AmeriCorps Report: April

Better late than never, right? Here's what happened in April: 

Teen Night

​Over 60 students attended our April TAC Teen Night at South Bend High School from 8pm-12am and had a blast playing flag football, video games, board games, doing crafts, shooting hoops and playing volleyball in the gym, having a cook out, and spending time with friends. We were happy to have our Prevention Consultants, Officers Miskell, McComas, and Verboomen attend and enjoyed a demonstration by K9 Deko. Thank you to all our volunteers and chaperones who helped make Teen Night a success!

---

Raymond Sources of Strength Week

The week of April 11th-15th was Sources of Strength Week at Raymond High School. SOS is an upstream model for youth suicide prevention that strengthens multiple sources of support (protective factors) around young individuals so that when times get hard they have strengths to rely on. The eight main categories of strengths include: Mental Health, Spirituality, Medical Access, Generosity, Family Support, Healthy Activities, Positive Friends, and Mentors. Our Peer Helpers sponsored lunch time activities for their peers all week, encouraging students to share what strengths they feel strongest in and what healthy supports they have when they face challenge. They also created "Thank You" postcards for teachers and staff and encouraged their peers to thank family, friends, and mentors in their own lives. TAC also sponsored a student assembly on Tuesday and brought in Taproot Theater out of Seattle who performed "Relationship Status: A Cyberbullying Prevention Play". Overall, the week had great student participation and engagement. It was exciting week full of positive energy! 

---

Science Of Hope Conference

On April 19th and 20th, I had the pleasure of attending the Science of Hope Conference sponsored by HealthyGen. It's a conference based around the ACEs  (Adverse Childhood Experiences) Study and NEAR (Neuroscience, Epigenetics, ACEs, and Resilience) Science, with scientists and community leaders speaking on topics from health equity to healing trauma through narrative, to motivational interviewing, to measuring hope, etc. etc. I learned so much from keynote speakers and the workshops I attended about how ACEs impact everyone on neurobiologcial, psychological, social, and cultural levels and what everyone can do to promote health and hope. During her concluding remarks, Melanie Gillespie, Executive Director of HealthyGen, called on us all to go back to our organizations and communities and "kick ass and share hope". I certainly feel inspired to do just that. 

---

TAC After Prom Party 2016

Much of my time in April was spent preparing for the TAC After Prom Party on May 7th. But you'll have to stay tuned to read about that in my May AmeriCorps report....