Marshall University journalism students are trying to prove that Huntington still has a bright future by placing the hope for tomorrow in the children of today.

The Hero2One sponsorship program started as a fundraising capstone project for a small group of students from Marshall’s W. Page Pitt School of Journalism but turned into what is set to be a year-round sponsorship program that allows community members to mentor and sponsor a child in the Guyandotte Elementary afterschool program.

This allows low income households to not only have a safe place for their children to stay until the guardians get home from school or work but allows children to get help with homework and meet guest speakers.

“It’s important for these kids to grow up and have the job they want to and know that they can be successful because without that Huntington just can’t survive— that’s how it happens,” said Brittany Hively, a senior journalism major.

 As the capstone program director for Hero2One, Hively said she knew how important mentorship was because she was once one of those children that people did not think would make anything of herself because of what she came from.

“It’s so important for people to remember that these kids are our future, and if we don’t take care of them now, we aren’t taking care of our town later,” Hively said. “Mentorship’s everything, I wouldn’t be where I am today without it.”

Caroline Kimbro, a senior journalism major, said there is a lot of potential in schools around the greater Huntington area and children have “so much to offer and just are really full of life.”

She said working as Hero2One’s public relations manager allowed her to gain hands-on experience she felt she could not have gained in a classroom or an office.

“There’s sort of this reputation that Huntington has of being sort of not educated and not creative, or whatever the stereotype is, and you don’t find that, ‘the stereotypes,’ in the schools,” Kimbro said.

The Guyandotte Elementary afterschool program hosted a closed party with the capstone group Friday to celebrate the children and wrap up the first semester of the program.

Makaylah Wheeler can be contacted at [email protected].