For my Leadership in Action experience this past summer, I piloted and directed a summer program called YouthRising. YouthRising is a four-week summer enrichment program with full-day programming for Black and brown elementary students grades 2nd through 6th who qualify for free or reduced-lunch in the East Somerville community. The YouthRising model is rooted in an empowering and inclusive pedagogy which aims to empower students and their learning by engaging youth in critical dialogue about identity, and inspire civic action. The YouthRising program is proud to partner with Building Audacity, a Boston-based nonprofit, to cultivate empathy, equity, and empowerment in the greater Boston area. Without Building Audacity, the YouthRising program would not be what it is today.  The summer was certainly not without its challenges and moments of learning, while it was also full of successes and joy. First and foremost, a huge success of the program is that we were able to provide completely free, empowering, and enriching summer programming to 40 youth in the East Somerville community this past summer! These 40 youth were taught and mentored by 8 incredible staff members who made up the YouthRising team, and the core of the program. Another huge success that deserves mention is that we were able to have the entire program run in-person for all four weeks, and that we had no covid cases over the course of the program! Additionally, we had two wonderful field trips with the YouthRising youth and staff to the Stone Zoo and New England Aquarium, in addition to an incredible field day with program youth and staff. We also had a pizza party, an ice cream truck visit, and a series of catered meals in the last week of the program.  Furthermore, another notable success of the program was the curriculum specifically the art and self-care based curriculum provided and intentional designed by Building Audacity, the nonprofit which sponsored the YouthRising program. The curriculum was designed so that each week of the program would be centered around a different theme, and then the youth would engage in activities and discussions related to that theme each day. To elaborate, the theme of the first week was identity, the second week was centered around self-care, then we discussed community in the third week, and in the fourth week we focused on taking action.  Moving forward, I am currently working on reflection of the successes and areas of growth for the program so that it may continue to improve and grow in the future. Thus far in this process of reflection, I have discerned three main areas of improvement: staffing and training, curriculum flexibility, and community outreach. It is my hope that in continuing to work with this program that we can address these areas of growth and continue to build the program to its fullest potential. Thank you to everyone who supported myself and YouthRising on this journey!