Alumni Spotlight: Justin Crosby: Leaders Lead Leaders!
Today, we’re proud to kick-off the Service Leadership Academy, a new service and leadership program created to ensure our Ambassadors and Alumni “unite, act, lead” even while apart during COVID-19. Our mission is to be of best purpose and greatest impact during this time of historic need; and to provide a place for joyful community connection for our young leaders. The seven week program will foster optimism in a time of great challenge, build skills to lead positive change, enrich knowledge through service learning, and unite our community to virtually serve, extend care, and offer gratitude.
We’re very honored that our First Lady Lauren Baker will kick-off SLA as part of a community town hall on Wednesday. She will serve as the inaugural guest of “Conversations with Charlie”, a weekly conversation with inspirational Movement Makers hosted by our Honorary Dean and Board Chair Charlie Rose. We are deeply grateful to Lauren and Charlie, two of our greatest and most beloved champions, for sharing their wisdom and inspiration with our young leaders.
Movement Makers will also be featured in this week’s Good News! This time, Movement Makers from our Alumni community. And, we have just the right person to celebrate this Monday -- Justin Crosby, ALC of Middleton and the Team Leader/Mentor for the Mark Shriver Service Hero Team.
Since his 8th grade Ambassador year, Justin has had a special devotion to service learning. So, when we began planning SLA, we knew we wanted Justin as key architect. Here’s why...
Justin was a 14-year-old high school freshman when he put passion to paper in an email to Dr. Scott Morrison, School Superintendent for Tri-Town School Union (Boxford, Middleton and Topsfield). The topic? Service learning as a critical component of education -- on par, he asserted, with academics. And, to further his contention (a core mission of 351), Justin detailed the vision of “Leaders Lead Leaders” -- experiential and classroom service learning for middle school students. No surprise to us, the response was overwhelmingly supportive!
Three years later, “Leaders Lead Leaders” has enriched and engaged hundreds of sixth graders in the Tri-town school district; and impacted thousands of lives through service to nonprofit organizations across the state! All under the stewardship of one of the most humble, kind, and brilliant young men we have been fortunate to know.
LLL, as Leaders Lead Leaders is affectionately called, teaches sixth graders the wonders of service and leadership while supporting transformative organizations like Room to Grow and the Wonderfund. Two further benefits of LLL: youth civic engagement, through membership in the Middle School’s Student Council, has grown. And, Justin’s preliminary data shows that LLL’s 6th grade graduates are more likely to continue their service leadership throughout middle school and beyond.
As with all things in the Beloved Community of service, LLL has been enabled by collaboration and partnership. Justin is quick to credit others for LLL’s success. And, celebrates and appreciates the dedication of Dr. Morrison and his student council advisors: Ms. Boyle, Mrs. DeOreo, Ms. Magrath, and Mrs. Bentley. We join him in gratitude for their generosity of wisdom, investment of over-and-above hours, and faith in the dream of a 14-year-old Ambassador, who wished to share a newly discovered passion for service with other young people.
It has been a joy to serve with and learn from Justin throughout LLL and now, the Service Leadership Academy. He represents the best of Project 351. And, the unlimited power and potential of the 3,753 unsung heroes who have served as Ambassadors since 2011. As we kick-off the Service Leadership Academy, our abiding hope is that every Ambassador and Alumni embraces the call-to-serve as Justin has -- in ways that unite, uplift, and transform communities and our world. We need their determined idealism and hope-fueled service at this time of greatest challenge. We can’t wait to get to work on the SLA!