One of the most meaningful parts of our work is seeing impact come to life through the leaders and organizations we support.
CATALYSTS Scholars

Amira Barrett
2024 CATALYSTS ScholarDuring the Spring of 2024, I organized and led a community service initiative called “A Minute with Morehouse.” Thirty students from the Atlanta University Center along with fifty students at Booker T. Washington and again with sixty students at Tri-Cities High School spent a day filming with their cell phones. The next day, they edited the footage into a one-minute short which was shown at a community screening with parents a week later. Many of these students who initially said they were not going to college came to us after the showcase and said they were filling out college applications so they could be leaders in the filmmaking industry. Through this initiative, my team and I taught Black high schoolers that they have the power to be leaders in their storytelling journey through film.

Jeremy Hall
2024 CATALYSTS ScholarAs President and Cohort Lead for the University Innovation Fellows Program and proud owner of Motion Academy, a classified discord community dedicated to helping individuals navigate the complexities of life and find success in a sea of choices, I am currently promoting awareness of existing educational resources and supporting initiatives that aim to make healthcare training more accessible.

Xavier Doyle
2023 CATALYSTS ScholarWhile volunteering at a drive-thru food pantry, I founded a monthly Zoom teen cooking club. The pantry received fresh vegetables and fruit from local farms but many clients did not have access to cooktops or ovens due to living in temporary housing or extended-stay hotels. So my cooking club started to demonstrate some cooking techniques using ingredients from the food pantry and a microwave or toaster oven.

Michelle Morel Perez
2023 CATALYSTS ScholarI will continue to voluntarily tutor and read to kids, always aiming to instill confidence in them and show them that their opinions matter. In the future, I would like to start a nonprofit similar to Ebookbuddy, where volunteers read to children. Instead of focusing solely on reading, I want my program to encompass various subjects like math, science, and social studies. This way, children can get a more comprehensive tutoring session, getting help in all their classes if need be. I want to give back to the community by setting children from all walks of life up for success.









