Out of the Mouth of Babes "Our Future Leaders"
Welcome to "Out of the Mouth of Babes: Our Future Leaders" with Kevin Handley Sr.!
In this enlightening and empowering podcast, we delve into the minds of the next generation—the brilliant and dynamic youth who hold the keys to our collective future. Join our host, Kevin Handley Sr., as he takes us on an inspiring journey through conversations with young visionaries, activists, innovators, and changemakers from around the world.
Each episode of "Out of the Mouth of Babes" brings you candid and thought-provoking interviews with these remarkable young individuals who are making a significant impact in their communities and beyond. From tackling pressing global issues to spearheading innovative projects, these youth leaders are reshaping the world as we know it.
Kevin Handley Sr., a seasoned and compassionate host, skillfully uncovers the stories behind these young achievers, delving into their motivations, challenges, and the transformative experiences that have shaped their journeys. Listeners will be inspired by the depth of insight and wisdom these young guests possess, proving that age is no barrier to effecting meaningful change.
Whether you're a parent, educator, community member, or simply passionate about youth-driven initiatives, "Out of the Mouth of Babes: Our Future Leaders" offers a unique platform to learn, engage, and celebrate the voices of the youth. Together, we can gain valuable perspectives and support the aspirations of these incredible young leaders, nurturing a brighter and more inclusive tomorrow.
Join us as we amplify the voices of the youth and discover the extraordinary potential that lies within "Out of the Mouth of Babes: Our Future Leaders" with Kevin Handley Sr. Be ready to be moved, motivated, and inspired!
Out of the Mouth of Babes "Our Future Leaders"
S1 EP 1 PT2 - 053124 - High School Connections: Trust, Change, and Influence
Show me your friends and I'll show you your future." Ever wondered how true this saying is, especially during those transformative high school years? Join me, Kevin Senior, as I sit down with Zay and Kiki, two perceptive 10th graders, to unravel the complexities of high school friendships. We explore the essence of trust, loyalty, and the familial bonds that define these relationships. Zay and Kiki bravely share their personal experiences, opening up about how friendships evolve, sometimes drifting apart as interests and values change. They offer insights into the challenges of choosing the right people to surround themselves with, recognizing when it's time to let go, and navigating the pressures of peer influence on their life paths.
But friendship isn't just about the challenges—it’s also a source of strength and growth. We dive into stories that illuminate the powerful role of encouragement and community in personal development. The episode celebrates the impact of nurturing relationships and mentorship, highlighting the joy of supporting each other’s journeys and witnessing transformative growth. Hear about the gratitude we all feel for those who stand by us, motivating us to express our true selves and share our stories with confidence. Whether you're a student, a parent, or someone seeking inspiration in personal growth, this conversation promises heartfelt reflections and valuable insights into the world of friendships and self-discovery.
Welcome back to session two of Out of the Mouth of Babes. I am your host, Kevin Senior, and I am here with two exceptionally talented students. I'm going to let them introduce themselves. Just introduce your name and what grade you are in.
Speaker 2:I'm Zay and I'm a 10th. Zay and I'm a 10th grader.
Speaker 3:Kiki 10th grader.
Speaker 1:And first of all, let's tell the audience here that's watching something you're really interested in.
Speaker 2:I'm really interested in my sports that I play. I run track and cross country and I play basketball.
Speaker 3:The sports that I play basketball, and writing and reading.
Speaker 1:All right. Well, today we're here to talk about friends. I don't know if you remember that song, friends. You remember that song? Okay, anyway, there's a pretty cool song that I'll let you guys hear at some point. But today, what do you think friendship means and how do you think a healthy friendship should look? And I'll let you guys go, I'm not going to pick you, just kind of.
Speaker 2:I think friendship it means like a bond that you share with someone and they care about you to an extent like I don't know. They just care for you and you care for them and you look out for each other, and I think that looks like you know. I mean, it depends on who it is and it looks different for everybody, but for me it's just someone that's always gonna look out for me and always gonna have my back.
Speaker 3:Don't have theirs um, friendship to me looks kind of like family. You see that person as how you see your family. You confide to them about everything, just having kind of like a best friend, healthy. I would agree with Zay Feeling like it's different for everybody, but also there can be healthy balances and healthy boundaries throughout friendships.
Speaker 1:How have your friends changed as you grew and moved through different seasons of your life?
Speaker 3:Changing as we get older and people like high school and middle school you go up from middle school to high school and people kind of like go their separate ways and find their own friend groups and and like five different things that they enjoy to do and like also realizing that you guys don't always share the same interests so you guys aren't always going to be like as close as you think you are, just like stuff like that and growing.
Speaker 2:Some people like some people stay the same and some people change, and that's okay yeah, kind of to bounce off of that, like how everybody's kind of grown into their own person, especially going into high school. So it's just like you know loving each other and loving each other for those differences and you, you know finding out, and I mean you grow out of friendships, you grow out of certain bonds. So just figuring out which bonds still fit with you and what still works with you.
Speaker 1:What do you guys think about the phrase show me your friends and I'll show you your future?
Speaker 2:I think it's a good phrase because it's, I mean, just even looking around to like the people. Even around the high school that I go to, it's like you see certain people around a certain group and you can kind of see not necessarily their future, but you can kind of see like the path they're kind of headed down. And even some of my previous friends started hanging out with a new group of people and just to see the difference between how they were before and after. So it's like kind of seeing the spiral, not necessarily downwards, but just the spiral they're on.
Speaker 3:With that. I feel like if your friends are doing bad, then that's kind of how you're influenced and that's what you're around, so that's all you see and that's all you know. And if your friends are doing good and pushing you to do positive things, then that's all you see and that's all you know. So, like I feel like that's a good example. To put it like show me your friends and I'll show you your future.
Speaker 1:When do you think it's time to move on from a friendship?
Speaker 2:I think it really just depends like. I think if it if your guys is like morals or like values differ, like as you guys grow, like they value something else more than you do, or not even just that, but like if you guys just start to have different points of view on certain things and it's like you just can't like agree on it, I feel like maybe that's a time where, if they're going down a path that you just don't really believe in, maybe that's the point where you're like, hey, maybe I need to rethink this friendship or whatever relationship you guys have.
Speaker 3:Yeah, to go off what Zay said. If the things that you guys, it's kind of different for people, I guess you could say but like just knowing when it's not good for you anymore, you know that time and I feel like you'll just be ready for the time when it comes.
Speaker 1:Being high school students. You guys have experienced a lot of different things in school and in life. Talk to me a little bit about something that's been pretty challenging, that you've had to overcome in your life.
Speaker 2:I think a big challenge or hurdle I've had to figure out was you don't necessarily need to be friends with everybody and find like the right people, friends to like, really trust and confide in.
Speaker 2:I think that was one of like the biggest struggles going into high school for me was, you know, trying to figure out the right people. I want to be around in the right group of, crowd, all them type of things like and just figuring out the things I I decide that I want to be like involved in. Because I mean to be like involved in, Because I mean, to be honest, there's a lot of bad things, maybe even more than bad, bad and good things that you could be involved with. So it's like, you know, choosing to go to like even like the Wayne County Riders, or like going to go play sports instead of, you know, going to party. I mean just making those decisions for myself, and I think that was a thing that I really had to grow into, coming in in the challenge a little bit for me um, for me is like forcing things that aren't there anymore, like making yourself still want to be somebody's friend or forcing something that's not there.
Speaker 3:that's like kind of grown apart and like just being careful in who you're trusting and who you're confining into, about your situations and things that go on, because not everybody has your best interest at heart.
Speaker 1:So you guys are avid students, great students. You guys are both honor roll students, high GPAs. Talk to me a little bit about a book that has changed your life.
Speaker 2:For me it was like a series. I'm trying to think of what it was right now, but it was like, basically it was kind of going on about the struggles of, like you know what's it called Racism in america, and just like how I just remember this one line from israel. It's like well, one of your, your strongest weapon is your voice, and so it's like just realizing that, like you don't necessarily always have to use like violence or like a force to get your way with someone, not like that, but like to like reach them.
Speaker 3:Like you always't always got to reach them physically, you can reach them with your words and reach to what you really want to say and like figure it out that way um, a book I can't remember the name of it, but it's like I'm sitting here thinking about it um, but this girl like was struggling with being a girl in her age and like the stuff a normal teenager girl goes through, like body image things and she like wasn't healthy. Not eating right like trying to like, I guess, love herself by not eating, and she ended up having to go to like like a eating disorder place with other girls around her and she just kind of knew, like that's not what she wanted for her life and and the way it affected her and her whole family and just things like it taught me how to love yourself as you genuinely like, go and read throughout the book and to just like you know, yeah.
Speaker 1:So, as we start to wind down this session, talk to me a little bit about some of the things that you guys have seen and overcome outside of friendships in life.
Speaker 2:So, like some of the challenging things that you guys feel like you've overcome not just with friendships- Well, there's been a lot of like kind of hurdles for me, a little bit like going into freshman year like my grandpa died and so that was kind of a struggle or like kind of hurdle for me.
Speaker 2:A little bit like going into freshman year like my grandpa died and so that was kind of a struggle or like kind of hurdle for me. To be like trying to really figure out how I felt about it and figure out my feelings, because that was something kind of hard for me at the time and you know, figuring out that it's all right to not be all right, and so I think that was like something that was really hard for me and so like to kind of be able to accept that's how it was and that's how I felt at the time, so kind of being able to come to terms with how I am really feeling, instead of trying to push it to the back and push it to the side and just keep going. It's just not healthy that way, so something like that.
Speaker 3:With me. It would probably be like mental health and stress and just getting through the um, the little things normal people go through, but to a different extent, out of my age, and like eventually leading to much bigger things that nobody really knew that was possible with, like stress and mental health, which is a big, big, big hurdle for me. So that's one thing, all right. Mental health, which is a big, big big hurdle for me.
Speaker 1:So that's one thing, all right. What are your final thoughts? That you want to leave the listeners with Any kind of advice, any kind of things. You want to leave the folks out there in podcast land?
Speaker 2:Well, my only advice would be especially for like any incoming high schoolers just to be yourself, and if your friends don't believe or fit with that, then find a new one. I mean, there's always someone out there for you and you may think there's not or that there's no one that's going to really care for you, but there is. So just keep going and then just be yourself just be yourself.
Speaker 3:Um, one thing I would say is that to enjoy your own company before you can enjoy anybody else's company around you, and to genuinely love yourself before you can try to love other people and fulfill what other people need before you do that for your. Do it for yourself before you can do it for anybody else, and stay blessed.
Speaker 1:One of the things that the other group of kids mentioned was they talked a lot about mental health, and so, as we will on our next session, we will have a conversation specifically about mental health and giving you guys the opportunity of talking to your peers about things that you've gone through Not to say that you are mentally unstable, but I think we all in life go through things and I wish that I would have had a group of kids your age or I wish that there were of my peers that were talking about those things, so we had to deal with stuff on our own, whereas you guys now have the supports and people to deal with and it's still a struggle for you. So that's going to be something that we will move to as we look at the next podcast. Secondly, both of you guys are still involved in things. I know that you have a line of jewelry and clothes you want to talk to the listeners about um, yeah, it's called her divine purpose.
Speaker 3:It's a t-shirt brand and jewelry brand. I've started up just kind of little entrepreneur stuff, um, just kind of spreading the the positives about what I've gone through and trying to spread that, making the light out of the darkness and trying to find good things that can come out of your dark situations.
Speaker 1:Are there anything you're involved in, Zay?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would definitely say like the Wynn County Writers. At first coming into it I was a little not really like sounds bad, but kind of took it aback because it was like I had wrote poetry before on my own time and I had enjoyed it but I kind of had fell back because not going to lie, it was an emotional thing. That I kind of stopped was because the last thing I wrote before the Wayne County Writers was I wrote like a goodbye to my grandpa when he passed away coming into freshman year. So like that was one of like another hurdle, like it was like coming to terms with feelings like that. And so I was like I kind of never wrote again because of how strong of an emotion that was. And so it was like I kind of was holding my own self back unknowingly and kind of like I didn't do anything like that.
Speaker 2:And then I had Kevin come up to me and was like hey, I really think I've read some of your previous works and I really think you would be doing well in this and I really want you to try. And he said you know it takes a lot of courage to be able to not just write but also go out and share with everybody else, and so just doing that has really helped, not just with my confidence but but, like you know, being more open, because it's you don't think it when you're just like hearing somebody say it, but it's like you're sitting there expressing your feelings, and so it's really helped a lot.
Speaker 1:Well, I would say I am blessed to know you two, to be around you. I feel like I have been around both of you since you were babies. I feel like I've been around both of you since you were babies and been a part of your lives since you've been really small. And so to see the progress that the two