shaping next
generation leaders

youth leadership

Metanoia Youth Leadership Academy (MYLA) builds leaders of character, excellence, and presence.

Our youth leadership pipeline identifies and invests in the assets of each leader from elementary to high school. We partner with parents, schools, and the larger community to facilitate rigorous and holistic youth development. We are pushing forward to create life-long learners equipped to contribute and serve as community citizens.

MYLA offers year-round out-of-school programming for scholars recommended for showing leadership potential. This includes attentive daily afterschool programming and our summer Children’s Defense Fund Freedom School. We build outside partnerships that allow scholars to sharpen their skills and invest in their own interests.

Why our pipeline is different.

MYLA programs prioritize effectiveness in young people’s lives over scale or size. We believe working with young leaders is one of the most effective, holistic, and efficient ways to build community from the inside rather than depending on outside agencies to provide large scale services. Several priorities flow through all MYLA programs:

Longitudinal, year-round programs

Rather than offering opportunities only during the school year or summer for a given age group, we offer a continuum of leadership-building experiences for students in 1st through 12th grades that are consistent and year-round. These programs support students identified by their teachers at each level of development so that they can truly succeed. We offer rigorous after-school programming and day-long leadership and academic opportunities at our summer Children’s Defense Fund Freedom School.  

Next generation leaders

We seek to create a generation of community leaders capable of transforming the community from within. With limited resources, we believe that working with students identified by their local teachers as leaders is an efficient and effective way for our community to heal itself.

STEAM learning

MYLA’s educational programs are focused on helping scholars progress and learn in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM). With partners like The Boeing Company, Cummins, Clemson University, and the Medical University of South Carolina, we help students explore learning and careers to connect with good jobs that are available in our area.

Economic opportunities

Scholars are taught about financial literacy and business from a young age. High school scholars operate their own businesses and earn income at our Youth Entrepreneurship Center (YEC) on Reynolds Avenue. They save a portion of their revenue in college savings accounts.

Family engagement

Parental involvement keeps scholars in our program, helps to establish relationships between home and MYLA, and keeps parents informed about what scholars are doing. Parents who are engaged, informed, and part of the team motivate scholars to reach new heights. Families are required to earn participation points to keep children in our youth programs. On average, MYLA parents exceed program expectations by contributing above the required points each semester!