"So… Do We Get to Help?"
Looking back: Before the whiteboards filled up and the partnerships took shape, there was the moment a UTC student first asked, "So… do we get to help?" This post was originally written in February 2026.
For several years, Dorian has been invited to speak with students at United Technologies Center, sharing his journey and the impact that one young person can have on a community. During a previous visit, the students were so moved that they stepped in on their own, collecting three carloads of cereal for local families during the final weeks of school before summer break. There was no formal structure behind that effort, just heart and action, and it was a powerful reminder of what young people will do when they're inspired.
This visit, however, marked a meaningful shift. For the first time, I was there not only to support Dorian's story but to formally introduce The D-Max Effect, the leadership framework we've been building to turn empathy into organized, measurable community impact. And for the first time, we weren't simply inspiring students to help; we were intentionally inviting them into a structure they could lead themselves.
These high school students showed up ready. After I walked them through the framework and shared the nonprofit partnership behind this initiative, I paused for questions, and one student raised their hand and asked, with genuine excitement, "So… do we get to help?"
Just like that, the floodgates opened. The ideas, energy, and vision came pouring out, and the goals quickly climbed sky-high. UTC has 22 departments, and rather than supporting a single effort, the students set out to mobilize across all of them. If they reach the goals they're now setting, they won't just make an impact on one nonprofit; they'll have built the capacity to support several.
At one point, Dorian asked if he could pull up a chair and brainstorm alongside them. Watching him sit in that circle, not as the young person being showcased but as a peer and fellow collaborator, reinforced everything this framework stands for: leadership isn't about age or title, but about ownership and invitation.
We did have to gently rein in a few of the bigger event ideas (it turns out liability is a real buzzkill), but what mattered most was the mindset in that room. These students were thinking in terms of systems, collaboration, and sustained impact, which is exactly the kind of thinking The D-Max Effect is designed to develop.
None of this is theoretical. I've been teaching and practicing versions of this leadership model for years, in university classrooms, in community initiatives, and through the work Dorian and I have built together. What's happening now is the formalization of that experience into a named, structured framework that others can use and not just experience.
This visit was one of the first times I was able to introduce The D-Max Effect in its finalized form and invite students directly into it. Watching them step in so naturally confirmed what I've known all along: when young people are given real ownership and a clear framework, they don't hesitate. They lead.
The D-Max Effect is now available, not as a theory, but as a model built alongside the young leaders who are already putting it into action. And this is only the beginning.
