Richmond, Lincoln and Northeastern high school students will develop school or community projects after attending the Wayne County Youth Summit.
During the March 20 event at Indiana University East, students heard presentations from the Purdue University Community Transition Team and Gene Hambrick, the senior executive director for the Center for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creativity at Earlham College. Students were guided through a strategic framework for development of a project and learned how to craft and deliver an elevator pitch.
Each school received $500 to help with project execution.
“The Youth Summit is about showing high school students that Wayne County cares about them and values their voice,” said Carl Rhinehart III, a co-founder of Future Achievers, which organizes the summit. “We want to empower them with the skills and resources they need to become leaders who can create positive change in their schools and communities.”
The Youth Summit began in 2022, and Future Achievers took over organization in
2023.
Chris Hardie took these photos of the event for WWN.
A student attending the March 20 Wayne County Youth Summit held at IU East presents her group’s ideas for a school improvement project. The event, hosted by Future Achievers, helped attendees from area high schools to develop strategies and ideas to creative positive change in their schools and communities. Photo by Chris Hardie 
Patty Rose, a community transformation specialist with Purdue University, holds the microphone to help a student introduce a community improvement project at the March 20 Wayne County Youth Summit. The event, hosted by Future Achievers, helped attendees from area high schools to develop strategies and ideas to creative positive change in their schools and communities. Photo by Chris Hardie 
Attendees of the March 20 Wayne County Youth Summit held at IU East gather for a group photo. The event, hosted by Future Achievers, helped attendees from area high schools to develop strategies and ideas to creative positive change in their schools and communities. Photo by Chris Hardie 
Gene Hambrick, the senior executive director for the Center for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creativity at Earlham College, presents at the March 20 Wayne County Youth Summit held at IU East. Hambrick walked student attendees from area high schools through crafting their “elevator pitch” for conveying the most important aspects of their school and community improvement ideas in a short period of time. Photo by Chris Hardie 
A version of this article appeared in the March 26 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.