Empowering Youth

Thomas Cuyler Jr. '20 lands full-time job before graduation

Thomas Cuyler Jr. '20 not only has a job lined up for after he graduates — he'll have completed his first several months by May. Earlier this year, Cuyler was hired full-time as a youth advocate by Ibero-American Action League's Aspira Mentoring and Enrichment Program, working with middle school students at Eugenio Maria De Hostos Charter School in Rochester.

He maintains a caseload of 20 middle school youth and works with them to improve their social and emotional learning, academic performance and attendance. While he conducts a themed enrichment course at the end of every school day with students that transcends the Aspira program, he also runs a weekly young men's lunch group called Guy Code where he gives specific attention to the social-emotional development of the young men in Aspira. 

While he does a lot of group work, he also conducts one-on-one meetings for each student he mentors, making sure every student gets the attention they need. “I’m a young black male from the Rochester community and I’m big on doing assignments with young men of color that directly impacts their experience.”

Why youth development

Cuyler had strong hands-on experiences during college that shaped his career choice. He began as an education major, but after enrolling into a Community Youth Development course and participating in multiple service learning experiences, he inevitably made the switch from majoring in education to CYD.  One of his first service learning experiences was with Ibero at Eugenio Maria De Hostos Charter School in the program he would inevitably be hired by.  

This service learning experience included assisting in the transition of families relocating to Rochester from Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017. Cuyler, helping students deal with the traumas they had faced, realized he wanted to be a youth advocate and focus on building relationships with young people. He changed his major to community youth development, an approach that emphasizes partnership. “My goal is not to make a difference, I can’t make a difference in their life; only they can make a difference in their life. I can only give them the information to empower themselves to move forward.”

Supporting other students during college

Cuyler not only gives back to his students at the charter school, but he also gives back to the Nazareth community. He served as president of ANCHORS, a group dedicated to provide a space for men of color on the Nazareth College campus during the 2018-2019 academic year. Furthermore, he serves on the Nazareth College Undergraduate Association Executive Board as vice president for diversity initiatives. This role involves overseeing the Diversity Council, which is made up of representatives from each of the student diversity clubs. During spring 2019, he helped coordinate the annual diversity dinner and served as keynote speaker, something he says was a highlight of his time at Nazareth College. The theme he chose: moving from darkness to light, to show how the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. continues to impact our nation to this day.

Community service during college

Cuyler also had numerous memorable experiences off campus. Based on the strength of a social innovation project he proposed, he was selected to attend the 11th Annual Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) conference in 2018 at the University of Chicago. His project was committed to reducing poverty and crime in Rochester by giving a healthy road to employment to city youth.

He also was part of the national-award-winning Partners for Serving (PFS) program that gives students the opportunity to engage with youth and adults through human service agencies throughout Rochester. That was his first college service experience, which he says also contributed to wanting to switch majors. “I noticed that community development was just different; it made me feel more fulfilled than education.”

Thomas working on his employment project related to the Clinton Global Initiative University.

Presenting at international conferences

Another fond college memory: traveling to England to present at Oxford University, for his gender and education course. He presented on the literacy rate for girls in Colombia.