FINAL REPORT: After-School Programs as a Support to Academic Achievement

Quality after-school programs by using the positive youth development approach can provide the support and opportunity for young people to succeed both developmentally and academically

Today, over 10,000 youth in Austin are involved in different afterschool programs organized by schools, local youth organizations, community based organizations, churches, etc.  Despite the variety of program types and models, there are some characteristics and qualities of after-school programs which help them have a great impact on academic achievement of kids.

Impact on Academic Achievement

Research shows that participation in after-school programs leads to better school attendance, more positive attitude towards school work, higher aspirations for college, improved work habits, better interpersonal skills, lower drop out rates, higher quality homework completion, less time spent in unhealthy behaviors, and improved grades.  Developmental psychologists now indicate that social and emotional development that youth receive through participation in an after-school program is linked to academic success in youth.

Assets and Risks

It is understood that one needs skills, knowledge, and a variety of other personal and social assets to function well during adolescence and adulthood. In 2002 the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine jointly produced a list of 28 personal and social assets grouped into four developmental domains: physical, intellectual, psychological and emotional, and social development.  Individuals have different combinations of these assets; having more assets is better than having few. However, there are also risk factors that can lead to a youth’s poor school and developmental outcomes including cognitive deficits, behavior and adjustment problems, and psychological problems. Such risk factors include:

• Living in families where no parent has full-time, year-round employment

• Living in single-parent families

• Living with a household head who is a high school dropout

• Living in low-income working families

• Living in a household without a telephone

• Living in a household without a vehicle

• Have difficulty speaking English

Need to find demographic data on Austin

Any of these factors in combination or alone can limit children’s ability to perform in school and develop the emotional and social competence to transition successfully through adolescence.  

Role of an After-School Program

By promoting positive youth development, after-school programs play an important role in helping youth overcome some of these risk factors and critical barriers to academic learning and personal well being.  To be successful in learning and developing, young people need safe, structured places and access to basic services. They need high quality instruction. But they also need personal attention; strong, respectful relationships with adults; peer support, clear rules, high expectations and real assessments; and challenging experiences and opportunities for self-direction, participation and contribution within the organization and the community.  Ensuring that these features exist in after school programs is no easy task.  And while some after-school programs may focus on delivering only several of these key elements, it is critical that programs be aware of the full range of key elements and ensure that at the very least, they do no harm in each of these areas.  

Need to find information on principles and practices of Keepin’ It Real

Program example: Keepin’ It Real

• Basic care and services
• Caring relationships
• Relevant, challenging experiences
• High expectations and standards
• Opportunities for choice and contribution
• High-quality instruction

What does it take to create after school programs with the elements described above – programs that support youth development and learning in settings where young people consistently experience the supports and opportunities they need during the out-of-school hours?   Important answers can be found at the program level. Programs face the challenges of ensuring quality and continuity of supports, building staff and organizational capacity, maintaining adequate and sufficient resources, and gaining public support. There are also significant citywide challenges related to building quality and continuity, developing resources, and creating a climate where investments in high-quality afterschool programs are adequate and sustained. Creating such a climate means nurturing broad public understanding and appreciation of all the benefits and possibilities of a youth development approach.

Other points to cover:

• challenges to creating a successful PYD program
• best practices
• recommendatons to ALA

Volunteering at the Grassroots Level...

A couple of weeks ago our PRP class had an opportunity to participate in a community clean-up AKA Volunteer With Me 2011. It was a community-building event aimed at uniting/bonding members of the school community, their families and friends, and other do-gooders through involving them in a volunteering activity.  It was a gray Saturday morning with some drizzling rain, but the urge to give back to my community made me crawl out of bed and successfully make it to the event. 

Organization and Registration

I don't have a lot of complaints regarding organization of the event, except that Lanier High School where registration took place is pretty far from where I live (Hyde Park), and after registration (writing my name down on a scrap of paper, getting snacks, bottled water, and a t-shirt), I had to go all the way back to Dobie. Lanier High School was crowded with volunteers, and it was hard to find the registration spot due to the absence of arrows. It turned out to be in the very back of the school, quite a long and confusing walk for those who are at the school for the first time. 

At Dobie and the Process

When I think about 'community clean-up', I imagine raking leaves or picking up garbage. However this time it was different.  We were literally digging in the dirt in front of Dobie - pulling grass roots out, digging up plant roots, etc. After a couple of hours my back and upper arms started to hurt, dirt got under my nails, and it was becoming rather hot - but surprisingly I really enjoyed it! 

Pluses:

- The organizers had enough tools for all the volunteers, and we could easily share, too. 

- Bottled water was available on-site

- The organizers offered a variety of tasks (well, I noticed at least 4 of them)

Minuses:

- There were too many volunteers doing one job. The flower beds were literally crawled with volunteers, so, in my opinion, task/volunteer ratio could be a bit more efficient

- Instructions could be a bit more clear and precise

So, Community Involvement...

As far as I remember, the original idea of our participation in the project was to interact with the local community members, particularly, with parents of the kids going to Dobie. Personally I did no see any parents or any other adults at the event whatsoever. So I would say the community engagement was very low and limited to high school or college volunteers. As for the "local support", we had a middle-school band perform a couple of songs, which was,, honestly, truly awesome. I was even more excited about the band play when I realized that one of the songs they were playing was a hit which was very popular last fall. I heard it in a club a couple of times, but didn't know who the singer was so couldn't find it anywhere.  Now when i heard it I just came up to one of the band members and asked them what they were playing. Yay! "All I Do Is Win" - added to my playlist.  

What I Got Out of the Event

- ideas for organizing such an event in the future

- cool bonding experience with my wonderful classmates

- I brushed up my digging in the soil skills

- I truly connected with the nature, which was amazing

- once again I realized that volunteering is a big thing in the USA

Ideas for Improvement

So as a participant of the event, I have a couple of ideas for improvement:

- Registration: put up signs so that it's easier to find the registration tables; make sure the registration tables are not that far from the parking lot

- At the site: a bigger variety of tasks and a more reasonable task/volunteer ration, so that volunteers don't have to dig in the soil on top of each other

- Engaging a wider community (maybe, radio announcements, newspaper ads, facebook invite, etc) to make sure more people come to the event

On Social Collaboration and Communit Involvement

Howard Adelman, Linda Taylor. Fostering School, Family, and Community Involvement. The Hamilton Fish Institute on School and Community Violence & Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, 2007. 

The article is about enhancing home, community, and school collaboration as part of comprehensive safe school and school improvement planning. Schools are more effective when they are an integral part of the community. This contributes to a better academic performance, fewer discipline problems, higher staff morale, and improved use of resources. For communities, collaboration with schools can strengthen students, their families, their schools, and the community in which they live.

What Is Collaboration?

In other words, if we want a school to be a good and safe place, we must enhance family and community involvement with it. A key strategy in all this is collaboration.  Collaboration, which is defined in the article as “formal working partnerships between schools, families, and various local organizations and community representatives”, is becoming more and more popular in communities across the country.

A good approach involves bringing together resources of at least one school with local family and community resources. It is done to sustain connections over time. The range of entities involved in such collaboration is not limited to agencies and organizations; it also includes individuals, businesses, community-based organizations, postsecondary institutions, religious and civic groups, programs at parks and libraries, and any other facilities that can be used for recreation, learning, enrichment, and support.

Why Is Collaboration Needed

Successful collaboration is a way to overcome barriers to learning, enhance healthy development, and strengthen families and neighborhoods. Building such collaboration requires stakeholder readiness, an enlightened vision, creative leadership, and new and multifaceted roles for professionals who work in schools and communities, as well as for family and other community members who are willing to take on leadership.

Interest in connecting families, schools, and communities is growing fast. For schools, such links are seen as a way to provide more support for schools, students, and families. For organizations, connection with schools is a way to provide better access to families and youth, creating an opportunity to reach and have an impact on hard-to-reach clients. The interest in collaboration is now even bigger because of the concern about widespread fragmentation of school and community communication. The hope is that integrated resources will have a greater impact on “at risk” factors and on promoting healthy development.

Get Good Grades and Get Your Act Straight!

The topic of our next presentation at Dobie was sports, the importance of going in for sports, and being fit.  A lot of research has shown that joining a sports team at an early age can save kids from getting into trouble during the afterschool hours, it also has a lot of health and social benefits (see previous blog entry). 

And since none of us – Stephanie, Anna, and me – are really active in sports, we decided to have a guest speaker, a student from UT. It would be another opportunity for the kids to interact with a college student, to learn more about college life, and, of course, his/her experience with sports. This could also show the kids that going to college for them could be a reality – o a sports scholarship.  We knew that for many of those middleschoolers, college is not something widely discussed in their families, and most of their parents or other relatives do not have college education at all. So having a UT student talk to the class could become another good seed planted in the kids’ minds.

Our fellow LBJer Phillip Nevels and his friend Marlon, also UT student, agreed to be the guest speakers and talk to the kids.  The guys were a perfect fit. Phillip Nevels earned an football scholarship to attend the University of Louisiana Lafayette where he was the Team Captain and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Biological Anthropology. There he graduated Magna Cum Laude, was honored as the University most Outstanding Graduate in the College of Liberal Arts, and was President of multiple organizations.  Marlon Bright played basketball at Florida International University where he was recently named Team MVP and awarded the Sporting Behavior Award which is based on outstanding leadership, achievement in the classroom, and commitment to the community. He served as both a member of the Executive Board and then as President of the FIU Chapter of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. Under his leadership the chapter worked with other service organizations and local community groups to clean rehabilitate local landscapes, support basic operations at the Ronald McDonald House, and fundraise on behalf of the American Cancer Society.  With such a background in sports, strong educational performance, and outstanding leadership experience, Phillip and Marlon could become great role models for the Dobie kids.

The presentation went really well. We had a better turnout than usual – 6 kids showed up this time, and we thought it was a good start. What started out as a presentation, gradually turned into a discussion and a Q&A session. Phillip and Marlon told the kids about themselves, their sports achievements, experience as college students, and, more importantly, about the goals they want to accomplish and principles they follow in life. They talked a lot about the importance of doing good at school – starting right now, in the 6-7^th grade, about making the right decisions, pursuing higher education in a university, and eventually getting a great job. It was amazing, and it seemed that the guys were talking right to the kids’ hearts. They were speaking in a simple language, sharing a lot of examples from their own lives – and that’s what grabbed the kids’ attention instantly. The middleschoolers were sitting quietly, listening attentively to every single word that Phillip and Marlon were saying, and it was obvious that they would remember this day and what the guys talked to them about for a long-long time.

After the presentation, we went outside to play ball. It was a lot of fun to interact with kids in the non-academic atmosphere, listen to their fun stories from their lives, and just enjoy the warm sun.

More on Sports…. And Some Interesting Statistics

Kevin M. Thompson. Activity Participation and Delinquency and Substance Use: Another Look. The North Dakota Journal of Human Services, 1999.

People believe or would like to believe that the boys and girls who participate in sports learn certain positive character traits. There is evidence to suggest that as a result of participation, they have:

- better attendance in school

- better grades in school

- better behavior in school

- less trouble and fewer discipline problems in school

- better citizenship in school and community

- an upward mobility orientation (e.g., go to college)

Sports, Girls, and Some Statistics

To further expand on these positive aspects of sport, the following information about girls and sport was presented in a recent news release. It was reported that:

- Girls who participate in sports get better grades and are more likely to

graduate.

- Girls who play sports are less likely to get pregnant at an early age.

- Girls who participate in sports are less likely to use drugs or to stay in

an abusive relationship.

- Girls who participate in sports experience greater self-esteem, increased self-confidence and a more positive body image.

- If a girl does not participate in sports by the time she is 10 years old,

there is only a 10 percent chance she will be participating later in life.

- Women who participate in sports four or more times per week, decrease their chance of breast cancer by 60 percent.

- 80 percent of female Fortune 500 company executives participated in sports.

Four Main Reasons for Sports

There are at least four reasons why sport can influence behavior in a positive direction.

First, sport occupies the time that youngsters might use for other activities. As a rule, sport leaders then to be positive influences on the kids, but that is not always the case.

Second, sport is used as a positive lever by coaches and parents. That is, the players must conform to certain rules in school and at home to maintain their school eligibility or parental permission. This tends to keep them on track.

Third, school players may have greater opportunities to seek tutoring that may not be of much immediate value to other students. Players may also have other support groups in place to keep them headed in the right direction.

Finally, coaches and parents generally are interested in encouraging and otherwise pushing players to strive for the next higher level of play. In the highly visible sport market, that usually means do well in school and then go on to college. In this regard, players can become the focal point of attention based totally on their sports ability.

Sports and the Youth: Why So Important?

Harrison, P., Naraya, G. Differences in behavior, psychological factors, and environmental factors associated with participation in school sports and other activities in adolescence. Journal of School Health, 2003. 


Sports provide children and youth with many opportunities to grow physically and socially, as well as emotionally. Moreover, physical activities with other children allow them to build social skills through peer interaction. Many parents are concerned about whether or not to allow their children to participate in team sports and, if so, at what age.


At What Age Should Children Start Team Sports?

Child development experts say that children develop interested in team sports around ages 5-6. Some educators feel that learning to cooperate with peers at a young age is very important for children because this way they will be more socially ready for kindergarten and grade school. However, adults must emphasize cooperation over competition in team sports, especially with young children. They also should not show favoritism to young children based on their demonstrated skills in sports. Children's (especially boys') motivation to participate in team sports moves from a focus on competition in early childhood to one on cooperation and friendship by the late elementary school years. Thus it's important to help young children advance developmentally to appreciate the cooperativeness of team sports.

Competition

Team sports are useful for teaching youth many important skills. The first of these skills is competition. In today's world, we are surrounded by competition. Adults face competition when they are applying for and keeping jobs, whereas children face competition in academics and sports. Participating in competitive team sports at an early age gives children an opportunity to understand the healthy aspects of competition in a friendly environment. 

Physical Benefits

Team sports also help a child's physical well-being. Children who are actively involved in a sport are more likely to describe themselves as being in good physical health than students who do not participate in sports.

Social Behavior

A child's feeling of self-worth and learning of social behaviors can be helped greatly through extracurricular sports. Meeting new friends, working together as a team and developing a healthy competitiveness are important strides in social and emotional growth that all children experience. 

Emotional Benefits

Emotional growth is also important for youth. Sometimes, the emotional development of youth is hindered because of the physical and/or emotional absence of parents. Sports provide youth with opportunities to interact with a caring and supportive adult. Adult support outside the family is a major protective factor for high-risk youth. The interaction a child has with his or her coach helps to improve self-esteem as well as lower the chance of depression.

Conclusion

Sports provide numerous opportunities for children and teenagers to grow socially, emotionally, and physically. Furthermore, they also allow youth to learn and practice in a competitive environment. 

As for the reference to Keepin It Real program, sports sounded like a great topic for an in-class presentation made by a guest speaker. This could serve at least 3 purposes: 

1. Tell the middle schoolers about the importance of going in for sports, being fit, and leading a healthy life style. 

2. Show the middle schoolers that going to college is a reality. One of the ways to get higher education without having to pay high tuition fees is a sports scholarship. For that, we decided to invite a UT student, an athlete, to be a guest speaker in class and to serve as a role model for the kids. 

3. Get the kids more excited about Explore UT Day.

With all this in mind, we started planning.... TO BE CONTINUED

International Day at Dobie

Last week to had an International Day at Dobie. We thought it would be nice to talk to kids aged 11-13 about differences and similarities among cultures. Most Dobie students come from different ethnic backgrounds, so being able to overcome their differences, to cooperate and work with each other despite differences in ethnicities is crucial for them. We also wanted to talk about stereotypes. The hypothesis is that if kids are able to recognize cultural stereotypes, they might also realize that their perception of a group (class, for example) or each other might not be always accurate. So consequently, they should be more tolerant of each other. These are the main ideas Stephanie, Anna, and I had in mind when putting the International Day program. We also wanted to tell the kids about our cultural backgrounds, which could help us bond with hem. Besides, I remember when I was in middle school, it was always interesting for me to learn about other countries, since back then I did not have a chance to travel.

We started our International day with a brief exercise on who has traveled the farthest. Most of the kids have been out of state, and some of them as far as north of the country, and the state of Washington.  We talked for a bit about differences they noticed while traveling, and most of the kids said food and clothing.

When talking with kids about stereotypes, I realized they don’t really know what stereotypes are. We had the kids work I pairs to draw a typical Polish, a Russian, and an Italian person, as they saw them. I wasn’t really surprised that the kids have very little idea about Poland and the Polish, but little knowledge about Russia was rather shocking. All of them came up with funny drawings, and we discussed what they drew and why. A typical Russian person, of course, works for KGB, likes to ski, wears a fur coat, and is a part-time specnaz employee (I was rather astonished that a 11-year old Ricky knew that word; specnaz’ means special purpose troops). An Italian, of course, likes pizza, spaghetti, and is in mafia. And the drawing of a Polish was based on the only piece of knowledge the kids had – that Poland once was invaded, so they built it upon that (they added apartment buildings, and tanks). 

Then Anna and I talked about our countries (Poland and Russia). I showed pictures of some of the most famous places of interest (czar cannon, czar bell, largest jet, etc), and the kids seemed to be very impressed.  Then we gave the students handouts “How to say hello in different languages”. You should have seen how excited the kids were! They started practicing saying hello to each other, and trying to remember some of the words they know in different languages. It was a lot of fun!

At the end of class, we had a fun quiz on different countries. It was a group exercise, so the kids took turns reading questions and discussing answers. “In which country there are 10 sheep per person?” “Where do the tallest people live?” “Which country has the biggest airport?” – It turned out that our middle schoolers know answers to many of these questions!

As a small reward for their efforts, kids got Russian candy. While they were eating the candy, we talked about what we have learnt today. Some of the responses were:

“People are different”

“Stereotypes are not always true”

“We should be aware of stereotypes”

And, my favorite – “I want to go to Russia” (Ricky)

In my opinion, the day was a great success.

What the kids learnt:

• What stereotypes are and why it is important to recognize them
• Countries can be much different from what they know about them
• Stereotypes are not always true

Skills we practiced:

• Work in pairs, learning to work together and agree on things;
• Work in a big group: learning to listen to each other ad to agree on things
• Drawing: developing imagination

Teaching Strategies and Practices to Support Positive Motivation

Jacquelynne S. Eccles, Jennifer Appleton Gootman, Community Programs to Promote Youth Development. National Academy Press, 2002. 

Research shows that having an intentional learning environment is one of the key characteristics of the successful positive youth development programs. It is very important to set up the most effective educational setting on how to best teach new skills, new knowledge, new understandings, and new habits of mind. The following teaching strategies and techniques are critical:

1. Students need to be encourage to produce or construct knowledge, rather than reproducing or repeating facts and views expressed by teachers;
2. The materials studies need to be related to the student and his or her community culture.
3. Regular feedback on progress so that students know where they are and what they still need to learn.
4. Individual approach to students that recognizes the individual differences in the level of knowledge, interests, and learning styles.
5. Cooperative and highly interactive learning activities so that the students can tutor each other and learn from each other.

Which practices support positive motivation?

1. Grading practices that stress improvement rather than social comparison;
2. Teaching practices that stress improvement rather than current levels of knowledge;
3. Practices that make sure all students are expected to participate fully in the learning activities;
4. Learning practices that involve hands-on activities (lab exercises, field-based data collection, etc)

In other words, teachers need to make sure they involve every student in the learning activities, which may be challenging because kids have different interests and different learning styles. To overcome that, teachers need to practice individual approach to every student, which is much easier when the class is small. Finally, it is important to grade the students' effort trying to stress their improvement rather than social comparison. Unfortunately, this practice is not widely spread. 

Self-Image Collage at Dobie School

You look in the mirror and you are either pleased with what you see or not. You may be looking at your physical appearance - skin, hair, clothes, or the image you portray - being confident or shy. Our self image plays an important part in how we feel about ourselves and how we think others perceive us. Our self-esteem, confidence and ability to communicate with others are closely linked with how we view ourselves. 

The hypothesis is that there is a correlation between participation in youth development programs and self-image. Although the studies show no significant direct relationship between participation in youth programs and self-image, the results do indicate a relationship between development of the 5 C’s and self-image in young people. The data suggest that youth development programs can still be a useful tool in helping to develop a positive self-image in youth, and that it is important to provide program options which emphasize development of each of the 5 C’s and positive self-image.

So Stephanie, Anna, and I decided to see how our Dobie middle schoolers see themselves. For that, we decided to organize a self-image collage activity. We gathered some magazines (it turned out pretty difficult to find magazines which would be interesting for kids since students obviously have different interests), put together a small activity plan, and went to Dobie on Thursday, February 10.

The idea was that kids draw themselves on a piece of paper, and then cut out images from the magazines which, in their opinion, describe their lives, or dreams and aspirations. At first we discussed with kids what self-image is and why we need it, and then we started working on the collage. In the beginning, the kids seemed to be much more interested in going through of magazines and looking at pictures, showing them to each other and, at times, picking on each other. But gradually they started getting very involved in the activity. Stephanie, Anna, and  were making collages as well (serving as good role models). We even involved Lee in the activity! As he told us later, neither he or the kids have done anything like that before. No wonder we had troubles later trying to wrap the activity up!

The collages turned out to be great! They all had positive, happy images. Some cut out images of cars, cell phones and other material belongings. Others found pictures which would describe their hobbies (traveling, reading, and even cooking). There were a few which described future professions (one girl wants to be a doctor). Kids seemed to be very happy about their results, and were eager to tell the others about what they had on their collages.

At the end, we discussed with the kids what they learned about each other that day. And I think that was one of the most important parts of the activities. Here is a short dialogue between me and the 2 boys which shows that in some way the activity became an eye-opener for them:

Me: Michael, what did you learn about Rickey today?
Michael: I learned that he likes bears (there was a picture of a mama and cub bears).
Rickey: I like animals, not just bears
Me: Michael, did you know that Rickey liked animals?
Michael: No, I didn't . I always thought he wanted to kill animals.

This short funny dialogue shows that it is very simple to organize a setting in which the kids can truly learn a lot of new things about each other. I stronger believe that the more kids stayed involved with the after-school program, the more diverse and complete their self-image collage will get. So I hope that the next time the kids get to make a self-image collage, they will also include pictures that shows friendship, success, and accomplishment.

Ways to Promote Positive Youth Development

Jacquelynne S. Eccles, Jennifer Appleton Gootman, Community Programs to Promote Youth Development. National Academy Press, 2002.

Participants of a local community program are usually a diverse group of American adolescents. It is very important to make sure that the program provides daily settings and experiences that engage all the youth and support their development.

Features of daily settings that promote positive youth development include the following:

1. Physical and psychological safety

Positive settings have to be free from violence and unsafe health conditions because of their direct impact on physical health and survival.  Experiencing or witnessing violence can have a severe and long-lasting effect on a child’s psychological condition.  They can also lead to skipping school, lower academic achievement, more negative attitudes towards school, etc. Moreover, childhood sexual abuse appears a cause of numerous adult psychological disorders.

2. Clear structure and adult supervision

Positive development requires that a child experiences a stable, predictable reality.  Similarly, adolescents benefit from experiencing clear rules and discipline. Maintenance of control and organization in the classroom setting (by a teacher) is related to student satisfaction, growth, and achievement. But as they grow older, adolescents need to have an increasing opportunity to have input in classroom and school governance and rules.

3. Supportive relationships

Researchers speak of warmth, connectedness, good communication, and support as of a critical feature of any developmental setting. Adult support is associated with positive school motivation, better mental health, lower rates of drinking and drug use, etc. Besides, parental support strengthens a child’s ability to take on challenge, and provides protection against negative cultural stereotypes.

4. Opportunities to belong

How can we provide inclusiveness? Interactions between adolescents must be on the level of equal status; activities must be cooperative rather than competitive; adults must serve as role models and mentors; there must be individualized contact between members of groups. 

5. Positive social norms

Every group of people that has sustained interaction develops a set of habits, norms, and expectations that govern their behavior. Research shows that adolescents’ perceptions of social norms have immediate and lasting effects on their behavior.   

    

6. Opportunities for skill building

Good settings must provide opportunities for acquiring knowledge and learning new physical, psychological, social, and cultural skills. And although some programs may specialize in the development of some skills (athletic, for example), good programs must learning in other areas as well.  

7. Integration of family, school, and community efforts

Although we need to remember that no single program can succeed in helping every participant. Adolescents have other, often more powerful influences in their lives. Some will be more ready for change and growth than others. In addition, any given program will work better for some teens than for others. More research is needed to specify programs which promote development and to tailor programs to the needs of individual adolescents

OMG! Candy Grams for sale!

The idea to take middle schoolers from Dobie and Webb to Explore UT Day appeared quite suddenly, and definitely added a new perspective to our PRP class. For kids, it is a chance to visit the university campus, take part in fun activities, meet current students and professors, and realize that going to college could be a reality. For us, it is a great opportunity to practice our skills and implement the knowledge we get from reading articles on positive new development. And although the idea raised a lot of questions, such as: How much money do we need? Where do we get the money? How do we get the kids excited about the event? Where will we be able to find transportation? etc, we rather enthusiastically started developing a plan of what we need to get done in the next couple of weeks.

The answer to the question of where to get some of the money came to our group while visiting Webb middle school. We decided to sell candy grams at the LBJ School hoping that the student community will support our efforts in raising funds. The Webb kids together with some of the girls from our PRP class made bright posters, we bought candy, construction paper, bags, red cloth for the table - and the next morning the Candy Grams For Sale station was set up! We did a Facebook promotion campaign, inviting our friends and fellow students to 'attend the event', and were hope for a good turnout.

I worked at the table during the first couple of hours, and at first nobody who was in the lobby at the moment seemed to be interested. I blamed the cold weather. Also, many people were in their morning classes. But then... One by one, LBJers started to come up to the table. Some of them knew about the event from the Facebook campaign, others were attracted by our colorful posters. In any case, almost every one of them either bought candy grams (sometimes, 5-6 of them at once) or just donated money for the event. One professor got candy grams for every female faculty member. Another one just bought the candy, but paid much more than he was supposed to.

By the end of the second day we raised 120 dollars. It means that at least that many people (but in reality it will be more) will find a bag of candy in their mailboxes when they come to school on Monday morning. It also means that we have made a very big step to make Explore UT a reality for at least 15 middle schoolers. But also, it means that LBJ School has awesome people who are willing to give their support and efforts to make wonderful things come true.

ps: special thanks and warmest regards to the PRP crew

SKILLS I gained/enhanced from the Candy Grams For Sale event:

• planning and implementing an event in a very limited timeline
• networking for promotion
• social media promotion
• fundraising

What I brought into the event to help it become a success:

• creativity
• organization skills
• open-mindedness
• communication skills
• marketing skills
• readings on positive youth development
• ability to dress appropriately to the weather (it was VERY cold in the lobby where the table was set up)