Cypress Adventures, Inc. - The Next Chapter

The Next Chapter

Eleven years ago, I founded Cypress Adventures to answer a question.

What happens when a community intentionally organizes around Positive Youth Development? What happens when young people are trusted, challenged, genuinely valued, and surrounded by adults who believe in their potential?

Together, we spent the last eleven years answering that question.

I’d say it worked.

Together, we’ve built far more than an organization. We’ve built a community that sees adolescents as assets rather than problems. We’ve watched young people discover confidence, purpose, resilience, and leadership. We’ve seen families strengthened, friendships formed, and lives changed. None of that happened because of one person. It happened because an entire community chose to believe in its young people.

For that, I will always be grateful.

Today, I want to share that I have decided to step away from my full-time role with Cypress Adventures so I can begin the next chapter of this work.

I’m not leaving because I no longer believe in this work. Quite the opposite. I’m leaving because I believe the impact of this work deserves to extend beyond the place where it began.

Over the years, I’ve come to realize that the work we’ve done together has answered some important questions—and raised many new ones. Pursuing those questions through research, scholarship, writing, teaching, and collaboration has become the next chapter of my life’s work.

As an independent scholar, researcher, curriculum developer, and professional collaborator, I will devote my time to advancing Positive Youth Development through research, writing, teaching, collaboration, and helping others apply what we’ve learned here.

My hope is to invite other communities, schools, and institutions to begin asking—and answering—the same question that inspired Cypress Adventures eleven years ago. I also look forward to continuing to contribute to Cypress Adventures in new ways as opportunities arise.

I have complete confidence in Cypress Adventures and the people who will carry this work forward here in our community. Every season of an organization calls for different gifts. The gifts required to launch and build an organization are not always the same gifts required to sustain, diversify, and grow it over the next decade. I look forward to watching Cypress continue to evolve in ways that meet the changing needs of our community.

I also want the Hartsville community to know this: I’m not going anywhere.

Hartsville is my home. I will continue living here, investing here, and serving this community. My scholarly and creative work may take me to classrooms, conferences, and communities across the country, but my roots remain here. I remain deeply committed to ensuring that young people have access to developmentally appropriate environments that help them discover who they are and who they can become. As opportunities arise to support Cypress Adventures and its Youth Leadership Program, I will welcome them.

One of the greatest lessons this journey has taught me is that healthy communities are built through the unique contributions of many people. I’m grateful to have discovered the small part I was meant to play. When each of us offers our unique gifts in service to others, our communities become stronger because of it.

Thank you to every student, parent, volunteer, staff member, Board member, donor, community partner, educator, and supporter who has been part of this journey. You believed in an idea that became something far greater than I ever imagined.

This doesn’t feel like an ending to me.

It feels like the natural continuation of a journey that began eleven years ago. 

With love, gratitude, and excitement,

Aimee Cox-King
Founder

To stay connected, I hope you will follow me on social media. You can also reach me at acoxyouthadvocate@gmail.com.

Questions? Contact us at info@cypressadventures.org.

Our Contact Information
Cypress Adventures, Inc
881 Loblolly Lane
Hartsville, SC 29550
843-610-0866
http://www.cypressadventures.org

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