What would Vashon look like if all of its young people had access to mentorship and safe, supportive rites of passage? That’s the question that Nicky Wilks and Alex Craighead, of Journeymen, are asking.

Both natives of Vashon, Wilks and Craighead left the island for college and opportunities, eventually returning to Vashon with an audacious vision: create a space for young people to feel like they belong, where they can be vulnerable, and where they can learn how to express themselves in healthy ways.

Their contributions to the island community as teachers in our schools and coaches and mentors to young people are why they were selected by the Vashon Community Scholarship Foundation (VCSF) for the “Making a Difference Now” award.

The Scholarship Foundation is a community effort to encourage graduating seniors to continue education and training after high school. Through the efforts of a volunteer board, hundreds of generous donors, and engaged community members, VCSF has raised more than $2.5 million to support the dreams of local students over the last 36 years.

Every single student who submits an application is awarded a scholarship and with it, hears a spoken tribute to their individual journey and honored place in our community.

On their own journey — which involved risky behavior, experiments with substances, and even a lacrosse championship — Wilks and Craighead developed social-emotional skills to help them cope with unreasonable social pressures and harmful patterns of masculinity. They founded Journeymen to teach those skills to a new generation, and they’ve now become the mentors they so desperately needed when they were younger.

“I loved coming of age on Vashon, but as I grew up, I had big emotions and didn’t feel comfortable in my own skin,” said Craighead. “I didn’t have a place or a way to talk about that.”

Wilks has a new perspective now.

“As a dad, I realize that the same qualities that make this island such an amazing place to be a young kid, make it a suffocating place to be an adolescent,” he said. “When I was growing up here, I desperately needed adults outside my family to see me for who I was, to be allowed to make mistakes, and to be mentored.”

The Journeymen programs are teaching kids on Vashon and across the Puget Sound region to communicate, support each other, and handle emotions and challenges without imploding in shame or exploding in violence.

Craighead and Wilks are quick to recognize the adults who supported them as they grew up here and name their own scholarships from VCSF as particular points of pride. This year, they have been honored for the impact they’ve made on students and families. They’re the ones making a difference now.

Beth Lindsay and Jane Slade are parents and members of the board of Vashon Community Scholarship Foundation, a non-profit that has awarded scholarships to high school graduates since 1986. Learn more and make a gift at vashonscholarshipfoundation.org.