenagers took the idea of starting a youth center and ran with it in the face of impossible odds (no money, space, equipment, or paid staff), and it materialized five months later; is it possible that college students could take their $100K educations and career aspirations, unite them around a common purpose, and help shape a "by youth for youth" organization that can carry Generation Xcel into the future? Call it fanciful, but could we assemble a team of 7-10 students majoring in, say, strategic management, marketing/public relations, film, graphic design, social work, education, programming/web development, accounting, entreprenurship/finance, and journalism (or any combination thereof, with a dozen or more other possibilities thrown in) for, say, 2-4 semesters, who would treat the organizational development process as seriously as our 13 cofounders did, to build a truly by youth for youth organization that lasts? (Wow, that sentence is ridiculously long!) Could it work? My ad hoc market research suggests that it could. So does my gut. (Or is that indigestion?) Something to explore further with my campus ministry friends. Interested applicants can email resumes here.
posted by Jeremy Del Rio @ 3/14/2006 10:15:00 PM
3 Comments:
The most shocking thing in your post - you were in high school 13 years ago?
I like the idea. And as one of 'those campus ministry folks' I'll have to do some thinking about how to help. East coast bias not withstanding.
LOL. Nah, I was one of 5 co-founders who were out of high school, but we were out numbered (8). That said, all 13 of us were between 14 and 22 yrs old, and at 21, I was the only college grad.
Yeah,
But you are still getting old!
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