Former NYLC Youth Advisory Council Member Kicks off National Tour
For Julia Sewell, a 23-year-old “graduate” of many NYLC experiences over the past nine years, hip hop and spoken word performances are two-way. She and fellow performer Don Patterson, 25, emphasize that they are learning as they engage their audiences in workshops and trainings on the achievement gap, leadership, diversity, privilege, dropping “in”, the arts, scholarship, and service-learning.
They are kicking off a 10-city tour, beginning this August, and focusing on the cities with the highest drop-out rates. “We haven’t seen a lot of young people who have provided inspiring, invigorating workshops to young people as young people themselves,” says Sewell. This tour will capitalize on their shared passions and individual strengths in sessions ranging from keynote addresses to weekend-long workshops.
Sewell’s passion for performance sparked at age five, and has continued through nine years of work with NYLC. Perhaps best known for her spoken word pieces at the National Service-Learning Conference, she has worked in Detroit as part of CityYear most recently, tutoring, mentoring, and offering a Real Life 101 course to inner city high school students.
Co-performer Patterson has been working with the Black Male Empowerment Cooperative program at City University of New York, building on his experiences navigating the public and private college system. The recipient of numerous leadership awards, he considers himself an “education revolutionist” whose aim is to help turn around the drop-out rate. Among the sessions he offers are “An Insider’s Guide to At-Risk Youth” and “How to Take a National Scholarship."
Both will be back in education programs themselves this fall. Sewell will begin a national teaching fellowship at Citizen Schools in New York, while pursuing a master’s degree in education. Patterson has enrolled in Penn State University where he plans to dual major in finance and marketing.
“People think you need to wait to be a certain age to share knowledge,” says Sewell. “But we’ve put ourselves in situations to learn a lot.” Between the two, they have spoken at more than 150 conferences and events, and have worked with organizations including America’s Promise, BET, City Year, Special Olympics, State Farm®, Young People For, and Youth Service America.
To learn more about the tour, visit www.sewellspeaks.com.
To request training dates, fill out the attached form and send it to: jleader06@hotmail.com
