Featuring High School Seniors
Kolby Brown and Molly McPherson

















It's never too soon to be a Changemaker! In my first two-person interview for the Changemaker Series, I welcomed two rising high school seniors, Kolby Brown and Molly McPherson, to talk about their work for racial justice in our community.  These two young leaders recently organized a protest that took place prior to a meeting of the Montgomery County School Board on June 16th.   I wanted to find out how they got together to create such a meaningful and well attended event in such a short time and what motivated them to do so. 
As with other stories in this series, we used the “Homegrown Solutions for a Patchwork World” framework to guide our conversation.  Tune in to the video here or the podcast version to hear the entirety of the exchange. Read on for a summary of our rich and rewarding conversation. 






















Homegrown Kolby
Kolby is the middle son of four spread across twenty years and all raised in Christiansburg, Virginia where they have attended Montgomery County Schools.  His family has always been social and active in the community, but Kolby describes himself as an introvert.  In spite of his earlier preference to remain behind the scenes, his capacity for leadership has started to shine more recently as his passion for racial justice has been stoked by visible inequities and tragedies like the brutal and public killing of George Floyd. With this newfound confidence, Kolby says,  
















I have been able to advocate for myself and for others in a much better way and in a way that can create change. Starting this past year, I've really become more involved in leadership and advocating for other students.  At the end of the school year, this whole topic of conversation when it comes to racial problems we're facing in Montgomery County reemerged. We have to make change and we have to move forward, not just for ourselves, but for future generations of students that are coming through this school system.  I'm excited for where we're at and I'm excited to see where we can go.




























Homegrown Molly
Like Kolby, Molly is a rising senior, but at the high school in the neighboring town of Blacksburg.  Both of her parents are educators who’ve worked in the local school division and at Virginia Tech.  This fact made her aware of issues that affect teachers and schools from a very young age.   Her own leadership journey includes advocacy for the needs of teachers who may not always be in a position to speak for themselves.  She’s also been on a journey to develop awareness of racial inequities and injustice in her own school.  As a result, she was ready and willing to help when Kolby reached out in early June even though they did not yet know one another.