Chosen to represent a leadership group including 11 of his peers, he laughed and said it’s because he likes to talk.
But during a recent demonstration to spread an anti-bullying message with other members of The GR Initiative for Leaders Ambassador Club at Union High School, he silently held up a sign that read, “Stop the Hate, Spread the Love.” Other club members held signs in the lunchroom and hallways.
The Ambassador Club is a program started at Union and Ottawa Hills high schools last year by GR Initiative for Leaders (GRIL), a faith-based organization created by alumni of the DeVos Urban Leadership Initiative, a training program for urban youth workers. About 30 teens at each school gather twice weekly during lunch with sessions led by GRIL staff members. Discussions and activities are based on six core values of the GRIL program: balance, accountability, interdependence, empowerment, leverage and diversity.