The other night, our after school programs (Project FOCUS and PACE) held their first “Youth After School Awards” (YASA). When I first heard about it a few weeks ago, I was fairly skeptical of the idea. Why? Well… first of all, because I’m skeptical by nature – which I realize really bugs a lot of people. Honestly though, I like to think of myself as “quality control”. Once a skeptic like me can no longer find anything wrong with an idea or plan – it’s usually foolproof. I really didn’t think a “dress-up” dinner and awards night would mean anything to elementary, middle school, and high school kids; I thought parents would be annoyed with having to drive into Fremont for some silly awards program; and quite frankly (but only half-seriously), I doubted the ability of our after school program staff to pull it off. In a classic case of me not knowing what the heck I was talking about, I was proved oh-so-wrong… about a great many things.
First of all, the YASA Committee did a wonderful job of decorating the room; it looked amazing… maybe better than I’ve ever seen it. They had all the Site Coordinators and their line staff there working the event, all dressed in blacks & grays and looking great. Seriously – this didn’t surprise me that much, because I know what awesome staff we have. The real surprise for me was the kids and their parents.
To see the pride in the eyes of students and parents alike was unexpectedly quite moving and powerful. They really appreciated being honored and acknowledged. Students received awards for attendance, improvement, respectful attitudes, enthusiasm, and being especially helpful. These aren’t things that I thought would matter all that much, but they sure did. It made sense though when I thought about it further. Project FOCUS and PACE operate in 5 school districts that were chosen specifically because they are among the economically hardest hit in the area; Baldwin, Hart, Hesperia, Walkerville, and White Cloud. These are districts that have extremely high percentages of students receiving free and reduced meals, and unemployment rates that consistently rank higher than state averages – in a state that has one of the highest rates in the nation. To put it bluntly – a lot of these families are struggling.
I’m married to a teacher, so I have an “insider’s perspective” on the difficulties school districts face when funding keeps getting cut, and then cut some more. The first things to go are “the extras”; things like field trips, “the arts”, and after school clubs and programming. It’s why Project FOCUS and PACE are in these communities, and it helps explain why getting an award at a really nice event with a catered dinner might mean so much to a family.
As I stopped by table after table and asked who was winning an award, I saw parents and kids visibly swell with pride as students raised a hand. It was especially cool to see a single mother there with her three daughters that I know is currently staying in one of our Homeless Duplexes. I only know this because she had allowed us to interview her and feature her story and photo in our 2009 Annual Report. I remember her telling me then how excited she was that her oldest daughter had just gotten involved with this really cool afterschool program called Project FOCUS. I don’t know if she even knew at the time that it was our program. Just to know a bit of her history and story and then to see her and her girls doing so well… and how proud she was of her daughter, how proud the young girl was, and how proud her sisters were of her… well, that was very cool. I’ve never been happier to be wrong.
And that’s what happened in a day in the life of TrueNorth.
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