Young but wise: Kendrick Henson is making his mark on Baton Rouge

BRYC Learning Manager Kendrick Henson named one of 225 Magazine’s Twenty in Their Twenties. Since 2024, Kendrick has been the leading architect of an ambitious 8th-grade program based on the Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) framework. Supported by volunteer mentors, Kendrick guides BRYC‘s youngest Fellows through a nine-month investigation into local concerns (e.g., food deserts, educational inequity), pointing them first toward community resources for solutions. Library visits, Q&As with civic leaders, and master classes from local creatives anchor the curriculum.

“Community resources helped shape me into the person I am today,” Kendrick told 225’s Kelli Bozeman. “Because I benefited from those systems, I feel a responsibility to strengthen them for the next generation.”