Former NAACP president Ben Jealous visited Grand Rapids Community College as part of its Black History celebration. Jealous addressed students at Fountain Street Church Wednesday evening explaining how young people can change the world. “Every Black History Month I make a point of getting out on college campuses to really encourage this rising generation of leaders and activists to take the world by storm.” Ben Jealous knows a thing or two about leading and creating social change. He led the NAACP from 2008 through 2013. Now an author and venture capitalist, he provides this life lesson for young people. “Take all the advice your parents give you and tell them that you’ll pay attention to it when you’re 25. But between graduation and 25, those 2,3,4 years, you’re going to focus on doing just what you want to do. This is the time of your life to take risks. And it’s taking those risks that give you the chance to build your legend. You don’t go work for that start-up. You don’t go work for that political campaign. You don’t go try to start that nonprofit organization or join a crusade to plant trees in some barren part of East Africa. You’ll get to a point where you’re in your 40s or you’re older and you’ll regret not having taken the risk you could have taken when you were young because it could have changed the trajectory of your entire life.”