♪ guitar music
♪
Carla>> As a mother of two teenage boys,
a business owner, and a nonprofit director, it
often times gets challenging balancing
it all. I just feel torn of who gets the
most time, and I used to beat myself up a lot.
And then I recognized that I can only
do the best that I can do.
I had the opportunity of landing a contract
with the ArtFields Collective.
And I've been with that organization
for 10 years, and they do this
phenomenal event called ArtFields,
and I've served in several capacities
with the organization.
But one in particular, that I
kind of initiated the second year of ArtFields
was ArtFields Jr, which is the youth,
of course, my background in education.
So I felt like it was important
to give the students an outleash to prior to this
to get into this contract, I started
Dramatic Coffee Beans, Dramatic Coffee Beans
has been brewing since 2011, I heard this
story called a carrot and egg and a coffee bean.
And it kind of inspired the name
Dramatic Coffee Beans. The story goes like this.
Whenever you're faced with challenges, you
can act like a carrot, and a carrot starts off
strong and hard, but as soon as it's faced with
hot bubbled water, it becomes mushy and soft.
Or you can be like an egg, an egg, if you
look at it is kind of fragile, but it's also
kind of fluid and golden on the inside.
But as soon as it hits that hot water
it becomes hard,
almost like angry. Or you can
be like that coffee bean. And when the hot
water makes that coffee bean, the coffee bean
doesn't allow the water to change it, but it
changes the water.
When I work with Dramatic Coffee Beans,
that's the thing we want these
kids to be. We want them to not let the
outside influences impact them, we want
them to impact those outside influences.
Taylor>> The only thing I can change is my
reaction to life,
and that's what changes my surroundings.
Once you see something in a
positive way, things start to get better.
Carla>> Growing up, I struggle with my self-esteem.
I was picked at because of my complexion.
So I never felt like the pretty girl or fit in.
And there was a point
there in middle school that I felt like one
way to escape it all, is to just end it all.
And the way that I was approaching it was
to take pills.
And I felt like if I can just vanish,
it would make life easier for everybody.
And it was a loud voice telling me this.
But when I got - when I started
taking the pills, all of a sudden, I heard another voice
that...helped me to stop those thoughts.
And I was able to close those pills,
and I didn't share that with a lot of people,
but it could have turned out another way.
And I recognize now that other way
would have not been the right way.
I became determined to empower young people to not
feel the way that I did,
and that they could get further in life
quicker than I did.
If they were empowered to know that they are somebody.
Sta'asia Vu>> Without Dramatic Coffees Beans,
I feel like I would still be this little
shy girl who didn't know her purpose,
but now with this group, I've learned that I can
really do things that I put my mind to,
I can meet new people. I can do new things,
and I can just express myself by acting.
I really like acting.
Carla>> One of our things that we're most
known for is using improvisation and drama
to address the social dilemmas that...
they may face. So although we incorporate
a large portion of the arts and we want them to be
able to use their creative side, Dramatic Coffee Beans
is known for its improvisational team.
Student 1>> I really been like stressed about it.
Can you just talk to me for one minute?
Student 2>>Girl, what do you have to be stressed about?
You're in high school. You have no, you have
no job, no bills, no anything?
Student 1>> Well, it's a lot going in high school.
It's a lot of school work. Student 2>> All you have to do
is go to school, make good grades,
and that's it, I'll take care of the rest.
♪
Conner>> With support in life, and in the world,
You can do anything you have, as long as
you have somebody behind you,
urging you to go forward.
Conner>> As I looked at the outer structure around this,
I noticed there was less support.
In life, if you have support, you can do anything
that's impossible. So as you
see for yourself support, you can reach
higher things. You can reach altitudes.
You can reach the sky. It's over. It's done with.
We won. Thank you.
(laughter)
Charlee>> Have you ever wanted to like go back
in time and see yourself doing something.
That's why I came back to the DCB
is I wanted to go back in time
and watch myself change,
and that's definitely what DCB did for me.
Shadrea>> My name is Shadrea McKnight.
I currently attend the University
of South Carolina where I'm majoring
in political science
with a minor in law in society,
and I was a part of DCB for three years.
There are certain aspects of me that I need to grow out of
and step into something new, which I
was very thankful for, because it helped
set me up coming here. And being on my own
for the first time having that grounded foundation
that was given to me by DCB
through leadership and not just leadership,
but learning how to effectively communicate
and effectively listen, all of those set me up
for success so far here at the university.
Carla>> I tried my best to get into the schools
and meet with the kids to see the kids.
We tracked their report cards The parents give us
permission to check them with the guidance counselors.
So, it's a lot of interaction with
the young people to make sure that they are
on the right path.
Taylor>> Now, I think of myself as the Coffee Bean
because when I look at it, I plan now
and I have a specific plan and I talk to people
like my mentors, and they give me
- they give me great advice Like Ms. Carla. She's -
I call her mama Carla. I try to do exactly
what they tell me and it usually works out.