Nashua teen honored with annual Buddy Cup
Every summer, teens from New England and New York who are involved in their local YMCA’s Leaders Club attend a week-long teen conference called Leaders School. At the conference, which was held virtually this year, one teen is awarded the Buddy Cup, which recognizes an outstanding leader and role model who exemplifies the program’s core values. The recipient of the 2020 Buddy Cup is New Hampshire’s 18-year-old Asher Thomas, a 2020 Nashua High School South graduate and member of the Leaders Club at the YMCA of Greater Nashua. Thomas talked about the program, his leadership experiences and his plans for the future.
What activities and leadership opportunities have you been involved in at the Y and in your community?
I was kind of “raised in the Y,” as I like to say. My mom worked there, and I was on the swim team and all that kind of stuff. I joined the Leaders Club when I was in the sixth grade and got much more active in the community through that because we did a lot of volunteering … like at the breast cancer walk, putting on anti-bullying days at the Y and those kinds of different things. Through high school, I was also pretty involved in a lot of different clubs and stuff at my school. I was an active member of a club called Student Voice, where we went to head teacher meetings to make sure that the policies they were creating were good for students all across the board, and we worked side by side with the administration to create structures that were beneficial for everybody that was involved in the school.
What is Leaders School all about?
Leaders Clubs from throughout the region — it actually happens across the country, but I’m involved with the Northeast Regional Leader School — get together, and it’s kind of our culminating event of the year. The Leaders Club is really about personal and community development, so [at the event,] there’s a lot of self-development, figuring out your own values and that kind of stuff, as well as thinking outside of just yourself, learning how to be a leader in your community and how to create an environment that is supportive for everyone involved.
What was the event like this year, being held virtually?
For the past couple of years, it has taken place at Springfield College in Mass., so it was a lot different this year. There was definitely a much lower turnout with it being virtual, and there weren’t as many people from our Nashua club who participated. … There were a lot of different mediums [used]. There were some live calls and virtual meetings where we would kind of get together and sing songs or have object lessons where the advisor, an adult leader, would basically have an object and use that in order to teach us a life lesson in some way. People who weren’t able to attend the live sessions could still participate in various different activities and challenges on their own time.
How did it feel to be awarded the Buddy Cup?
I was definitely very honored. It was really exciting for me to be able to see that I had made such a large impact. I was also excited because the person who won it last year was actually a good friend of mine and was also from the Nashua Leaders Club, so we were able to do the actual passing of the trophy in person — socially distant, obviously.
What have you gained from participating in the Leaders Club and Leaders School?
I feel like I have definitely grown as a person through this program. It’s a program that really lets you be yourself, no matter who you are, and over the past few years especially, I feel like it has helped me grow into who I am, and to be comfortable with myself. It has also shown me how to have meaningful interactions with other people, how to be more empathetic in those interactions and how to just be a good person in the world who is helpful to others.
Is there an experience you had through the Leaders Club or community service that was especially impactful or memorable?
A couple of years ago, with the Leaders Club, I went down to New Orleans for a service trip where we were rebuilding houses that were devastated … by Hurricane Katrina. Being able to be a part of an organization that is rebuilding houses for those less fortunate who lost their homes in the hurricane was definitely a very impactful experience.
What are your future plans?
This fall, I’m actually taking a gap year and traveling across the country in a van that I’ve been converting. After that, I’ll be attending Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon.
Do you know what you want to pursue, career-wise?
I think I want to go into the medical field.
What words of wisdom do you have for the young leaders you’re passing the torch to?
Never underestimate your power. I think that oftentimes younger people are overlooked, but we have the ability to change the world. If you believe in yourself and have the support of others around you, you can do anything.
Asher Thomas. Courtesy photo.
