Homewood-Flossmoor HS Junior Finds Inspiration in Connecting Peers with Opportunity

Credit: Leland Jason Photography

Anthony Davis already knows how he’ll be spending his summer.

The junior at Homewood-Flossmoor High School has secured a job as Vice President of Community Development with Yolobe, a networking site geared at connecting teens with companies offering jobs, internships, mentorships and other opportunities.

Short for “Your Life Only Better,” its founder likens the site to a LinkedIn for teens, Davis said, and he couldn’t wait until school is out to do his part in bringing students into its powerful reach.

Davis, who boasts a wide array of student activities including peer helpers, ambassadors, and peer mediation, signed on to be a teen ambassador for the Yolobe Expo held April 18 at the Tinley Park Convention Center. He and about 55–60 other students were tasked with signing on businesses to present at the expo, as well as attracting up to 1,000 students to the event.

“Our overall goal was to drive teens, to connect people in need (teens), with businesses,” Davis said.

“Busloads” of teens—roughly 700–800 came from Bremen High School District 228 and other schools for the event. The team of teen ambassadors recruited 100 organizations including Coca-Cola, Exelon, Chase Bank, the U.S. Army and Navy, volunteers, school administrators and community leaders to participate. The students planned and executed every facet of the event, Davis said, learning crisis management, communication, and event planning.

“Things do not always go as planned,” Davis said, laughing. “I learned a great deal.

“You can never change the direction of the wind, but you can always change the direction of your sail.”

The group also facilitated students receiving eight scholarships, and seven internships during the event.

Yolobe is a digital start-up based in 1871, Chicago’s premier innovation hub for early stage technology companies. It was founded in 2013.