On November 17, André Massey, a 14-year-old student from Savannah, GA shared the stage with First Lady Michelle Obama in the White House’s East Room. It was there that he received the country’s highest honor for youth arts and humanities programs on behalf of Deep Center’s Young Author Project. 

“When I started Deep as a 8th grader at Mercer Middle School,” reflects André, now a freshman at Woodville-Tompkins Technical and Career High School, “I thought I was just going to write a few poems and maybe get a chance to read them in public. But, Deep did more than that—it changed my life. It showed me how to express myself, and through my writing, I reconnected with my father.”

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The National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award recognizes the country’s best creative youth development programs for increasing academic achievement, graduation rates, and college enrollment by engaging children and youth in the arts and humanities. The awardees, including Savannah’s Deep Center, were also recognized for improving literacy and language abilities, communication and performance skills, and cultural awareness.

Deep Center is a nonprofit that provides free, fun, and rigorous writing workshops for public school students in Savannah, Georgia. Deep approaches literacy by challenging young people to engage with language and their stories through writing, reading, and performance. They focus on helping them express themselves through writing; students’ best work is then showcased through publication and live readings.

“You can’t help but be moved by these kids, who show us the transformative power of the arts and humanities,” says Rachel Goslins, executive director of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, “They are staying in school longer, getting better grades, graduating from high school and going on to college at significantly higher rates than their peers. And they’re building skills that will last them a lifetime."

In addition to the national recognition gained by receiving this prestigious award, Deep Center will also receive $10,000 to support its programming and engage more young people from the community.

“This award recognizes the documented fact that Deep Center is an essential investment not just in the lives of our young people but also in Savannah’s future,” says Dare Dukes, Deep Center’s executive director.

The Deep Center was featured on GPB’s On Second Thought last Friday; if you missed the show, listen here as the host, Celeste Headlee, discusses Deep Centers’s award and a Deep poet, Justin, reads his poem, "Breathe.”