Team Bounceback is an advisory committee created by the city of Carmel to help the city retain local talent, especially in the form of students of Carmel schools. Created on Aug. 16, the program is led by Carlton Anker, an attorney and alumni of this school. According to an official bulletin, the committee “will play a pivotal role in shaping strategies to make Carmel an even more appealing place for young people to live, work and thrive.”

Anker said one of the goals of the committee will be advertising Carmel’s strengths, particularly the city’s amenities and job opportunities, to former residents.

“We have great public schools here at Carmel on top of all the other amenities we have,” Anker said. “The city and I felt like we could do an even better job at helping to identify the job opportunities that do exist for our young professionals. So really, we’re trying to show those opportunities today to people who may not be immediately aware of them.”

Sophomore Luke Choi moved here from Hudson, Ohio, a small town. Choi said he agreed Carmel as a community has a lot to offer compared to other cities.

“I really enjoy the people and opportunities Carmel offers,” Choi said. “(The city) has so many different things that fit anything someone would want to do. Especially as someone who moved here, I never truly understood the magnitude of the amount of people.”

Anker also said housing was a significant factor discouraging many former Carmel students from moving back to Carmel. He also said the housing issue will likely be one of the most complex topics the committee will have to tackle.

“It’s kind of a funny double-edged sword,” Anker said. “In some sense, property being high(-priced) is a good thing. We don’t want to artificially lower the value of our homes. But at the same time, if we only have the higher-price, higher-income opportunities available, then we’re not addressing what Team Bounceback looks to address. One thing that myself and Team Bounceback will want to explore is if there is a way we can either subsidize or encourage developers to want to develop these lower price point opportunities in Carmel.”

Senior Christopher Tichindelean moved here from Charlotte, North Carolina. In addition to high housing prices, Tichindelean said his least favorite part about Carmel is its reputation.

“I wouldn’t say it’s that the people are bad, but I think the city gets a bad rap sometimes because people say it’s out of touch with other communities,” Tichindelean said. “It’s something that a lot of people I know are working towards addressing when interacting with their friends from other schools.”

Tichindelean said despite the mixed reputation of Carmel and its people, making friends is what makes him consider Carmel to be a good city.

“Originally when I moved here, it was during Covid,” Tichindelean said. “Even then I was able to make a lot of friends because the people here are really nice and outgoing.”

Choi said he would consider moving back to Carmel after graduating. Like Tichindelean, Choi said the relative ease of finding a community he resonated with is one of his favorite parts of the city.

“I think after graduating college I would definitely consider moving back here just because there’s so much to do and I’ve been having a really nice time here,” Choi said. “From my personal experience, I was able to find a community after joining a club and meeting a lot of amazing people, so as long as you make that effort to meet people and put yourself out there the rest will come naturally.”

Anker said community feedback was the highest priority for him and his team, even from students from this school. Anker also said the diversity of the committee will allow for a wide range of perspectives to be represented.

“What I believe to be most effective, and this is why we have a committee of eight voluntary members other than myself, is speaking directly with stakeholders,” Anker said. “That could be people as young as CHS students who are getting ready to graduate and go into the workforce or more schooling, all the way up to their late twenties and early thirties who maybe grew up in Carmel. It starts with interaction with community members. I don’t just mean people living in Carmel, but people where Carmel was their home. We are actually considering having a Carmel Clay Schools faculty member being one our committee members because CHS and Carmel Clay Schools have done an excellent job at retaining CHS alumni.”

Anker said although attracting new residents is a priority, the importance of convincing former residents to move here cannot be understated.

“At the end of the day, for Carmel to remain a diverse, vibrant, extremely impactful community, we need to ensure we’re addressing all demographics, not just addressing those who come from all over the country. Although that’s great too, making sure that we’re not forgoing our homegrown talent is such an important tool that we need to have here in Carmel.”