Our own critical thinking child, Jahkil Jackson, is making national news with a creative and compassionate service project!

Jahkil, a 10-year old graduate of our Critical Thinking Boot Camp for kids, is a compassionate student who decided to tackle homelessness in Chicago head on. Noting the difficult living conditions of the homeless population in the Windy City, especially during the winter months, he decided to help by creating and distributing 5,000 ‘Blessing Bags’.

These Blessing Bags contain basic necessities, such as soap, toothpaste, shampoo, socks, and snacks. He met his 5,000 bag goal on December 28, 2017, and received special recognition from former president Barack Obama for his efforts. On December 29, Obama tweeted about Jahkil’s program and its success.

With as much success as his Blessing Bags have seen, it would be easy to call the project complete. But Jahkil is not yet finished. In fact, he wants it to grow even larger with a goal of 6,000 bags in 2018!

Once the bags are created, his family members take to the streets. They drive around with Blessing Bags on hand, so they are always prepared to hand one out to a person in need. As the volume of bags created increases, so does the number of individuals who can be helped.

Jahkil is a graduate of our Critical Thinking Boot Camp for kids, in which students learn to solve real-world problems and collaborate with their peers in creative and innovative ways. At The Critical Thinking Child, we’ve always believed that the learning process is most applicable outside of the classroom.

It makes us so proud to see Jahkil apply his critical thinking skills to solve real-world problems at home. Keep up the great work, Jahkil!