Our mission is to develop and empower leaders through meaningful connections and transformative experiences.
Our inaugural program will be held on July 23 – 26, 2022 at Stockton University in partnership with their Center for Community Engagement & Service Learning and the Rutgers University Student Assembly for high school students across NJ.
We’re a group of volunteers from all walks of life, committed to youth leadership development. We founded TORCH as a 501(c)(3) public charity in early 2020 after working together in this space since 1995.
“A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong…The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.”
– Robert K. Greenleaf (greenleaf.org)
We offer our programs at no cost to schools or students.
Students need these types of opportunities now more than ever. Our four-day residential summer program is specifically devoted to providing a tuition-free program in order to ensure access to diverse communities across the state remove economic barriers to entry. We expect approximately 80 students will attend the 2022 program, supported by 30 highly-qualified and trained volunteer staff members.
Students attend our four-day, residential program
Teachers partner with us to take on scheduled instruction periods
School staff plug us into meetings or events to develop their club leaders
Administrators bring us in to provide all students a unique opportunity
Our programs are based on leading educational research, including the concepts of experiential learning, challenge and support, and social-emotional learning, in order to provide fun and engaging opportunities for young people to explore their own unique leadership skills. Our core program involves games, workshops, competitions, and interactive presentations.
“Learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience.”
David Kolb (MA, PhD Harvard) – The Kolb Learning Style Inventory 4.0
“For optimal student developmental growth…, challenges they experience must be met with supports that can sufficiently tolerate the stress of the challenge itself.”
Student Development in College: Theory, Research, and Practice
There is “…an 11 percentile-point gain in academic achievement among students who participated in SEL programs compared to students who did not. Students also showed improved classroom behavior, an increased ability to manage stress and depression, and better attitudes about themselves, others, and school.”
Why the ‘Whole Child’ Matters by Educational Testing Service
