Donovan West, Sports Editor
@DWest_courant
Five years ago, while walking across the University of Virginia’s campus, NCHS alumnus and Academic All-American lacrosse player Jackson Appelt was overcome with feelings of hopelessness and despair. He had hit rock bottom in his process of recovering from a hamstring injury, and was suffering from the perpetually taxing lifestyle that came with rehabilitating an injury.
Despite seeing an abundance of accolades throughout his NCHS lacrosse career, including three state championships and two All-FCIAC honors, Jackson thought his time playing lacrosse was over in only his second year at UVA.
Maybe it was fate or something, but walking down the same path that same day on UVA’s campus, Jackson’s childhood friend and alumna and softball player Molly Keshin was wondering if her athletic career was over. Molly had also seen success playing softball at New Canaan, setting the school record for career triples, home runs, and stolen bases, but after suffering an ankle injury at Virginia, the burden of being an injured student-athlete was taking its toll.
Despite growing up together, the two struggling friends had walked past each other for weeks with fake smiles decorating their faces. They both had been trying out the phrase “fake it ‘till you make it,” yet had been spiraling further down their staircases of struggle. It wasn’t until they decided to have an honest conversation that Jackson and Molly freed themselves of some of the stress that had been accumulating within their lives.
They realized that both of them had been dealing with the same struggles. They realized that it was a lot easier to talk to someone about your true feelings than to suppress them. They realized that all athletes, no matter the level, put an enormous amount of pressure on themselves and often just need someone to lend a listening ear.
Jackson turned these realizations into lessons that all young adults can learn. He embarked on a mission to create a youth development program called READY (Resilience, Empathy and Authenticity for Developing Youth) to give back to the New Canaan community and to the world. Jackson, Molly and several other of their friends set out to equip future athletes struggling like they did with the tools to succeed.
What Is READY?
According to its website, READY is a membership-based mentoring program that provides high school, college, and post-college students with a safe environment where they can support each other on a journey of self-discovery, building courage, perseverance, and a sense of purpose in each other’s mutual betterment.
But what does that mean? To co-founder Jackson Appelt, READY is a variety of things. “READY is so much more than a mental health program. It is a leadership and development program, a resilience program and a connection-based program that fits all molds of people,” Jackson said. “It can truly be whatever you want it to be. We want to give young people an opportunity to ask tough questions and embrace those questions as a community. We believe the central experience missing from our generation is a sense of purpose and fulfillment. READY is a place to learn to discover who you are, where you can grow, and how you can help the world. That process is what we ultimately believe will lead to fulfillment and long-term resilience for developing young people into mature, emboldened adults.”
Prospective members in the READY community begin with a complimentary, month-long onboarding program. Young adults partake in a large group meeting at the beginning of the month in which an individual who has experienced an extraordinary event uses an issue-processing model, led by READY facilitators, to begin to work through it.
The second week, prospective members meet with facilitators in smaller groups to further process their experiences and fully understand them. In the following two weeks, prospective members meet individually with READY mentors to commit to chosen action steps and maintain accountability. Following the first month, young adults can join the membership community and receive the same programming and mentoring year-round.
To Jackson, this first month provides an opportunity to see the potential of READY. “It is important to first grasp what READY is all about,” he said. “The first time you experience a READY session is really impactful and powerful, as you see how much people care about it. The vulnerability, openness, and sense of community that each session brings serves as evidence as to why this program is so important.”
Once a young adult has become a READY member, they have the opportunity to become an intern in the program and eventually a mentor through monthly training sessions.
How Was READY Created?
The concept of the READY program began with Jackson’s struggles of dealing with a hamstring injury that he sustained during his sophomore year at UVA. “I was at an all-time low in my recovery process,” Jackson said. “My coach was constantly yelling at me, and I was a disaster. One day, I went over to Molly and asked her how she was doing. Molly shared that she wasn’t doing great. She didn’t know if she would ever heal and didn’t know where to turn or what to do.”
After that, an idea clicked between the two of them. After talking, Jackson and Molly concluded that they both would have benefited from simply sharing and communicating the problems that they were going through.
This appreciation of their common experience led to the creation of the campfire program at UVA. “Basically, we would sit around and listen to each other talk about problems that we could all relate to,” Jackson said. “The first time, I started talking and eventually said things I had never told anyone before. The pressure of my injury, the pressure to rush back and the pressure of being a pre-med student had all been weighing me down.”
“I felt so alone that I ended up crying,” Jackson said. “Then, one by one, every kid told the same story in different words. At the end, the tears turned into hysterical laughter as we realized that we were all going through the exact same thing.”
That’s when Jackson knew they had stumbled upon something truly powerful. His next step was gaining the advise of a psychologist and then writing a 50 page thesis that explored the idea of common experiences and the potential impact of teens helping other teens. Later, Jackson presented this idea to UVA and created his own two-credit seminar called “Resilience and Authenticity for the Young Adult,” that he described as a “self-actualization course.” The class was so successful that UVA adopted it as a model for programming that still runs today.
After graduating, Jackson reconnected with Daron Shepard, a mentor of his that runs the life coaching company Step Up. They worked together to brainstorm ways that Jackson could continue to work with his passion of helping young adults, and READY was born.
How Does READY Apply to New Canaan?
Being an alumnus, Jackson has worked hard so that the READY program is now available for students at NCHS. Anyone can join the program by going to stepupsite.com/ready-program/.
Senior Izzy Appelt, a co-facilitator of READY and captain of the field hockey and girls lacrosse teams, has already experienced the good that READY can cause. “I utilized a lot of the things I learned in the sessions to figure out how to lead the lacrosse team to success,” Izzy said. “I wanted to be able to lead by example, and READY has helped me accomplish that. It has helped me be vulnerable and honest with myself, and shown me the resilience that is required within a leader. These traits I’ve gained are from listening to other people’s stories in the READY sessions and applying them to my own life.”
Izzy acts a bridge between the high school students and adult facilitators that run the READY sessions, and has seen such immense growth in individuals that she advocates for all athletes to participate in the program. “Everyone can relate to a time in their life where they’ve struggled to find self-worth,” she said. “Hiding your emotions has become so normalized in society, but it doesn’t have to be that way. READY is a tool that we can use to better understand ourselves and work on improving our resilience, perseverance, and overall skills in life.”
Junior football and basketball player Luke Robinson is also a participant in READY and has seen the benefits of the program. “I joined READY because it was recommended to me by multiple teammates and friends,” Luke said. “Sports is an area where there is so much pressure to succeed and sometimes that is tough to deal with. READY provides an open space to talk about anything and everything, and it is sort of freeing to be able to get whatever issues you might have off of your chest.”
“READY allows me to clear my mind of all distractions before stepping onto the field and court,” Luke said. “By participating in the sessions, I can then channel all of my energy into helping my team win.”
Senior field hockey captain Jane Holland joined the program because of the good she saw it do within her peers. “I watched as the READY program transformed Izzy, and it made me want to experience it as well,” Jane said. “My main takeaways from participating in the program is that it is okay to be vulnerable, and that everyone is going through similar situations as you. Watching and listening to people speak up about their problems inspired me to do the same, and it helped me learn more about myself.”
“I would encourage other athletes to partake in READY because of the potential it provides to grow into an even better person,” Jane said. “READY not only teaches you lessons about dealing with problems in the sports world but also lessons that are applicable to everyday life.”
READY provides an opportunity to grow as a competitor, as a teen, and as a person on this earth. Everyone has struggles and READY teaches people how to deal with them. “Our mission is to create a community in which young adults support and empower one another to become the version of themselves they aspire to be and are capable of becoming,” Jackson said. “As young people, we have a responsibility and an opportunity to guide one another to be the best version of ourselves that we can be. READY provides skills that most people won’t learn in their entire lives, and I encourage everyone to give it a chance- it might just change your life.”
