The Story of Operation REACH Inc.
As a young boy, Kyshun was retained in the first grade for not being able to read at grade level. After experiencing the humiliation of being retained, Kyshun challenged himself to earn high grades so that he would never endure this experience again. By the fourth grade, Kyshun had kept his promise and maintained honor roll status. However, during his fourth grade year he was placed in a third and fourth grade combination class where his teacher, Mrs. Bazzle, used a peer tutoring method, pairing the fourth graders to help advance third graders. When summer came, Mrs. Bazzle encouraged students who lived in close proximity to one another to continue to help each other. This encouragement led Kyshun to begin tutoring younger students in his parents’ garage in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans at the age of eleven. The program continued for many years and grew to thirty youth from the community using all parts of his parents’ home. Kyshun had to then recruit other students to assist his tutoring efforts. This was the early beginning of Kyshun becoming engaged in helping others so that they would not experience failure in school—this really mattered to him.
While working with younger children in his community, a community mentor discovered the works of Kyshun and recommended him for a Youth Leadership Development Camp. This camp taught Kyshun how young people had the power to transform their communities and to create social change. Icons from the Civil Rights Movement frequented this camp to impart the skills, strategies and tactics that empowered individuals to rise up and be a voice for change. Kyshun attended these camps faithfully during the summer, winter and spring sessions and absorbed the wisdom of these elders. It became a powerful source of inspiration and support for thinking about ways young people could affect change. This program gave him a sense of empowerment and equipped him with the tools to further instigate change in his community. Kyshun was also a part of other informal learning opportunities that taught him the values of service and honor such as the 4-H club and Boy Scouts.
