Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 9, 1993 TAG: 9309090393
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: W-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARY JO SHANNON SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It would be especially nice if that should occur this year, she says, because she will be a part of one of their five 150-member casts.
Her first contact with the international organization came last fall in Charlotte, N.C., where she was working as a paralegal. NationsBank, her roommate's employer, sponsored an Up With People concert, and the two young women decided to be hostesses to two student performers - one from Portugal and the other from Illinois.
"My roommate and I became interested in the organization and decided to interview. We were fortunate to be chosen, since white American females have the greatest competition."
Up With People seeks participants from all races, religions, nationalities and cultural backgrounds. Founded 25 years ago to provide a positive channel for the idealism and energy then being demonstrated worldwide, Up With People has no religious or political affiliations. It provides young men and women opportunities for cross-cultural education, diverse community service, onstage musical performance experience and extensive world travel, according to Ayers and fliers about the organization.
The participants, in turn, share a commitment to working for greater international understanding and, in the process, making some contribution to world peace.
Five crews travel throughout the world, presenting two-hour productions and participating in community service activities in hospitals, senior citizens' centers, prisons or schools.
Each year, more than 8,000 applications are received for 700 positions. Applicants, who represent an average of 25 countries, must be between the ages of 18 and 26. Maturity, personality, motivation, interest in the world around them and a desire to serve others are among the attributes sought.
Through interviews and written applications, the organization selects open-minded, outgoing individuals who can stand a rigorous schedule for one year. Applicants are further screened for talent in singing and dancing.
"I have sung in church choirs since I was a toddler," says Ayers, who recently visited her parents, Ron and Jodi Ayers. "I also took dance since eighth grade, and taught ballet. I am looking forward to training for the production."
Ayers learned of her acceptance three days before Christmas. Her parents were amazed at the year of worldwide travel and performance facing their oldest daughter, but her younger sisters, Kathryn and Allyson, asked, "Why should anything Leigh does surprise you?"
A young woman with multiple interests, Ayers hopes this experience will help her "learn to know myself and decide what I really want to do."
A 1987 Patrick Henry graduate, Ayers enrolled at Davidson College, where she majored in English and graduated in 1991. After completing her year with Up With People, she hopes to continue her education, become a teacher and eventually earn her master's in education and administration.
"I thought I might want to go to law school, so I took a job with a law firm. It helped me know I don't want to be a lawyer," she says. (Her father is an lawyer with Johnson, Ayers and Matthews.) The law firm, she says, also offered her a salary that allowed her to save half toward the expenses of the coming year.
Although students stay with host families on their tour - each year an estimated 30,000 families worldwide welcome them into their homes - they are responsible for providing a program fee toward their year of travel. Ayers had to raise $11,000.
She vigorously sought sponsorship from businesses and corporations but found little support. Undeterred, she began a savings program and took extra jobs to add to her fund.
Because she demonstrated such effort, Up With People granted her some financial aid for her first semester. She is still seeking contributions toward her second semester.
Ayers left for Denver in late July for five weeks of training to learn the songs and dances for this year's production and the logistics of packing sets. Her first program will be in Kansas early in September. After a tour of the Midwest, her cast will spend two months in Mexico.
Ayers has contacted her parents weekly since leaving Roanoke. They look forward to the Christmas break, when she will spend two weeks at home before heading for Denmark, Sweden and Finland. From March until her year ends in June, she will be in the United States.
Does she think her performing will lead to a career on the stage or in Hollywood? She laughs.
She does intend to continue performing, she says, but for fun at the community-theater level, as she did in Charlotte. In fact, it was during a performance of "Mame" that she met the girl who became her roommate and eventually led her to Up With People.
by CNB