Andre Marcus found his calling to mentor and empower the local youth through his own personal experiences as the son of a working single mother.
As the founder and executive director of Young Empowered Students, I Run Opelika, Marcus works directly with Opelika students to develop leadership skills, spread awareness on critical issues that face youth and prepare them for a promising future.
Marcus is a true believer in the old African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child.”
“In a sense, we believe that we can be an instrumental resource to the youth in our area, however, we are not an all-in-one or one-stop shop,” Marcus said. “Our goal is to partner with other organizations in our community to meet the needs of our youth.”
On top of working jobs involving service to youth, such as being a youth sports coach, teaching piano and being a preschool teacher for a few summers, the inspiration stemmed from Marcus’ childhood.
“My brother is 10 years younger than I am, and we were raised by a single mother,” Marcus said. “She often worked two and three jobs just to make ends meet. This pushed me into a greater role in our house.”
Marcus said this often put him in a guardian role — taking care of his brother and other neighborhood children while their mothers also worked.
In the early 2000s, Marcus started organizing runs and health expos to raise money for students in the program as well as Cornerstone of East Alabama Medical Center.
Cornerstone was a crucial resource for his family after a serious car accident in 2016. During the recovery process, the family received generous assistance from Cornerstone. Through his gratefulness, he decided to give back by donating a portion of the “I Run Opelika” event proceeds.
“‘I Run Opelika’ began as just having a few runners and vendors for the health expo, however, it quickly blossomed into a community-wide event to promote not only Cornerstone, but also the Opelika community,” Marcus said.
He said that more than 100 individuals participated in their most recent health expo and 5K run in August.
In the future, Marcus hopes to continue organizing more community-wide health-awareness events while also growing his impact on the youth.
“Our end goal is to have a brick and mortar building for our youth,” Marcus said. “They will be able to receive things from leadership training and mentoring, to financial assistance with career prep and living an active lifestyle. We also want to continue to work on diversity.”
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