Achieving New Heights

Harlem Lacrosse - Boston at Young Achievers Math and Science Pilot School is fortunate to partner with many different organizations and people in the area to serve our students to the best of our abilities. This month, both the boys and girls program partnered with Elevate Youth, a local non profit with a mission to empower youth through regular outdoor experiences

On November 4th, Elevate Youth came to pick our students up after school, and we took 11 boys and girls from the Harlem Lacrosse program at Young Achievers to Rock Spot in South Boston to go indoor rock climbing. The kids went up and down the rock wall, laughing and cheering on one another, but the biggest achievement was watching the student athletes create a goal and conquer it.

Asheree is a 7th grader that I had the pleasure to meet over the summer at Camp Cedar, an overnight lacrosse camp we have for the older players in our program in Maine. Asheree was deathly afraid to go ziplining and on the rock wall. She was terrified of heights. When she signed up to come to Rock Spot she said, “Coach J I’m going to do it this time.” And that she did. It took her a couple tries, but she made it over the boulder wall and was able to celebrate on the slide down. Asheree created a goal and was able to conquer her fear with the help of Elevate Youth and Rock Spot. She challenged herself in ways she didn’t know she could.
Asheree is not the only one who challenged themselves that day. Almost all the kids struggled on one wall or another but persevered and kept finding new was up the wall until they reached the top. The life skill of perseverance and being self motivated to achieve a goal is not something you can teach in a classroom. It’s through experiential learning and trips such as these that you acquire these skills.

Harlem Lacrosse empowers young boys and girls to reach their full potential in anything they set their mind to. Asheree and the other 10 students who went on this trip, are excited to challenge themselves on whatever next adventure Elevate Youth has planned for us and as their coach, I’m excited to see how they utilize these life skills on the lacrosse field and in the classroom.