“So… Do We Get to Help?”

For several years, Dorian has been invited to speak with students at UTC, sharing his journey and the impact one young person can make in a community. Last time, students stepped in to help in- collecting three carloads of cereal for local families during the last weeks of school before summer break. No formal structure. Just heart and action.

But this visit marked a shift.

For the first time, I was there not only to support Dorian’s story, but to formally introduce the D-Max Effect- the leadership framework we’ve been building that turns empathy into organized, measurable community impact.

And for the first time, we were intentionally inviting them into a structure they could lead.

These are high school students, who showed up ready. After walking through the framework and sharing the nonprofit partnership for this initiative, I paused for questions.

One student raised their hand and asked, with genuine excitement:

“So… do we get to help?”

And just like that, the floodgates opened.

Ideas. Energy. Big vision.

The goals quickly went sky-high.

UTC has 22 departments. Their goal isn’t simply to support one effort- it’s to mobilize across all of them. If they reach the goals they’re now setting, they won’t just impact one nonprofit. They’ll have the capacity to support several.

At one point, Dorian asked if he could pull up a chair and brainstorm alongside them. Watching him sit in that space- not as the “kid being showcased,” but as a peer collaborator reinforced everything this framework stands for: leadership isn’t about age or title. It’s about ownership and invitation.

We did have to gently rein in some of the bigger event ideas (turns out liability is a real buzzkill), but what mattered most was the mindset. These students are thinking in terms of systems, collaboration, and sustained impact.

This work isn’t theoretical. I’ve been teaching and practicing versions of this leadership model for years- in university classrooms, community initiatives, and through the work Dorian and I have built together.

What’s happening now is the formalization of it.

The D-Max Effect is being named, structured, and refined into a framework others can use- not just experience.

This visit marked one of the first times I was able to introduce it in its emerging, finalized form and invite students directly into it. Watching them step in so naturally confirmed what I’ve known all along: when young people are given real ownership and a clear framework, they don’t hesitate. They lead.

The D-Max Effect releases March 18. Not as a theory but as a model built alongside the young leaders already putting it into action.

And this is only the beginning.