On November 1, 2014 Pitman High School Senior, Allie Austin, held a community service project called Bravely You at Prescott Junior High in Modesto.

Her journey toward Bravely You began February of last year, when she was called in by the head of counseling at Pitman- Ms. Cornell- and was told of an opportunity Gallo was offering for young women to create a community service project. Ms. Austin had to then write an essay responding to a given prompt, which proved successful when she was chosen to attend a leadership camp where she was given a mentor to guide her in the process of completing and creating this community service project.  The camp had taught her many leadership qualities: primarily how to get what you want done.

Ms. Austin revealed that after the camp it was hard to keep that momentum because she was losing the energy and passion. “Just the perseverance to get everything started when nobody else was rallying around you” was one struggle she revealed when recounting the thoughts circling in her head during the time.

Following through was very difficult for Ms. Austin, no only because of the immense amount of energy required but also the lack of confidence she felt when the school she hoped to implement this program at had turned her down. Her best friends father had come up to her one night at church asking how the project was going and after hearing her lack in success he offered to allow Allie to implement this program at the school he teaches at.

It was soon after that she began to develop the idea of Bravely You, a title created by her mother who felt that it reflected something that junior high students needed, which Ms. Austin quoted as being “who you know you want to be.”

Every aspect of life was a struggle for Ms. Austin during Junior High and she found out about herself was “I needed to be brave to choose to be the person I know I needed to be.” She found that there was a lot of pressure in junior high to be one specific thing but she never fit into that cookie cutter person which revealed to her that that is thetime in a majority of kid’s lives where they feel neglected, which is why she decided to target junior high students. She revealed that throughout her struggles it was her love for art that seemed to bring her to a place of positivity, which is why she incorporated artistic expression and creativity into Bravely You.

Ms. Austin had chosen successful high school students (primarily upperclassmen that would be an overall good role model) as volunteers because they tend to be the ones who junior high kids look up to and due to the fact they had just recently with in the last several years experienced and went through many of the same changes and adjustments that these children are needing guidance with now.

The start of the day seemed bittersweet for Ms. Austin due to the fact that out of the 26 who signed up, which already seemed like a small amount considering how large the school is, only 11 showed up.

The kids first participated in a group activity where the goal was to be the first group to create a shoe tower as high as possible using the shoes they were wearing and then to be the first group to put all their shoes back on.

Then they rotated through two of the three art projects which all had incorporated the name Bravely You into it: Pointillism Painting, 3-D Hand, and Puzzle Piece. The Pointillism Painting-be brave to make your point- was a wayof telling the kids not to be afraid to stand out and say what they believe. The 3-D Hand-be brave to impact- represented how you should use your talents to impact other people’s lives for the better. The remaining art project was a giant Puzzle Piece- be brave to be you-which was a way in which each student could individually represent whothey are.

Before continuing on to the next project, the students all gather to participate in several different games including a group circle activity to get others better acquainted, a Hula Hoop chain race, and an intense game of Steal the Bacon, which was followed by an unexpected group dance.

Ms. Austin felt that the event was an overall success even though few students came. She revealed how the students told her it was so nice to have this opportunity presented to them since their school lacked an art program. She also revealed that when speaking with the students they told her how it was the best day ever and that they couldn’t wait to tell their friends who missed out about it.

“The highlight of the day for me was definitely when we all got together and did the Cha-cha Slide and the group dances because the kids and all of us just really connected and had a lot of fun and everyone was smiling,” revealed Pitman High senior Lindsey Phillips when asked what the best part of the day was for her.

Many of the volunteers revealed how this event gave them the opportunity touch the hearts of these students and build impacting bonds. One of these volunteers included Pitman senior, Sydney Holmes, who shared “I will take away really the connection I had with the people I mentored and realizing that each person you talk to, you have to speak differently and relate to them differently because they are all different,” and “the look that I got when I was laughing along with my kid and cleaning up, she just looked really grateful to have someone to laugh with and play around with.”

Not only did Ms. Austin feel that this program impacted the students but impacted the volunteers as well, which was something she never expected. She stated that, “It gave them an opportunity to relax which is very rare for many students, especially those dealing with the pressures of senior year and they just said that this enabled them to discover some hidden artistic abilities they never knew they had.”

Bravely You successfully gave these students the opportunity through the arts to boost their confidence and recognize their self worth. For Pitman High School senior Allie Austin, “It’s been a journey learning to be brave and learning to be bravely you, even when other people are saying youu need to be something else.”