Youth SpotLIGHT: ENCORE!

Today’s Youth SpotLIGHT is Sam Ross, a rising senior in high school from Kentucky. Sam is a member of the HOPE worldwide National Youth Advisory Council (NYAC). NYAC gives high school and college students the opportunity to build important leadership skills and use them selflessly. One way they accomplish this is through creating service projects, also known as Passion Projects. For her Passion Project she decided to combine her love for service and music into a program called ENCORE. Just like our last Youth SpotLIGHT, Karson Baldwin, Sam’s Passion Project has been a huge success and also received local media coverage!

Check out what Sam Ross had to say!

“ENCORE is an acronym that stands for Encouraging New Connections, Opportunities, and Resources for Everyone. ENCORE is a music tutoring program I founded as my NYAC Passion Project in which student volunteers from the Youth Performing Arts School (YPAS) are paired with a middle school ‘buddy’ involved in a music program in Jefferson County Public Schools. The YPAS student provides free, regular music lessons on an either weekly or bi-weekly basis (whichever the volunteer chooses). The YPAS student serves as a teacher, coach, and mentor to the middle school student during some of the most critical years of their music development.

My buddy has always wanted to go to YPAS like I do, and it’s been so exciting to be able to walk her through the audition process and see her grow! She has become like a little sister to me, and that’s what ENCORE is all about.

The ultimate goal of the program is to serve kids who are otherwise unable to receive private lessons due to financial or other reasons, so many of the participating middle school students demonstrate need, and are nominated by their respective music directors.

In light of the coronavirus outbreak, we have moved music lessons from in-person to online platforms (ex: Zoom) to alleviate transportation issues, as well as to maintain social distance. ENCORE has been featured on several local news and media outlets and has been involved with a total of 60 students across 7 schools.”

Great job, Sam! Check out hopeww.org/YouthSpotLIGHTto stay up to date with more good news and preview upcoming posts!