Reflecting on a Year of Growth: A Valley Guardians Event
By: Hailey Wesloski
In the journey of a school year, students experience a lot. Completing another year is a significant milestone for them, though often it goes unnoticed by parents and other adults who perceive it as fleeting. It’s crucial to celebrate and acknowledge students for their accomplishments throughout the year. This allows them to pause, reflect, and recognize the fruits of their hard work.
In today’s era dominated by social media, students struggle to appreciate themselves. Learning to appreciate and reflect on their experiences is a valuable skill. Students require support in this process of reflection and appreciation. It doesn’t need to be time-consuming, but it’s undoubtedly beneficial. As a parent, I encourage us to take the time to uplift our students and affirm their progress in life.
On May 11th The Valley Guardians Executive Leadership scholars wrapped up the school year and celebrated their various accomplishments. There were 26 students who attended the event and participated in various team activities like making TikTok’s, solving riddles, suction darts, snowball fight and chair shuffleboard to end the school year with a bang. Students partook in eating many delicious Italian foods, snow cones and enjoying the company of their peers. At the end students won prizes and got to take home gift cards, flavored sodas, candy and chips. We also took a moment to recognize the 3 seniors and their various accomplishments throughout the school year with gift cards and a special moment for them to share what their future plans are.
Students commented on how nice it was to celebrate their accomplishments and reflect on their past year. This gave students an opportunity to get together and share the joy with their peers while looking forward to the upcoming year. The Valley Guardians Leadership Program is giving these underprivileged students the opportunity of a lifetime and impacting their lives in so many different ways! The scholar students appreciate the Valley Guardian donors for all of their efforts in making a difference in the community as well as in their individual lives!
The Valley Guardians Leadership Program
The Valley Guardian program is a multiyear coaching program for underserved students in the community. It was created by successful business people in the valley. They got together and formed a non-profit to find ways to fund developmental programs for kids in underserved communities. This program was aimed toward the underserved kids in the valley who have good hearts and have a desire to be successful and be mentored. The kids who are a part of this program have access to all different kinds of services like professional coaches, coaching calls, getaways, leadership education and training workshops, access to professionals in the valley, college and career readiness and more. The Valley Guardian program started with a single school of 6 students, and overtime has grown to 13 schools, 7 districts, and 49 active students. Overall there have been 120 students who have benefited from this program.
The Valley Guardians program offers over thirty online and in person workshops per year. We do many different types of workshops per year including things like arcades, parks, hikes, parties, and online leadership training. Many of the kids who come are not very social and are looking for a place to feel comfortable and be able to meet new people while being themselves. When they come to programs they have a great time. The way we set them up makes kids feel comfortable, whether we ask them what they are interested in doing or set them up to meet new people through social activities at the beginning of each event. The students find they feel connected and accepted through the program.