Drew Curry

She is no stranger to feeling aimless in life. But now she has found her purpose and wants to help other young Bahamians find theirs. She tells Cara Hunt about her project and new book which are both designed to help students overcome their feelings of hopelessness.

As the founder of Project Blue, Drew Curry hopes to plant seeds of purpose into the lives of high school students all over the country.

Project Blue is a programme that visits senior high schools throughout the Bahamas to educate students about the importance of goal-setting, self-development activity, envisioning and planning their futures.

“This initiative is really based on my life and my story,” Drew told Tribune Weekend.

“One day, I was listening to a sermon by the late Pastor Myles Munroe and he was talking about students graduating from school and getting jobs, but not having a purpose.

“That was exactly how I had felt when I graduated. I started a job, but I felt that it was just a routine. It was not until I left my job that I finally started feeling fulfilled.”

Drew realised that her purpose was to help others find theirs.

She started the Project Blue initiative to go into schools and help students prepare for their lives after graduation.

“The name Project Blue is short for blueprints, because blueprints are used in construction as a way to know what needs to be done, and so this is helping build a foundation for life,” she explained.

Drew said she took a leap of faith to get her project off the ground.

“I have always been a risk-taker,” she explained. “Even when I graduated in 2012, I had got a job, but I left it after only eight months because I just wanted more.”

She sat down and strategically planned what that “more” would entail.

“Having a plan made it much easier to plan and prepare how I wanted things to go.”

Her idea was to meet with high school students and help them prepare for their futures.

“The hardest part was that I had to reach out to all the guidance counsellors, and I knew that even if I got 100 no’s, I would get at least one yes.”

She was right, and Project Blue has made it into more than half a dozen senior schools in the country.

“What I do is I meet with the students and we discuss what they want for their lives. To do this we focus on goal-setting; what do you want to and how can you do it. Another thing we do is discuss having vision.

“I get them to ask themselves, ‘Where do I see myself?’ Focus on the end result. And we create vision boards where they have to ask themselves questions like, ‘Why is vision important to me?’ and ‘What do I need to turn that desire into a reality’.”

Other important areas the project focuses on are accountability, personal growth and time management.

“For example, I mention to them about the time they spend on social media, just scrolling all day when they could be using that time to further their goals.”

Drew has created her own workbook to help students reach these goals and objectives.

“It’s really a guidebook with a formula that they can follow to help them learn how to confidently reach their goals.”

Drew initially founded Project Blue out of pocket, but as the project developed over time, she has been able to secure sponsorships from corporate Bahamas.

While she does sometimes speak at larger assemblies, Drew said she prefers