News

On Wednesday November 5^th the Art Gallery of York University (AGYU) and Success Beyond Limits youth were awarded the Ontario Association of Art Galleries 2014 Education Award for If We Ruled the World: Creating an Urban Spatial Imaginary, a multidisciplinary art education program.

Mentored and led by spoken word artists, the M.A.D. Poet (aka Melissa A. Dean), visual artist and graphic designer Mark “Kurupt” Stoddart and emerging filmmaker Chevy X King, the youth engaged in a five-month program where they developed art in the spoken, written and visual form.

If We Ruled the World was a groundbreaking program marking the third year that the AGYU has collaborated with Success Beyond Limits. Through this program, the youth created visual and written artwork that expressed their individual experiences. While the students did a great deal of self-reflection to produce a library of artwork, they collaborated to produce a song entitled “If we ruled the world” where each student illustrated their thoughts on their community, showcasing both it’s beauty and teachings. Students explored their artistic potential while unpacking their ideas of self, their experiences and goals.

Princess is a former Westview student wrapping up her high school journey by upgrading her credits at night school. 2012 was the year Princess was introduced to Success Beyond Limits by a friend who had been a part of the family for quite some time. After claims of her personal struggles with attitude, Princess was empowered to explore aspects of her character that were both negative and positive. Through the organization, Princess was able to work closely with the staff who recognized her raw potential. When asked what she learned through the organization Princess asserted that she had a platform to express her social concerns for community as well as showcase her passion to explore the arts. Princess also revealed that through the mentorship of staff, she was able to come to a more balanced place with her love and respect for herself.

Overall, Princess appreciates the love the staff shows through the roles they play and how they’ve helped her overcome her own personal ignorance. As a young woman who played a key role as a mentor, Princess also acknowledges the evident work experiences gained just by being a part of the organization; transferable skills like public speaking, working with youth and coordinating events were just some of the skills that Princess garnered. As an aspiring Post-Secondary student Princess learnt through SBL that she would like to become an educator following the “Each One Teach One” model. Despite her past challenges Princess is trailblazing a path of leadership for young women to respect and follow which is a quality of hers that is invaluable to the organization. Go Princess!

Dwayne Hydol (also known as Chev-roye) is a young man who has become a well-known face in the Success Beyond Limits youth space and is known for his positive attitude. Dwayne never fails to greet SBL staff in and out of the space and always sets a healthy atmosphere for the younger students to express themselves and grow through his rapidly improving interpersonal skills. Dwayne started out as a mentee in the Success Beyond Limits Summer program in 2008, and came to Westview Centennial S.S. two years later with the intention of improving on his negative interaction with peers and teachers, whom he deemed as “authoritative” and never having his best interests at heart.

Currently, Dwayne has been working towards fulfilling a mentorship role with Success Beyond Limits by teaching youth who have expressed an interest in culinary arts through our cooking program that happens during our after-school program. Dwayne’s intention is to use the experience that is gained with Success Beyond Limits to start his own catering business, which is one of the many aspirations that he has.  Dwayne frequently shares his dreams and goals with the Success Beyond Limits family who commends and value his growth as an African-Canadian young person. Success Beyond Limits is open and willing to support Dwayne through his struggles as well as his triumphs. Go Chev-roye!

Application – Co-op Teaching NW Evening

For all Emery students who have been a part of SBL in the past, please come out to a meeting on November 25th at lunch. We will be discussing possible programming at Emery by SBL. We would like to hear from you!

Click the below link to download our summer report!

SBL Summer Report 2014

A documentary produced by youth for youth, Youth on Democracy is a city-wide collaboration featuring interviews with youth across Toronto who provide eye opening perspectives that makes the ‘apathy’ excuse a lot harder to sell. While shedding light on why young people aren’t heading to the polls in great numbers, it also showcases the inspiring ways young people are and can be involved in their communities and make a difference in our city.