Kelsey Kristine Alex, graduate student, and Ryan A. Wilson, undergrad, both in the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts

To escape a trap, you first have to realize you’re caught.

In urban communities around the world, young people all too often find their lives circumscribed by poverty, crime and a lack of education.

U.Y.N.T Urban Youth Nation of Tomorrow aims to counter these issues by promoting experiences that will empower young people, foster their potentials and broaden their horizons.

Specifically, “U.Y.N.T. aims to provide young people from these communities chances to experience higher education, travel and mentorship,” says Ryan A. Wilson, a senior architecture major with a minor in art. “All of which will allow them to develop a certain outlook on life, which does not surround them each day, and to envision opportunities in the worlds beyond where they currently live.”

Wilson, a St. Louis native and president of the National Organization of Minority Students at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, is developing the project with Kelsey Alex, a graduate teaching assistant in the Sam Fox School.

“Young people from these types of communities are crucial to our future,” Wilson says. “Our goal is to give the youth of tomorrow a chance to obtain greatness through finding things with in themselves.”