Latest news with #youthmentorship
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Michael Gaston Becomes First African American President of SC Exchange Club District
ISLE OF PALMS, S.C (WCBD) — A historic milestone for the South Carolina Exchange Club Michael Gaston has been sworn in as the organization's first African American district president. The induction took place during the club's annual convention on Isle of Palms, where members, family, and supporters gathered to celebrate. 'We're here to serve, to lift each other up—and that's exactly what I plan to do,' Gaston said. With over 20 years of community service and youth mentorship, Gaston now hopes to unite chapters across the state under one mission service through unity. 'Harvest is peaceful—but labor is fuel,' he said. 'We need to work together, not separately.' Gaston also mentored Kenneth Battle, the first Black president of the Charleston chapter, who emphasized the importance of continuing to serve underserved communities. 'Service is our highest calling,' Battle said. 'The Charleston chapter has deep roots, and we're ready to grow deeper.' Want to get involved? Learn more or join a local chapter at Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Wall Street Journal
6 days ago
- Health
- Wall Street Journal
‘The Family Dynamic' Review: Sibling Opportunities
President Obama didn't want to go. He was returning home to Chicago in 2012 to deliver a speech at Hyde Park High School, and his schedule was already jammed. I was Chicago's mayor at the time, and leaned into my reputation for being lousy at taking 'no' for an answer. 'Mr. President,' I said, 'I served for a long time as your chief of staff, and I'm allowed one ask—this is it.' Begrudgingly he agreed to participate in 'Becoming a Man,' a program to connect at-risk youth with male mentors, five days a week, for three hours each day during the school year. He was taken in. The program partly inspired his second-term initiative 'My Brother's Keeper.' 'Becoming a Man' came frequently to mind as I was reading Susan Dominus's 'The Family Dynamic.' Ms. Dominus, a writer for the New York Times Magazine, begins with a provocative premise. For all the attention society invests in understanding the role parents play in shaping their child's life, we pay comparatively little attention to the effect of the household as a whole—specifically whether a child with siblings is the firstborn, the youngest or falls somewhere in the middle. Ms. Dominus presents us with a series of family stories (with a passing reference to mine) and explains what the latest research tells us about how human character is shaped by a person's unique family structure. Much of Ms. Dominus's account confirms truths that ordinary people know instinctively: that children are shaped by the place they occupy in their extended family, that it matters if children are encouraged to try new things and admonished when they fail, that children flourish when they feel secure at home and wither when they don't. And yes, much is determined by birth order. I once complained to my mother that she loved my older brother, Ezekiel, more than me, to which she replied, in what I wasn't sure was a joke, 'No, I hate you all equally.' What's remarkable is that, in the political circles in which I run—that is, among Democrats—you can't discuss these topics openly and honestly. When, as mayor, I delivered a public-safety speech that touched on fatherhood and male role models, the activist community denounced me. Many on the left also criticized President Obama when he focused on the scourge of paternal absence. Ever since the furious reaction to the Moynihan Report 60 years ago—in which Daniel Patrick Moynihan, then serving in the Johnson administration, concluded that black poverty was largely a result of family breakdown—many on the progressive left have tried to steer all conversation about disparate outcomes to questions of economic inequality and institutional racism. These realities play a critical role, for sure. But the family, as Ms. Dominus demonstrates, is the fundamental factor.
