Maxwell depaula, Boston '02 alumnus

"Let passion drive you and know that you can do anything."

Graduating this year from The Juilliard School in New York City, Maxwell Depaula ’02 has already made a significant impact on the lives of those around him. He is a founding member of ArtREACH, now one of the most recognized student groups at Juilliard. ArtREACH is a group of students looking to enrich their greater community to “demonstrate the vitality of the Arts as a universal tool for initiating and establishing a greater sense of social understanding and acceptance."

Through ArtREACH and its partners, Maxwell has traveled to Homestead, Florida each of the past four summers to help with Arts in Action Camp, a joint venture with ASTEP, a network of global artists striving to end poverty. For the past two years, Max has also traveled to New Orleans to assist in the cleanup of Hurricane Katrina with Common Ground, and to work with Hands On New Orleans at an after-school camp. More recently this past April, Max continued giving back by speaking at Boston’s 2007 Leadership Dinner, Learning to Fly.

Asked about the impact of Summer Search, Max said he was forced to see himself as a leader. He also gained a worldview---everyone in the world is connected and we can all learn from our connectedness.

Max spent his first summer with Summer Search performing along the California coast with California Traveling Minstrels. His second summer was spent mountaineering in Colorado with Outward Bound International.