[ad_1]
Gerald Williams is the co-founder and CEO of Excite All Stars, a mission-driven nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower children to become world-changing leaders. Williams, a New Orleans native, was one of three people who integrated the Isidore Newman School in Kindergarten in 1968. He received his higher education at Vanderbilt University and Tulane University, while playing intercollegiate baseball for both universities. Williams now works every day through Excite All Stars, exposing kids in New Orleans to the same arts, academics and sports that he has.
Before founding Excite All Stars, Williams worked as an advertising and marketing professional and entrepreneur for over 25 years. He holds a priestly certificate from Emmanuel Institute of Religion and is an ordained minister. Williams is also certified by the National Youth Sports League as a youth athletic administrator and by the Louisiana High School Athletic Association as a high school coach. For his work with youth, he has received Community Impact Awards from Zurich Insurance North America, Nike, the US Soccer Foundation and the USTA Foundation.
Excite All Stars was started by Gerald Williams and his wife Penny Marquez-Williams as a direct response to the impact of Hurricane Katrina.
What is the mission of Excite All Stars?
Our mission is to help children become effective citizens and leaders in their communities. We started out as a direct response to the impact of Hurricane Katrina and recently celebrated our 15th anniversary in 2022. My wife and I co-founded the organization, and we decided to stay in New Orleans and help the city recover. We knew we weren’t going to play political games, so we said, “Well, if we can work with the next generation and help shape and drive the next generation’s trajectory, we can help create some great citizens who are making a difference in their communities. agent.”
This is really what motivates us to provide these opportunities for children in our programs.
We focus on the three AS—arts, academics, and athletics—to fulfill our mission. We run year-round programs, after-school enrichment programs and Saturday programs at the school during the day. Then we also host a large summer camp.
What programs does Excite All Stars offer students?
In the arts, we specialize in media arts. The teen show runs “Behold Teen Talk Media”. They do podcasts interviewing local business professionals and mentors. Our children are studying media arts and performing arts. We also have drama, dance and art therapy courses as well as culinary arts.
Within our academic domain, STEM is our primary focus. We specialize in youth aviation programs – teaching drone flight and aviation – as well as robotics, coding and artificial intelligence. We want to equip our children with these high-paying career opportunities in the future. We do this in our Innovation Center during the school day and on Saturdays. Another academic program that we’re very excited about is our Secondary MBA program, where children learn advanced economics and business principles.
We’ve always been a holistic plan. One of the things we learned during Katrina and the recovery process is that our children have many needs. We don’t want to lose any children. So it kind of forces us to take this holistic approach where every kid who comes through the door, regardless of interest, they have a chance to land somewhere that’s important to them. That’s the impetus behind it. It’s just evolved to where now kids can find their passions and get involved, explore, learn, get mentors and really find their place.
How is your tennis academy?
This is part of our sports and mentoring program which we started in 2009. We play tennis at Joe W. Brown Park and Schools – we will be expanding in 2023 to add the Dillard University Tennis Center as another venue. We partnered with Dillard University because they are a small NAIA, HBCU school whose student-athletes have the ability and ability to work even while playing varsity sports.
We have six tennis coaches from the Dillard University women’s tennis team who are international students from all over the world. We’re talking Vietnam, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Serbia — these college tutors are working with kids and we’ve seen the profound impact. The kids are really responsive. It’s incredible.
These are kids who wouldn’t normally play tennis. We believe in teaching children sports that they can play for life. We also choose non-traditional sports for African American kids because we want to encourage them to take risks and try new things – plus, tennis is a great lifelong game and a great first sport for people to learn.
So we start them young and prepare them for whatever sport they want to play. We have a very strong relationship with the USTA Foundation (which hosts the US Open). They provide us with professional development training support. We are developing a three-year blueprint for success plan. Out of 600 chapters across the country, we were one of only six chapters selected to participate in this three-year program. So that really helps us advance that mission with another national sponsor, Lawrence America.
What can these group activities and sports teach children? What changes have you seen in the children involved?
What we see is leadership skills. When we looked at what programming kids in our communities really needed, some of the 21st century learning research that was done showed that for African American kids and kids in underserved communities, no. One thing they lack is leadership. Therefore, we incorporate leadership development and leadership elements into almost everything we do.
They are also learning about self-care. Post-traumatic stress after COVID is four and a half times higher than in post-Katrina children, according to new research from the Brookings Institution. So we have to provide a place where kids can heal and be the best version of themselves. We make sure we have self-care, financial literacy and financial wellness programs in place.
Our thing isn’t necessarily getting kids workforce ready, but we’re getting kids ready for life. We believe that these business skills and tools and soft skills that they need are life skills, not just business skills. They translate into discipline, goal setting, forming the right habits, building teams, living in community, etc.
Are there any teachers in your life who have influenced you?
I had two or three teachers, but also the coaches had an impact on me being a leader. My middle school basketball coach, Jay Lapeyre, who is now the CEO of Laitram, had a summer camp called Jena Day Camp that I attended as a kid. My experience at that camp and seeing how they give back to their kids and support their kids and help them thrive really sparked that same passion in me. This is inspiring.
What are you most proud of?
For 15 years, we have had the privilege of serving over 8,500 families, and we now serve between 1,000 and 1,200 children each year through our various programs.
My wife has always been very passionate about advancing the mission and vision with our team and community. One of the things I am most proud of is her leadership in helping to develop our women leaders and create leadership opportunities for our girls. I think she’s done an incredible job of creating a platform and avenue for girls to have their voices heard in this climate where so many find themselves voiceless. I think it’s a milestone.
To learn more about volunteer and employment opportunities at Excite All Stars, or to become a donor, visit www.exciteallstars.org.
[ad_2]
Source link
