Community Member of the Year
Winner:
Susie Ankenbrandt
Investing in the lives of Homewood Middle School students through Young Life
Every other Tuesday night, the Exceptional Foundation turns into a “party with a purpose” for Young Life’s WyldLife program for Homewood Middle School students. There are games and a skit, but the last 15 minutes are what Susie Ankenbrandt calls “the meat and heart of the night” for the Christian ministry.
“We really are sharing it from the gospels in their language,” Ankenbrandt said.
Still, most of her time working with the program is spent “sharing life” with the middle school students.
“Kids aren’t going to care about how much I know until they know how much I care about them,” she said. “We know kids have a lot of other voices speaking into their life with our culture today, and they might not listen to their parents anymore, but they might listen to their Young Life leader. Our kids in Homewood need someone who loves them for who they are.”
Every other Friday morning, a group of almost 30 eighth-graders gather in her Edgewood home for Bible study, and another morning she meets a group of seventh-graders at Hart & Soul. If a student needs help, she is ready to give them rides to the doctor or meet other needs.
“Even though I am a middle school Young Life leader, the relationships we make with our kids are for the long haul,” Ankenbrandt said. “Hopefully I will be with them at their weddings.”
Ankenbrandt also builds relationships with students at the school as an assistant track coach. The head coach, Eric Swope, is also on Young Life staff part time and has seen the track program grow tremendously in numbers over the past several years.
“The reason this program has grown so much is because we care about them beyond what they are doing on the track,” Ankenbrandt said. “For us it’s all about loving on them and them being known and encouraged.”
In February, Ankenbrandt and the other Young Life leaders took 65 to a camp called SharpTop Cove, and this summer they will take a group to camp in Florida.
“It’s a place where kids can get away from day in and day out, turn their cell phones off and hear the gospel at a level that they can understand,” Ankenbrandt said. “We are with them and can process it with them and then go home with them and continue to share life with them.”
Ankenbrandt first encountered Young Life when she was in high school, and it led her to become a Christian. She has worked with the program for 18 years in Birmingham, getting involved in Homewood after her kids were graduating from Homewood High School. In her mid-40s at the time, she said she was hesitant to work with young girls, but she soon found they don’t care how old you are.
“When you are a kid, you need somebody to walk through life with you,” she said.
Runner Up
Ron Pence
Director of Bands, Homewood Patriot Band
Since Ron Pence began leading Homewood’s band 19 years ago, the high school band has grown from 140 members to 375 members, or about 35 percent of the school population (the national average is 8 percent).
“Music is my passion, but people are my biggest passion,” Pence said. “I love being able to take people and see them be a part of something greater than themselves.”
Pence wants all students to experience music, and under his leadership at both the middle and high school, most Homewood students are. The influence of band starts at the middle school, where about 80 percent of sixth-graders, or about 185 students, are in the band program.
The band program is a direct reflection of the community, Pence said, and that’s why he is so passionate about their trips to away games and to parades such as the Macy’s and the Rose Bowl Parade.
“It’s great showing off how special Homewood is,” he said, noting how special it is to watch standing ovations for the half time show both in Homewood and at away games.