Ready for the Ivy League Challenge?

Music, Science, & Service- Justin's Impact Project

Transcript

SPEAKER A

Welcome back to season two of the Ivy League Prep Academy Podcast. Equipping you to successfully pursue the college of your dreams. We believe that everyone deserves to reach their full potential, and the admissions process shouldn't hold you back. Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Ivy League Prep Academy Podcast. I'm really excited. Today we've got another interview, and this time, I'm interviewing a rising junior. His name is Justin Freeman, and Justin has had some incredible success over the past year as his Impact Project has evolved. And so as we were chatting a little bit earlier, I asked if he'd be willing to share some of his advice, some of his story, and just his experience with everyone here in the podcast, and he was willing to do that. So thank you so much, Justin, for joining us today. Thank you for being on the podcast.

SPEAKER B

Thank you for having me. I'm excited.

SPEAKER A

All right, wonderful. So you and I actually met more than a year ago, I believe, or about a year ago. And I remember meeting with you and both of your parents. In that meeting, someone had referred you to me because their child had had an experience in the Ivy League Challenge. And then we had that conversation, and more than most people, I remember, you were really enthusiastic right from the beginning. It was like you couldn't wait for the class to begin. And so just to kind of help set the stage here for everyone and kind of where you came from to get to your Impact project, which we'll be getting to soon, can you just kind of help me understand what was it that you were struggling with a year and a half ago? Or before you and I talked for that first time that made you so excited about joining the Ivy League Challenge and about working through this process that I teach? Do you remember? You might not even remember. So frustrating.

SPEAKER B

That was a while ago. Yeah. But I do have that goal in mind still. I still have that in my mindset, so I think I can go back to that. So, yeah, a year ago, I was with my parents. I was starting to consider college and how to prepare, including applications, volunteer service, grades in general, stuff I could do in school, et cetera. And I heard about this program through, like you said, one of my family members, my cousin, who was actually going through the program the same time that I actually joined. And I heard it was a good preparation course for college, for applications. And also I heard about a project thing that it recommended for us to start. And, yeah, my experience through it was really interesting. I was very enthusiastic because, of course, I was really interested in learning how I could do my best to perfect the application process in a way to make my application best for letters of rec, for the application itself, for my essay and more. What really intrigued me the most, though, was the project aspect of it. Since last year I was a rising sophomore, I didn't focus and hone in too much on the application process as much as I probably will this year since I'm a rising junior. But yeah, the project is what got me really hooked and that's how I got here.

SPEAKER A

Amazing. That's a really good description, even though you're just trying to remember back, because you just described what almost everyone goes through, and everything is filtered through this filter of what's going to impress the admissions officers the most. Should I volunteer at the animal shelter or at the homeless shelter? Should I do this sport or that sport or both, or should I take this class or that class? And everything is filtered through well, what choice is going to be more impressive? And of course, we don't even think about the fact that you have no idea who that admissions officer is going to be, let alone what's going to impress them. And so when we talked for the first time and I shared, actually, you can tailor your entire high school experience around your core values and what matters most to you as an individual rather than trying to think through. Everything through the prism of what's going to be most impressive to someone that I've never met before and will never meet. Then that can be really inspiring. And it can be really motivating. And I do remember just that first conversation and how excited you were, even more than most students when we have that conversation. So you joined the Cohort, we talked about core values, we helped align our decisions. We went through the average Joe activity audit. And I remember you got rid of a lot of activities that were kind of just weighing you down and you began to focus on your Impact project. And so can you just tell us where you're at right now before we go back and we kind of understand the journey to get to where you're at right now? Tell me just about your Impact project, where it's at now and what you're most excited about. Yes.

SPEAKER B

So actually today for my project, it is a camp. We had our first day run from nine to twelve. It was really cool. It was the first day, so it was kind of chaotic. That's just how it is on the first day. But we learned a lot and we're prepared a lot more for tomorrow. My camp is called Art Sparks. It is a camp for teaching children with autism in the arts just to kind of introduce them in some things. It's not a very complicated thing. The teachers are just going to be teaching a couple of basic things and yeah, so we're going to be teaching them music, visual arts and dance. And we're actually holding this. At my school at OSHA, I was able to get a venue there. And this was all through a process, through the Dragon Kim Foundation, which is something that I actually went to because of something you suggested with, like, a community that you're trying to get into. And after applying for that, I was able to get in, and I got leadership training. They gave me a $5,000 budget. It was amazing. I have a mentor team because of it, and they are so incredibly reliable. They have helped me in so many ways, and I'm so grateful for them. And that's one of my recommendations, by the way, for anybody thinking about doing a project like this. You need a strong team and a strong structure behind you. One of the things that was my struggles as I was making this project was though I did have a mentor team of three adults, I didn't have another co founder or co director for the camp. It was just me. And I was able to contact my mentors a lot, but I couldn't consistently rely on them because they have their own things going on. And it would be great to have a partner who is focusing as much on a project like this as I am. But, yeah, this project has been going well so far. I've been working my butt off to do as well as we can, and this has been a couple of months in the making, and I'm really glad at how it's going so far.

SPEAKER A

Yeah. Oh, it just sounds incredible. And just to kind of fill in the gaps or create some context for the listeners who have not been in my program, I teach to the students during the Ivy League Challenge. I talk about how one of my favorite things to do is scuba diving. Right. I'll kind of abbreviate that entire lesson, but to give them the context so they understand why you're so strongly recommending joining a community. But I talk about one of my best friends or one of my good friends that was scuba diving and got caught in an ocean current, and she loved it. Like, ocean currents aren't scary. Usually they're easy to get out of. But she got caught in one, and she decided to ride it for a while because it's kind of fun, right? Inside the ocean, there's, like, rivers of water that are moving much faster than the rest of the water, and it's kind of a weird experience until you've done it. But I love scuba diving, and I've been in ocean currents before. So she was in a very strong current, and she decided to ride in it for a little while and just allow herself to ride. Kind of like Finding Nemo when the turtles ride the current all the way home. But anyway, when she finally decided, well, it's probably time to get out of the current, she filled her vest with air, which pulls her up, and she got out of the current and then looked around and tried to find everyone, and there wasn't anyone. Right? She couldn't see anyone. So when that happens, scuba divers are taught to kind of raise to the surface. And I won't bore you with all the details, but she came to the surface and couldn't even see her boat at first. She could barely make out a dot in the distance after a long time, and then she had to swim all the way back. And eventually she got back and kind of a scary story, actually, because she needed medical attention. She was so exhausted by the time she got back to the boat. Now, the reason for that story, though, as I tell everyone, is because high school students are kind of weighed down by all this scuba gear. In scuba, you wear extra weights to pull you down. You have a big tank. You've got all this gear to help you be able to breathe underwater. And high school students have all these classes and all these things that they have to do that kind of weigh them down. And if you try to just get in the water and swim the distance from where she was to the boat, it's exhausting. And almost no high school students can make it on their own. It's rare, like one in a million is going to make it on their own. But if you can join a community, if you can join a group that is already doing the thing that you want to do, it's like catching an ocean current and being carried, and you can go much further and much faster than what you could possibly do on your own. So you're referring to that class when you say that was the reason why you joined this organization. And it sounds like it wasn't a no brainer. You had to fill out an application, you had to work hard to get into that organization. But you're saying that you're glad you did.

SPEAKER B

Yes, very. It has been a lifesaver. I do not think I would be anywhere near as far into this as I am now without the training they gave and especially the budget and all the events they had. It was an amazing experience, and I'm still working with them. But, yes, if anybody is in California or I think they're in Nevada too, I strongly recommend applying for the Dragon Kim Foundation if they have a project like it.

SPEAKER A

I love it. Great advice. So let's just help people fill in the gaps, because a year ago, you did not have this idea. I remember your idea was to study kind of the neuroscience around music and dementia. I don't know if you even remember this, but I was thinking back to your first ideas for your impact project. And just so everyone knows, when we first began, I teach the nine different frameworks of impact projects and give examples of each one so the students have ideas. And then I insist that students come up with at least seven viable impact project ideas before they narrow it down to one, and then begin the process of figuring that out. And as you have discovered, even that process is just the first step, because often you think you've narrowed it down to one thing, but until you take action, you don't know what you don't know, and so you don't have any data to inform your ideas about what the best impact project idea might be. And so oftentimes, students move down a path that is not going to be their final project. And that was the case with you. So could you, just as much as you remember, kind of share your journey from thinking about maybe studying dementia and music and neuroscience, all the way to this camp for autistic children, this camp for arts and music, for artistic children. Talk to us just about the different milestones along the way, how you got from there to here.

SPEAKER B

Yes, so my interest in that actually sparked up from my grandfather, who is actually one of the mentors on my team, and someone who has been helping me a lot with this project. He and I had been talking a lot about how studies have been going on about how older adults with dementia or Alzheimer's have been able to play music without any problem. Their disability does not affect them at all within that, and it's a really interesting thing that goes on with it. It works with dance too, and I've heard it works with visual arts. That's kind of why we combined it into this camp. But, yeah, that was something me and him were discussing a lot, and I was interested in it, and I was like, oh, while we were doing this assignment in the cohort, I was like, why not try and work on that? So I discussed with him even my idea with that, and he suggested to me that maybe we could work with younger kids on the spectrum as well, because there are also many studies of these kids growing up and doing amazingly with have. If I bring up some names, there's this one person, I think his name was Cody Leon, America's Got Talent. He can sing. I think he's blind. He can play piano, and he's on the spectrum and he can do it amazingly. It's incredible. And there's a couple of famous people like, I think Mozart was on the spectrum as well. It's really interesting how these people are able to do the art so well with these doesn't. In fact, it might even hone it. It's crazy. So me and my grandfather were really interested in it. We were discussing it a lot, and we came up with the idea to look into that. And while we were looking into that, that's when I heard about the Dragon Kim Foundation, and we were doing the community thing, and he came up with the idea to apply for it about maybe two weeks before. So we only had very tidbits of ideas to create a project. So we were working really hard on the application and making like a description so we could have a good structure for the application date. And we actually built up a really good application and we got accepted through the first step. And I did an interview and I was able to get in through that. But yeah, that was like the first few steps of it. Me and him discussing it, our interest in it, how we were so curious on how these kids were able and these older adults were able to do these kinds of things. It's just really incredible stuff. And I had the idea with him to maybe introduce these kids into the arts, to maybe give them more opportunities and a goal to grow in the arts because they seem to really enjoy it as well.

SPEAKER A

Amazing. I feel like you've skipped about 100 different milestones because I remember you and I have had, I don't know, a half dozen conversations where you've just reached out and said, hey, need to talk about this or need to discuss this with you or that, and you've pivoted. You've learned from your attempts and the attempts that didn't work, and you've learned from the stuff that did work and you got excited about something and then it did or it didn't work and you pivoted to a new direction. And so I love that in your mind right now. It was kind of this really straightforward thing. I had this idea and we talked about it and then we applied and now here we are. That's how memory sometimes works. We kind of forget all of the struggle and you just remember working really hard but can't remember why it was such a struggle. But I love the way that you have evolved and how things have grown to the point where right now, here you are operating with a budget, with a professional team, with all these guides, and you're going to take this camp that you're running now and grow from there. Because you're going to learn just like you learned from all of the stuff that didn't work before, you're going to learn what did and didn't work now, and scale that opportunity. And like you mentioned earlier, you're a junior now, right? And so you haven't even done this yet, and you've probably forgotten in week five. No, I think it's week six or seven in the camp we actually go through and we look through websites and school newspapers and things like that to find what the core values are of the universities. And then even later, you're going to look at the essay prompts, the supplemental, and the common app essays, and you're going to discover, oh, wow, I'm so glad that rather than spending my time doing the same clubs as everyone else or the same sports or same music, as everyone else. I have a really cool story to tell because you're going to have so many opportunities to tell that story. And now here you are, a rising junior, getting ready for that experience. And so I'm excited for what is ahead of you, even though you're probably only halfway there. You've got another year and a half before you actually apply to college for this impact project of yours to continue to scale, continue to make an even deeper and more profound impact. And who knows, you may decide, look, let's take what we learned from our camp and apply it to some academic areas of research and see how we can contribute to that.

SPEAKER B

Yeah, I was thinking about that too, actually. I think you and I have maybe discussed that a couple of times. Yeah, but that actually brought up one of another things that I remembered from the Cohort, the core values that you were mentioning. Yeah, one of the things that I was discussing when I was discussing things with my grandfather were that some of the ideas that I had been told from the Cohort was the core value stuff. And my background is largely in music. I've been doing voice since I was seven. I've been playing a guitar since I was nine and a half. I go to an art school. I mean, it's all I do. So I told him that and he was suggesting maybe we could teach these kids arts. And then we were always discussing about how they were growing and how interesting it was, how they developed from it. It was like, it was perfect. It was like, we should work with this. I mean, it's your background, it's your core value, you should work with it. But, yeah, I think honestly, that was one of my AHA moments. That was a perfect idea. I think it worked really well.

SPEAKER A

Well, and I remember a couple of conversations where you had actually gone out and found research and said, hold on, this is legit. This is an actual academic thing to try to figure this out or that out. And so here all these pieces I know, trying to think backwards a year. And by the way, just for those listeners, I did not give Justin any kind of heads up about how this was going to go. I just said, you know what, your story is probably at a stage right now where we should tell it, because I think listeners would benefit from hearing about your experience and your advice. And so if I came up with 20 questions ahead of time and had Justin prepare, we might have had more detail in some of these areas. But I love the rawness and the authenticity of just having a conversation and recording that conversation and allowing people to listen in. And so I'm excited to see where this evolves. Would you mind, Justin, just kind of as we wrap this up, sharing perhaps your vision for where you think this Impact Project might go next?

SPEAKER B

Sure. So I am thinking the foundation only keeps it's called a fellowship program. When you apply for it, they only keep you under the fellowship program for a year. So I will be out of the program in the next few months once it ends. And since I won't be in the program, I won't have the budget that I was able to use and along with the guidance as well. So I will be by myself. So I'm going to have to build up another team. Maybe I'll try and connect again once again with my original team, but it's unlikely since I met them through the foundation. My next plans for the future. Obviously, I do want to do this camp again next year. It's something I really want to do again. Not only just do it again, I want to grow it. I want to do it because we only have one week. We were only able to plan for I want to be able to do it maybe two weeks, maybe more. I want to have more students, more volunteers, more teachers. But it always depends on the budget. I'm going to be in the next year working really hard. Like, I will not stop on trying to raise money doing fundraisers, because it's like its own mini nonprofit. But yeah, I'll probably go to family, friends, people on social media. I'll go everywhere. Yeah, that's probably going to be my main goal because I'm not going to be able to do much without the budget first. I'm not going to be able to plan anything. But yeah, so I want to reach out to more kids. The camp is only ages seven through ten. It's a really short age range. I've had about 60 people reach out to me to get into the camp, and I've had to say no to about 20 or put them on a waitlist. Most of them that I had to say no to were out of range. They were like twelve year olds, maybe eleven year olds, 13 year olds. But I had to say no because we had to stay within the age range. But that's another thing I want to expand into. I want to create more space for these people to come in. And also another thing, one of the biggest things about our budget, why it's so high, is the teachers. These teachers are professional teachers in special education. We didn't want to slack on that at all. We really rely on these teachers for the classes, and they're doing really well today, by the way. They did really well, but they're expensive and they take up a lot of money in the budget, so it's going to be a lot of work. But I have my goals ahead of me and I'm going to work really hard to get to them and I have high hopes.

SPEAKER A

Amazing. I am excited because I'll bet in six months or twelve months, you and I are going to sit down again and record another conversation and look backwards. And I'm excited to see how much your idea evolved from where it's at right now. Because right now, if I were to diagnose what I see is happening, your head is so filled with this camp because you started today and now you're thinking, how do we take what we learned from today to make tomorrow better? And you're so consumed with just this camp that you're probably not. I mean, that was an unfair question of me to say, well, what's next? Because you're like, let me survive the camp and then we can about what's next. And I bet in six months or twelve months or whatever, when students or when you and I have this conversation again, the listeners who pay attention and remember this call are going to think back and say, oh yeah, I remember he said he was just going to do another camp. I'll bet your vision expands dramatically and you have some creative application of what you did right now in this camp. But for now, you need to get through the camp and make sure it's as successful as possible. And then you still have two or three more months with your mentors and with the foundation and the support that you have there. And during that transition period, I bet you're going to come up with some really cool ideas and a very interesting direction to take this work. And so one last thought. Maybe to conclude for those who are kind of a couple of years behind you, what advice do you have for a boy or girl who's finishing up middle school ready to kind of transition? Into high school, but is ambitious, like you are and were excited about college. Not sure what's coming. Maybe stressed out, just like you were. Trying to do everything through the prism of what's going to be most impressive to someone that I'll never meet. But what advice do you have for someone coming up behind you that maybe looks up to you and wants to accomplish what you've accomplished?

SPEAKER B

Sure. So about a year and a half ago, I will say this. I was a complete introvert. I kept to myself. I was very independent. That's just how I work. I mean, even online I was doing really well because I just love doing the work by myself. But yeah, one of the biggest recommendations that I have, and I've said it before, a team is really important. You need help. I know it might be hard for the introverts and the people who like to keep them themselves. It's something you need to do. You cannot do this by yourself. It's way too much. I mean, I'm still overwhelmed right now, and I have a lot of people on my team, but I'm working toward it. I'm trying to get a bigger team with me. I mean, I have an assistant director, activities director. I've got four teachers. I've got over six volunteers. I have a lot of people working with me, and it's still a lot, but they are all lifesavers. Nonetheless, you really need a team on this. And if you're thinking about doing a project like would if you're not in California and Nevada, because Dragon Kim is only in those places, if you can't find a place or community like Dragon Kim or you're not able to get into it, I would look for something similar to it. Because these programs are really helpful for your leadership. They give you really good leadership training. They allow you to create really good connections. They make you outgoing. I mean, I was talking to way more people than I ever had when I was doing these leadership trainings. And it's rigorous, but it's worth it. They force you to give structure to your project, and you need that discipline. You need it. They teach you integrity, responsibility. They teach everything a leader needs in their project. And another thing I suggest is doing a cohort like this. The college info that I've learned from Mr. Gardner is amazing. Mean, when I was having the Cohort about a year ago, I was having so many AHA moments in the application process with the admissions, with everyday things. I mean, I remember at the beginning, we were talking about just, like, the sleep schedule and getting 9 hours of sleep compared to, like, six. And I started doing that. I actually got into it and helped a lot. That kind of stuff is like, you only learn that kind of stuff in places like this, but yeah, I recommend doing college courses like this, doing your research on things that you might want to do for projects, using your passions, especially your core values, to work on those projects, because those are really important in your alignment. People will be even more interested because you come from those backgrounds and finding a really strong community that you can work with. And a team. A team is really important.

SPEAKER A

Yeah, those are basically amazing. I love your advice. I think it's spot on. One of the things that we talked about, some people might be thinking, well, where do I apply for these organizations that can help me and give me all the training? One of the things that we learned in the Cohort is that actually, a lot of these organizations that will help you the most, they're not looking for high school students. They don't even think that high school students are interested in what they're doing. And so a lot of these opportunities that we're actually seeking out, it's great to find one. And you've had such a great experience with yours. But most of these 99% of them are organizations that are just busy trying to solve the problem that you want to solve. And when you can find out who. They are and talk to them and get acquainted with them, then they'll be excited to take you under their wing. There's lots and lots of I don't want anyone to feel like, well, now my job is to find an organization that's going to give me $5,000 and give me all the leadership training and everything else. There are endless opportunities because there are so many organizations, so many groups of adults trying to solve problems, that once you clarify what your core values are and you clarify the problem in your world, that violates those core values that you want to contribute towards solving. That's when all these opportunities become clear. Because you've clarified what matters most to you and you begin taking action. You begin finding the thought leaders. And when you find those thought leaders, you find the organizations and everything else. So I just wanted to clarify for everyone listening in, you don't have to now be consumed trying to figure out who's going to give you $5,000 and a bunch of leadership training. Those organizations are great, but that's not the only way to build a team. Justin, your advice just so spot on, so incredible, and thank you so much for sharing your story. Would it be okay, are you open to kind of chatting again in six or twelve months about how this evolved from there?

SPEAKER B

Yeah, I'd love to. And would it be okay if I shared my social for the account?

SPEAKER A

Yeah, go for it. Please do. How can people find those families who have a family member who struggles with autism? Honestly, I would not be surprised if in a few months you have evolved to some kind of online outreach or some kind of support that helps the twelve and eleven year olds, that helps people outside of California, outside of your area. Just because I know you and I know how your brain works. Right now you're focused on making this camp as good as possible, but pretty soon I wouldn't be surprised if you opened up and a lot of people would want to know how to reach you and how to get your support for these children with autism. So yes, please do share how we can find you.

SPEAKER B

Yeah, sure. The project is on Instagram at Artsparks and also you can check out our [email protected]. I believe we have a bunch of information on the website about the camp. Also an enrollment form if you're interested. We do accept people through the waitlist. There's always spots opening during the days even. But yeah, you can also email me at justin at artsparks. oc.org as well. I'm always accepting emails from parents or anybody interested in volunteering or spreading the word. Yeah, I'd love to speak to you via that and yeah, that's about it.

SPEAKER A

What an incredible cause. Amazing. We'll go ahead and I'll make sure to write down all of those things and put them in the show notes as well so that people can access them there. Justin, thank you so much for taking your time and thank you for the incredible mission that you've committed yourself to, to helping children with autism learn through the arts. It's a beautiful mission. It's a beautiful impact project that you've begun. I just can't wait to see where you take it. And honestly, this is one of those things when parents and students are listening in, no one's going to think, oh, once college applications are in, he's done with this. Because it's so obvious that you truly are committed, truly love what you're doing, the impact that you're making. And when you get to college, guess what? That's going to be the real beginning. Because that's where you'll have extra resources. You'll have more of a deeper skill set because of what you've already done. You'll have a network of support that will blow you away and can't wait to see what this project looks like in five or ten years when you're a professional organization solving massive problems on a massive scale. And that's what this is all about. So kudos to you. I'm just so much love and respect and props to you, the good work that you're doing and are going to continue to do. Thank you so much for sharing your story with us.

SPEAKER B

Thank you for having me. I'm excited for the future.

SPEAKER A

For the episode came from we are here by declare p I'm Steve Gardner. If you like what you heard, please subscribe and share with a friend. Thanks for listening.