Davoné Williamson
Age 18, 2009 North Central HS graduate, freshman at Purdue University
Counselor at St. Florian Center
As a Counselor at St. Florian Center, award winner Davoné Williamson, a 2009 North Central graduate and freshman at Purdue, has learned to be broaden his perspective about the potential within everyone. “No matter how a kid looks, or acts, or lives, a kid is just a kid. Every kid wants you to call them by their name. Every kid likes to have a good time. Every kid wants to feel appreciated,” said Williamson. “No matter how they might act initially, there is always a way to involve a child. It’s only a matter of finding the right way to encourage them.”
This was Williamson’s first year as a counselor in the program, but he has been a part of the program since he was six-years-old. During counselor training, Williamson offered insight from his experience as a camper that helped make the program better, says Michael Morgan, Summer Camp Supervisor at St. Florian Leadership Center. He encouraged the other counselors to treat all campers equally and to not have favorites and led discussions about bringing out the best in everyone.
As the son of St. Florian’s Executive Director, Williamson had extra pressure to succeed. “Davoné has excelled on every level of leadership this summer,” said Morgan, “and he is not keeping the information to himself. He is passionate about sharing his knowledge. Davoné has led by example, shown initiative to do the small jobs, and worked extra hours to make the program the best it could be.”
The mission of the Saint Florian Center is to provide at-risk Indianapolis youth an opportunity to foster leadership skills, develop problem solving methods, and survival tactics through a variety of programming and opportunities in the community in order to create leaders of tomorrow. Indianapolis Firefighters developed the program in 1992 to influence the youth to “Do Something Positive - Be Someone Positive - Have Something Positive.”
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