JUGHEADS
Youth Juggling Company, LLC
5905 Concord Avenue
Edina, MN 55424
jugheads@comcast.net
612.229.3348

[Back to Paul's Platform main selection page]

September 2005

"Pessimism Proven Wrong"

As a member of Generation X (those born from 1965-1975), I have often been guilty of a guarded apathy toward certain successes and failures. This isn't a pervasive attitude of mine, but it's been present over my years running JH, due to the many unknown elements of this one-of-a-kind company. For instance, I frequently predicted to the Jugheads last spring, "We'll probably lose about 33% of enrollment once we move to the church (going from 120 to 80 youth)." Rather than be disappointed in the likely reduction, I braced myself by expecting it. The reality? As of 9/14/05, we're virtually equal to last year's company! 117 Jugheads are enrolled compared to 121 last spring, and that promises to increase.

I am overwhelmed. However, as I wrote in the program for Juggle Jam 7, this success is not all about my leadership or Wendy's organization; it's about the community (or "family") that has been nurtured here over the past decade. Some have left, some have joined, but the core remain, and the company enters a new era full of optimism, confidence, and hope.