And has she ever. Joyce founded \u201cPositive Impact for Kids\u201d as a sixth grader. In the nine years since, the energy she once used to become a nationally ranked jump roper has instead gone toward improving the hospital experience for children and teenagers.<\/p>\n
Positive Impact for Kids<\/a> has raised more than $150,000 and partnered with 118 hospitals representing every state to provide iPads, gaming systems and other gifts for young patients to help them cope with their unpleasant new reality. Joyce, who has been featured by the likes of CNN and The Huffington Post<\/a> as well as multiple media outlets<\/a> near her hometown of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, began with an idea for a bake sale that blossomed because of dedication and work.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of youth grants out there, so I started with small things like $500 and then worked my way up to competing against professional grant writers and receiving a lot of larger grants,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve just been doing it for a really long time.\u201d<\/p>\n What Joyce has been able to accomplish on her own is remarkable. The question of what she could achieve with help is being answered this year at Furman as Joyce uses that experience to serve in the unprecedented role of simultaneously being a Shucker Leadership Institute Sophomore Fellow<\/a> and running the local nonprofit her group works with.<\/p>\n The Shucker Leadership Institute is a two-year program designed to help students engage the community through partnerships and service. Sophomore fellows work in small groups with a mentor to complete a Leadership Challenge Project (LCP) by collaborating with a local or national organization.<\/p>\n Joyce has been leading a group of six other students as they learn to write effective grants, make fundraising pitches and otherwise help a nonprofit be impactful, which in this case is Positive Impact for Kids. The culmination of their LCP will be the \u201cRock \u2018N Roll 5K<\/a>\u201d walk\/run to held Sunday, March 22, on campus to benefit local children\u2019s hospitals.<\/p>\n \u201cSending professional emails has all been new for people in this group, so I\u2019ve spent a lot of time trying to be the best mentor that I can,\u201d Joyce said. \u201cAll of our efforts have been going into this 5K.\u201d<\/p>\n Emily Capeta ’22 rides on Leanne Joyce ’22’s back at the T-Mobile Changemaker Challenge in Seattle in February.<\/p><\/div>\n The team includes Drew Warner \u201922, who spearheaded organizing the 5K, Laura Hoeker \u201922, Maddie Tedrick \u201922, Sofia Siddiqui \u201922, Hill Douglas \u201922 and Emily Capeta \u201922, who went with Joyce to Seattle in late February after Positive Impact for Kids was one of 30 selected from a pool of 428 entries to participate T-Mobile\u2019s second annual Changemaker Challenge<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Changemaker Challenge is a nationwide contest for youth ages 13 to 23 with the best ideas for driving change in their communities.<\/p>\n \u201cWorking with Leanne has been really inspiring. I got to see how much work she truly does,\u201d Capeta, an economics major from Green, Ohio, said. \u201cSo many peoples’ projects started from a place of pain \u2026 But they knew that things were so much bigger than themselves, which was really eye-opening and made you think a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n Positive Impact for Kids wasn\u2019t ultimately one of the winners, but it did receive $2,000 in seed funding. Joyce and Capeta also met with mentors from T-Mobile and Ashoka<\/a>, a global nonprofit made up of a network of social entrepreneurs, during the three-day immersive experience.<\/p>\n \u201cI learned a lot about how best to utilize a team and mobilize those efforts, so that was really helpful,\u201d Joyce said. \u201c(Capeta) got to step into this world and see everything. I think that was really cool for her as well.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Emily](\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2022\/08\/Joyce-Capeta-NEWS.-jpg-scaled-1-scaled.jpg\")