Dr. Susan Wemette
Founder, Blue Planet Global Education
As a child, Dr. Susan Wemette loved performing in plays and dreamed of someday working as a professional actor. After earning a bachelor’s degree in theater and then a master’s degree in acting, she worked as a teaching artist when she wasn’t auditioning or performing. Though she saw how arts integration helped children better express and understand themselves, she discovered that that alone wasn’t going to help them have a greater understanding of the world at large.
“There was a project where I had teenagers perform their own work, and I remember hearing a couple of kids talking about how they were going into the military,” says Wemette, director of arts integration and creativity at the Center for Creative Education (CCE). “It was during the Gulf War, and it became clear to me that they had no real sense of the world beyond the borders of this country, or even Florida. They didn’t have any perspective on what they would be doing or encountering when they were there.”
Concerned, Wemette reached out to colleagues who were doing theater programs with children in conflict-torn countries like Kosovo and Rwanda.
“I asked them to put together a collaboration about what it meant to live in a country that experienced conflict firsthand,” she says. “And when they put together a theater piece about that worldview, it was such an impactful moment that I thought about what theater could do for young people.”
In 2008, she formed Blue Planet Global Education, which engages teachers around the world in classroom-to-classroom projects that enhance global understanding, break harmful stereotypes, and lead to a more peaceful world. For students at CCE, it’s an opportunity to broaden horizons.
“Pen pals was never what we were endeavoring to do,” she says. “For example, we have second graders here connecting with students in Morocco connecting about the idea of what community means to them. What does it look like and what do you need to have in one? And so, when we exchange these art projects, you get to compare and contrast across cultures and learn that there’s another country called Morocco where kids like them go to school, but they wear different clothing and have different traditions and that’s okay. You’re not learning from a textbook. You’re learning from a child in another part of the world and it’s immediate and fascinating.”
Another way Blue Planet Global helps kids better understand the world is through the exchange of culture boxes, where students assemble newspapers, menus, coins, games, candy, and the like that will help explain their culture to kids their age in another country. Wemette enjoys seeing students at CCE excited about a newly arrived culture box. Their joy in learning about other cultures is gratifying too.
“Art is universal,” she says. “You don’t have to speak the other person’s language to listen to their music, or see their dances, or look at their art. You can get a sense of their culture by sharing their art, dance, and drama. Art breaks down barriers.”
Gabrielle McGee
Founder, Wave Makers Powered by Livingston’s Way
Gabrielle McGee had never been starstruck until she met her childhood idol, the marine biologist and oceanographer Sylvia Earle.
“We became fast friends over ice cream,” says McGee, who was formerly the chief operating officer of the Tory Burch Foundation. “She invited me to join her on an ocean expedition in Galapagos, so I could get to know what she was doing through [her marine conservation nonprofit] Mission Blue. I went on this trip, and it was so funny because there were a ton of National Geographic people, and then there was me. I’m not a diver. I’m not a scientist. I wouldn’t even categorize myself as a swimmer. But everyone made me feel so welcome.”
McGee recalls feeling like she had been ripped out of the corporate world and connected anew with the sea of her youth. Growing up in Long Beach, New York, she saw the water and sand as great equalizers that brought people from all walks of life together. But on this trip with Earle, McGee, a mother of three, recognized just how limited our knowledge of the sea is and wanted to change that.
In 2023, she founded Wave Makers, a program of the nonprofit Livingston’s Way that delivers STEM programs, scholarships, and educational content to raise environmental awareness.
“Florida has such rich natural resources,” she says. “Coming from up North, to being here where there’s such beauty, I think it’s important for kids to learn about how they can protect the environment.”
McGee wanted to create a program that was “easy to dive into.” In Wave Makers’ “scrappy” first year, it launched a statewide call for students in three age categories to share what they had learned about the sea. The fourth and oldest age category presented easy-to-implement business ideas that would enhance our understanding of the ocean. The winning idea, an adaptable remotely operated vehicle that could explore the ocean depths, won a $5,000 scholarship. Some 98 schools across the state participated in the event.
“There were some kids whose presentations were so good, they could be on National Geographic now,” McGee says. “By doing this, they’re building confidence to tell stories about what they’ve learned. Sylvia listened to some of these and was just blown away by how good they were.”
In the future, McGee says Wave Makers hopes to create custom content about the ocean for kids that could be enjoyed on the way to school or soccer practice. She envisions podcasts where Sylvia Earle talks about the ocean, or where young Wave Makers who participated in this past year’s contest talk about topics they’ve researched. In June, McGee released the picture book Wave Makers: How to Become an Ocean Superhero, hoping to inspire kids to think of the small but meaningful ways they can help the ocean and the creatures that live in it. Anything to spread the message, and grow the partnerships and donations needed to run this group successfully.
“Kids are unstoppable if we invite them to the conversation,” she says. “At any age, all of us have the power to create change.”
Christine Sylvain
Founder and Executive Director, Path to College Fellowship
Christine Sylvain’s passion for mentoring is rooted in personal experience. At age 15, her brilliant Haitian-born father lost his job, turning her family’s life upside down. The family had to move each time her father found work, so Sylvain went to four different high schools in three years. Though Sylvain was bright and had good grades, she struggled with depression—and a sense of direction.
“When it was time for me to apply to college, school counselors didn’t think it was right to mentor a student with my test scores,” she recalls. Her mother stepped in to fill that void, steering Sylvain toward Florida Atlantic University’s Wilkes Honors College and a much-needed Bright Futures Scholarship.
After earning a bachelor’s degree, Sylvain thought about becoming a lawyer, but after interning at a law firm, she decided that it wasn’t her path. Her love of storytelling made her a natural fit for making documentaries, and then teaching high school English. But as natural as it was for Sylvain to be in front of students, she didn’t understand why they wouldn’t listen to her.
“I learned they wouldn’t care what I had to say until I showed I cared about them,” she says. She knew the kids in her classroom were bright like she was and had plenty of potential to pursue their dreams. But, coming from lower-income communities, they didn’t have the role models and support system to push them to the next level. Her goal: giving them the skill set they needed to earn a college degree.
In 2017, Sylvain launched the Path to College Fellowship, which aims to secure the acceptance of as many high-achieving, low-income students into top-tier universities as possible. Its flagship leadership program takes promising tenth graders from Title I schools and offers them one-on-one mentoring, weekly soft skill development, and tutoring sessions over a three-year period.
“When we get them in the tenth grade, they are not very confident and are overwhelmed with the challenges in their lives,” Sylvain says. “By the summer before their senior year, they’ve got a knockout personal statement, their test scores are up, and they’ve been through leadership development. They’re tenacious and as ready as they are going to be for college.”
Since its founding, 75 percent of students who go through the Path to College program have been accepted into top-tier universities such as Duke, Northwestern, and Harvard, and 100 percent of graduates are admitted to four-year colleges. Seventy percent of those students receive full scholarships.
Community support has been vital to Path to College’s success. Not only does the group seek mentors and other volunteers, but donations that allow it to continue its crucial mission. In April, the nonprofit celebrated a symbolic groundbreaking for its Catapult Youth Mentoring Center, a freshly renovated building gifted to it by the Lake Worth Beach Community Redevelopment Agency. At Catapult, kids can get homework help, SAT prep, and a safe, welcoming place to go after school.
“We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing,” Sylvain says. “I have a ton of ideas for interventions. I want a county of people who have gone to college.”
Story Credits:
Shot on location at Apricot & Olive, West Palm Beach
Makeup and hair: Deborah Koepper, Deborah Koepper Beauty, Palm Beach
Production assistance: Stephanie Gates
Jewelry styling: Lauren Duffy, Marissa Collections
Styling assistance: Ashley Lainhart, Marissa Collections
Florals: Ellie Lewis, Ellie’s Garden Design Studio, West Palm Beach
Furnishings and props: Amour Leserene, West Palm Beach
Featured Image: (Left to right) On Gabrielle McGee: Michael Kors Collection shirt and tank top, Oscar de la Renta pants, Brent Neale earrings, Lauren Rubinski rings, Jenna Blake necklace.
On Christine Sylvain: Michael Kors Collection caftan, Sidney Garber earrings, Vram bracelet and ring
On Dr. Susan Wemette: Sara Battaglia top, Michael Kors Collection skirt, Sidney Garber bracelet, Isabelle Fa necklace and earrings
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