Reframing Leadership

In high school when thinking about college, Derick expressed how he felt about applying for college. "Panic and fear, I had no idea of what to do next, and everyone around me had their entire next 20 years figured out. When going to a competitive school like Lane, there is competition in everything, not only in athletics because I was a part of the basketball team, but especially in academics," said Familara.

So, as high school graduation approached, Derick still had no idea of what he wanted to do, so he accidentally took a year off of college to figure out his game plan. During his time off he had three part-time jobs, in one of those jobs he was able to find his passion in youth ministry and loved working with kids. When he finally figured out his passions, he attended Moody Bible Institute where Pursue Scholars began to impact his journey. "I genuinely would not have been able to finish college if it wasn't for Pursue," said Familara.

Once Derick became a Pursue Alum, he became the Scholarship and Emerging Leaders Director for seven years here at Pursue. Through his journey, he learned the way leadership can be reframed and there are different leaders in different settings/career fields. To learn more about Derick's impact at Pursue, you can click one of the links below.