Miranda Johnson

University of Colorado Denver - 2018

RECIPROCITY, which stands for Reciprocating Progress in the City - Denver Mentors collaborating with Denver High School students.

Project: My Puksta Project for the upcoming academic youth is called RECIPROCITY, which stands for Reciprocating Progress in the City. The pilot program will involve CU Denver Mentors collaborating with Denver High School students. The mentors will be providing their students with opportunity, community and a sense of importance. It is through new found confidence that our youth will feel empowered to be young leaders themselves. By experiencing service learning and activities outside of the classroom eventually our youth will have the resources to return home to awaken their communities and address the deep and personal roots of their neighborhoods social inequalities.

Inspiration: My inspiration stems from wishing that I had a personal, one-on-one mentor as I was entering into high school and college. Every kid deserves a mentor that inspires them and acts as a resource of support and trust. Unfortunately, not every child has such a guiding individual in their lives due to circumstances at home, issues in their community or simply not having the available resources. I hope my Puksta Project can change that. Even if the impact is small at first, I believe it has the potential to grow and reach more kids each and every year.

Future Plans for Project: In this civic engagement work, I hope to impact the lives of our youth. I want them to walk away from my program knowing that they are capable of social change.