Stone Soup Leadership Institute

Category: W.9-10.2 (Writing | Text Types and Purposes)

A Messenger of Hope

When Edward James Olmos wanted to deliver a strong anti-drug and anti-gang message to kids in the barrios in his film American Me, he went home to East Los Angeles. There he invited young gang members like George Sarabia and Gil Espinoza as extras and crewmembers. He hoped to demystify the glamour of gangs, while giving kids new skills and a way out of the gang world. Before he met Eddie, George had only one goal in life: to come back from prison a hero — having earned his “stripes.” He now shares his life-changing story with other young people, asking them to stop the violence. “We all have a choice. You can do whatever you want to do,” George says. Then he pauses and adds, with quiet intensity, “Think about it. What you could do. What you could be.”

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Kennedy and the Peace Corps

“Ask not what your country can do for you: ask what you can do for your country.” With these inspiring words, John F. Kennedy launched the Peace Corps in 1961. Since then, over 150,000 Americans have brought skills, life-saving technological improvements – and a goodwill message of generosity and optimism to poor countries around the world. Harris Wofford tells the little-known story of how it began when Kennedy, on the campaign trail, spontaneously asked a group of college students if they would give a few years of their life to help others in underdeveloped parts of the world. The students’ response was so overwhelmingly positive, and their energy so contagious, that it galvanized the newly elected President into action. His campaign promise to create a corps of young men and women who “could work miracles for peace,” has been coming true ever since.

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From Street Kids to Wall Street

When Steve Mariotti, a successful young businessperson, was mugged by a bunch of teenagers in the streets of New York it changed his life. He decided to find a way to channel these young peoples’ destructive energy and creativity into more positive pursuits. In this story, we learn how the organization Steve started – the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship – has helped kids like Felix Rouse turn their passions into profitable small businesses. In just 10 years, NFTE had 186 teachers and 14,000 mentors who are replacing the deadens of drugs, crime and teenage pregnancy for over 10,000 students with a vigorous pursuit of success in the business world. As one graduate put it, “My dream is not to die in poverty but to have poverty die in me.”

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Freedom from Madness

Mahatma Gandhi had a very ambitious mission: to teach total nonviolence to the people of India. He had used civil disobedience and his fasts to free India from British imperialism in 1946. Now he wanted to teach his people how to create peace and racial harmony. “We are one human race,” he would say. “Religion must unify us, not divide us.” In this inspiring story, Gandhi’s grandson tells the story of how the great teacher helped Souren Bannetji, whose life had been ruined by religious hatred, to set aside anger and vengeance and learn how to forgive. Out of tragedy, Souren could create a new life for himself and his new family. He came to understand Gandhi’s words: “Change can come only one life at a time.”

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