The FUTP 60 Impact

I’m not exactly sure what I want to do after high school, but I do know what I don’t what to do. I don’t want to be someone without a college education and I don’t want to be someone who doesn’t help others. I also don’t know where I’d be without Fuel Up to Play 60.

It’s amazing how those 5 words can mean nothing at all to some, but the world to others. Fuel Up to Play 60 is a program that impacts millions of students across America. There are currently 9 Youth Council Members (including myself) who those 5 words mean everything to. Youth Council works tirelessly to ensure the program’s success. We have monthly conference calls to discuss how to further develop the program and perform extra roles as needed. Probably the most important thing we do is aim to help Student Ambassadors reach their fullest potential.

Being from a small school, I was surprised to even become a State Ambassador in 2014. In the book A Path Appears by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, they say that “talent is universal but opportunity is not”. Students going to smaller schools don’t have the same opportunities as students in big schools have. Whether it’s in extracurricular or in the classroom, they just don’t.

What Fuel Up to Play 60 does is create opportunity in all communities, in all schools, in every classroom. My school has gained so much from Fuel Up to Play 60. Sand volleyball pits, breakfast bars, rock climbing walls, cardio gyms, and the list goes on. Fuel Up to Play 60 provides more than just health and fitness goals and equipment for schools and students. Fuel Up to Play 60 creates better people.

Before my first Student Ambassador Summit, two summers ago, I was what one would call a good student. I paid attention in class, I did my work, and I turned everything in on time. But that’s the problem, I was just a good student.

I went to the Summit as a shy 13 year old kid who just tried to fit in with everyone else. The Summit was truly a life changing experience. Being there I learned about many Plays to implement in my school. I was given the opportunity to create new friendships with people from across the country. I also learned how to not be just a good student, but a good person. Being around other people my age and hearing and seeing them doing great things inspired me. It created a desire for me to be more. I realized that young people can do just as much as adults, if not more. I realized that young people can do anything they set their mind to. I realized that young people are not tomorrow’s leaders, young people are today’s leaders.

I’m currently in 11 extracurricular programs at my school and hold an office in 6 of them. If I had not been involved in Fuel Up to Play 60, I wouldn’t have the leadership skills or confidence to be in any of those. Without Fuel Up to Play 60 I wouldn’t have the courage or requirements to be able to apply for the new school I want to attend next year.

Fuel Up to Play 60 has provided me with more than I ever expected. I’m just a 16 year old boy from a town with 1,200 people, but because of the opportunities that Fuel Up to Play 60 provides, I have done much more than the average person my age. Talent is universal, and opportunity is not, but as soon as Fuel Up to Play 60 is universal, opportunity will be too.

Austin
Youth Council Member
Arkansas
10th Grade