For the Win: Sharing a Love of Reading

For the Win is a guest blog series featuring the remarkable initiatives that young Americans are advancing to win the future for their communities. Each week we highlight a new young person and learn about their inspiring work through their own words.

Mary-Grace Reeves is a senior at Pensacola High School in Pensacola, Fl. and is the founder of The American Girl Book Club.  In her free time, Mary-Grace serves as the captain of her high school math team and studies ballet. She is a member of the of the 2011 PARADE All-America High School Service Team, an award recognizing outstanding young service leaders presented by PARADE Magazine in partnership with generationOn, the global youth service division of Points of Light Institute.

In 2004, my community of Pensacola, Fla. was changed forever when Hurricane Ivan devastated homes and businesses. Recovery from this natural disaster has been a long process. Even today, some homes have still not been rebuilt.

In light of this devastation, I wanted to do something to help my community, and at age 13, with my interest in literature, I found my niche as a volunteer in the children’s department of the local library. Ever since I was very young, I have found great joy in reading. While volunteering, I noticed that the library had a reading program during the school year for preschool readers, but not for older youth. Reading, like any skill, must be practiced to be improved. I wanted to create a reading program specifically for girls living in the Gulf Coast region between the ages of 7-12. When the manager of the children’s department of the library sadly explained that they lacked the funds or the employees to assist me, I persevered to make my idea a reality.

This is when I created The American Girl Book Club, a historical literacy program through which I help girls improve their reading skills, teach them about our country’s history, and encourage youth volunteerism. Three years later, through 37 monthly programs that have reached more than 800 girls, I continue to bring history to life. Through grants from the National Education Association, Target Corporation, Youth Service America, and a local nonprofit organization, I provide each attendee with a copy of the American Girl “book of the month”.  After the meetings, I bring the books to girls at the Ronald McDonald House and the Gulf Coast Kid’s House, an organization that serves abused children and their families. While these girls cannot currently attend program meetings, they are just as interested in the adventures of the American Girl characters. I invite guest speakers each month, relating to the discussed American Girl historical character, including the Daughters of the American Revolution for a study on Colonial Williamsburg, Asian-American women for the Chinese New Year celebration, and a marine biologist from the University of Florida when we studied the endangered species of the Gulf Coast.

Calling on a Generation to Reimagine the Future, One Student at a Time

Nearly 50 years ago, Robert F. Kennedy put the challenge to “win the future” into context with timeless words: “The future,” he said, “does not belong to those who are content with today, apathetic toward common problems and their fellow man alike, timid and fearful in the face of new ideas and bold projects. Rather, it will belong to those who can blend passion, reason and courage in a personal commitment to the ideals and great enterprises of American Society.”

“Every generation,” he added, “helps make its own future.”

In our view – and that, we know, of millions of young people across the nation – truer words could not be spoken today.

Not only do college students, graduate students, and young professionals believe – as Kennedy often put it and as President Obama has emphasized time and again – that the future is not a gift but an achievement, but they also want to act on this belief. Even those who do not dedicate years exclusively to service – and who are students or employed in other capacities – are eager for outlets to push the traditional bounds of service and turn a generation’s boundless energy into imaginative social change. We want to practice pragmatic idealism – and to fill the global inspiration deficit with that sense of passion and purpose that drives greatness.

That’s why we started The Future Project, a new national service initiative that calls upon young Americans to partner with local underserved high-school students and build innovative projects together that change the world. Not only will this mean for those who join our Future Corps – a model inspired by the Peace Corps and Teach for America – the chance to inspire students to discover their passions, strengths, and purpose at a critical moment in their development (which has an astonishing educational impact on classroom performance and future success), but it also presents an opportunity for the volunteers to become inspired agents of change, too.

Renewing the American Dream: Empowerment through Diversity

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s mission is to help make American businesses be more innovative at home and more competitive abroad, so they can create jobs here in the United States. And while that mission is clearly focused, the diversity of issues that Commerce tackles are wide ranging.  It is, like the Latino community in the United States, very eclectic.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has a broad mandate to advance economic growth, jobs and opportunities for the American people. It has cross-cutting responsibilities in the areas of trade, technology, entrepreneurship, economic development, environmental stewardship, tourism and statistical research and analysis. The products and services the Department provides touch the daily lives of Americans and American companies in many ways, including weather forecasts, the decennial census, and patent and trademark protection for inventors and businesses.

Developing commerce to provide new opportunities has been the Department’s goal since its beginning in 1903, and it remains a primary obligation today.  And with approximately 47,000 employees worldwide, the Department and its 12 bureaus does that work here at home and across the globe.