YWLC Alumni 2018

Zakirah and Maria worked on a group project to start an urban farm at their school, Sharpstown High School. They had many obstacles and challenges, from getting approval from the principal to finding the right person to supervise and teach gardening. They knew it was a long and difficult process but their passion, assertiveness, and perseverance – all the tools they learned from the YWLC conference – made all the difference.

“The most unexpected thing that happened during our TAC journey was that our project won a $20,000 grant from HISD Innovation Foundation. After a lot of rejection emails from numerous grants, we started to lose faith and started questioning whether we will be able to even make our project a successful one. However, being persistent really paid off in the end!”

“The most rewarding part about this experience was seeing the positive impact we are making on our peers.”