These Roots Run Deep: Academy Nourishes Youth Leadership

by Kristin Satterlee

Roots Summer Leadership Academy (RSLA) is New Mexico Black Leadership Council’s marquee kids’ program, a free three-week arts-based summer camp. This year’s theme is Nafsi Kujali—Swahili for “soul care”—and the curriculum will keep that in mind for every subject: theater, music, dance, art, STEM, and social-emotional learning.

Andreana Thomas, Roots Conservatory manager this year, has big ideas for the subject in the camp’s title: Leadership. “To me, anyone can be a leader,” Thomas says. Camp attendees will “identify their leadership skills and understand what it takes to be a leader. Knowing when to step up and knowing when to follow.”

What’s that? When to follow? Isn’t this about leadership? “Exactly,” says Thomas: A good leader knows when to help other leaders realize their vision. “Leaders also follow. But they’ve got to know who to follow.”

Thomas learned how to lead when she entered Hofstra University after a youth spent in inner-city schools in West Haven, Connecticut. “I was able to see the difference in what communities had to offer” and the gap in college preparation for students from different areas. While she didn’t study to be an educator then, she grew fascinated with history and started teaching. When Thomas “shifted the numbers for Success Academy and wound up having the most growth in the state of New York for test scores,” her confidence lifted. She took off running on a journey of growing educational leadership that brought her to New Mexico, NMBLC, and Roots. “I knew I wanted to be in New Mexico; I knew New Mexico had need. And I love positive youth development.”

Now Thomas brings those skills to RSLA. She’s most excited about the social-emotional learning curriculum built by King Bradley, NMBLC Well-Being Coordinator. “I want kids to know: You’re human. We all are human.”

In a world still emerging from COVID, where many people feel lost and depressed, Thomas wants kids to know that it’s okay to feel exactly how they feel: “It’s a moment. It’s okay to embrace that moment, and it’s okay to understand how we get out of it. We’re not stuck here.”

Each year, RSLA ends with a Harambee (“all pull together” in Swahili), a celebration and performance that brings all the arts together. Even this final celebration is a chance to learn. “You don’t always have to be the performer,” Thomas points out. “There are jobs behind the scenes: the production, the lights, the visuals.”

The Harambee—hard work, stage fright, and all—is an opportunity for students to see how far they’ve come in three short weeks, and to realize that “You can overcome anything. And we are stronger together than we are individually.” For Thomas, that extends beyond RSLA to the whole community, and the resources that NMBLC makes available to build that community.

“Go to our website,” Thomas says. “So many free events happen, but we don’t know where to go to look for them. Our website will tell you not just what NMBLC is doing, but what everyone in the community is doing. … If you want to stop by, stop by!” However you visit, don’t forget to register the kids in your life for RSLA! Registration is open until June 21 at 11:59pm. Sign up or learn more at bit.ly/rsla2024.