Beyond the Surface

Many of the issues surrounding today’s youth stem from a lack of nurturing. Often having an individual to offer encouragement, guidance, and support during elementary years will make an impact that will last throughout a lifetime. In conjunction with nurturing an individual, a broadened outlook on life is critical to expose youth to a variety of possibilities.

To provide a platform that shapes progressive living through engaging programs that are relevant to youth is our established core mission. By offering a variety of programs that cater to the mixture of learning preferences of youth, we are able to reach and influence their forward movement. Allowing youth to experience attainable success firsthand permits them to aspire for more in their own lives.

We stress the understanding of personal development with our principle ‘Growing Deeper’. To comprehend, a contrast with the way a plant’s roots grow is relevant. As it is essential for roots to grow down so they can explore the soil and maximize their water uptake, it is similarly necessary that one be continually learning and exploring their depths to maximize their life’s potential. Life experiences serve prominence in a person’s growth and development as much as gravity profoundly influences plant growth and development. ‘Growing Deeper’ is a principle we continually advocate to encourage intrinsic progression.

To meet these ends, three mentoring programs have been established:

1. ‘BTS Academy’ is our signature mentoring program. BTS mentors are paired with an intimate group of students on a 5:1 ratio. Each week students engage in sessions that include an activity, speaker or lesson, and an opportunity to reflect. Topics discussed surround identity, social pressures, purpose, entrepreneurship, bullying, personal branding, and much more.
2. Building a kindred relationship is what makes ‘ME to YOU’ a special program. By allowing students to bond with an influential mentor multiple times throughout the week, the student’s aims to be productive increase. Being involved with students during classes, lunches, and after school, ‘ME to YOU’ mentors foster a personal relationship that enables the student to observe firsthand the outcome of progressive living.
3. ‘Beyond the Classroom’ allows a student to be exposed to various elements of culture. Exciting activities like plays, museums, sporting events, etiquette training, art exhibitions, and much more grant students the opportunity to view the endless possibilities their lives possess. Each week as students venture out, parents are invited to experience the vast amount of culture as well.

While the basis of Beyond the Surface, Inc. is a mentoring program, the totality is much more. The Dalai Lama was once quoted saying "Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality." This statement purely explains what we hope to achieve. As a people and a community, it would be impossible to succeed without the help of others. When we share our wealth of knowledge, culture, and love with growing generations, the possibilities of greater achievements appear accessible rather than unreachable.

Essentially, the task of Beyond the Surface, Inc. is to reach each child and teach them to believe in the impossible. To derive from an Audrey Hepburn quote, the word impossible literally states ‘I’m possible’. Believing that ‘I’m possible’ opens doors to opportunities that would have been otherwise closed.