Ladies in Formation (Ladies’ Club)
Patrick Powers is a 29 -year-old graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington & the University of North Texas who hails from Waco, TX. While attending the University of North Texas, he studied English and Education and now works as a middle school Reading Intervention teacher and coach in the North Texas area. With recently obtaining his Master's Degree in Educational Leadership, he hopes to serve in an administrative role, while advancing his progress as a motivational speaker and published author in the near future.
In January 2016, Patrick embarked upon what he calls “A life-changing experience”. With a heart for helping others and a passion for reforming education, he took a leap of faith in spreading his love for enriching the lives of the youth by reaching out to his former elementary school, J.H. Hines Elementary. Seeing a need for hope, encouragement, and positive role models, especially in urban communities, Patrick extended support to see if there was any way he could help the elementary school. After seeking help from his friends, he came up with the idea to visit the school with a large group to encourage and uplift the young students in a positive way through an event he calls Empowering the Youth. By the group of men and women dressed in a business professional manner standing outside of the school cheering, high-fiving, and encouraging the students to be successful as they entered the school building, he and his friends brought smiles, motivation, and refreshment amongst the youth. The event proved to be a huge success with the school, students, and parents prompting Patrick to reach out to other schools in the Dallas area in order to uplift, impact, and empower others. Thus, the organization The Lost Generation was born. Mr. Powers combined experiences he learned from his 4-years of working with students and different schools to comprise the organization with different events in order to allocate for educational reform.
As Mr. Powers advocates for various causes, he approaches life, society, and his purpose with a similar mindset of Angela Davis when she made the statement:“Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.”
Patrick graciously praises his entire family for their role in his early successes stating that it has been a team effort. His close relationship with his parents has given him the faith to shoot for the stars.
“Fortunately, I have a great support team that surrounds me and that starts with my parents. My parents have continuously shown me love, encouragement, wisdom, and support over the years. We share a very special bond and they’ve installed so many lessons, values, and characteristics within me. They’ve been a great example for me and have really taken on the job of building me up to be the best man that I can be. They’ve allowed me to dream, believed in my dreams, and given me every opportunity to be successful. I would not be this far without them. I owe them the world.”
— Patrick Powers
As a result from receiving a high amount of interest from other college students and schools across the state of Texas, Patrick has already begun developing different branches of The Lost Generation at Baylor University, Texas State, Sam Houston State Universiy, Texas Christian Univeristy, University of Houston, University of Texas, University of Texas at Arlington, and the University of Texas at San Antonio. The branch at the University of North Texas is the only official organization currently but that has not held the organization back.
“Our variety of events are what helps us to be highly effective when appealing to students of different ages and in different settings. Collectively, our events, programs, clubs, and mentoring allow us to give students a different type of culture and learning that goes beyond the curriculums being taught to them in the classroom. In addition, our myriad of services offered serve as a clever resource for schools with different needs and targeted campus goals. I find that many times, college students want to make a difference in the community but don’t know how or don’t have enough time to sacrifice. I am pleased to see an abundance of college students looking at The Lost Generation as an outlet to make a difference. The students at UNT have been very proactive in being involved and have shown a tremendous amount of support for a specail movement. It’s because of them that I look ahead with hope, confidence, and great expectations for the future.”
Although Powers is no longer the President of The Lost Generation at UNT, this is just the beginning for him and the organization as he looks to further the impact the organization through his new role of CEO. Patrick foresees the organization reaching cities such as Atlanta, Chicago, Brooklyn, and Compton in the next few years. He will continue to lead the organization to ensure that it is doing its duty to “impact lives, build futures, uplift students, fuel dreams, and reform culture.”
Written by: Kiandra Florence