Fostering Resilience in Youth Right in RI

This week, we were directed to research a RI based nonprofit called the Center for Resilience. They are really about empowering students, still through the Common Core curriculum, to take care of their own stress and really de-escalate themselves when they think they could have some kind of negative behavior. Not only does the center empower students, but the nonprofit empowers the adults working with the students. I enjoyed watching the testimonials on how the students demonstrate their breathing, palm, catching exercises to calm them down, de stress, or even help them quiet their minds to fall asleep at night. The statistics from East Providence, Central Falls, and Providence showing a drop in behavior referrals and less stressed students speaks to the nature of the center's curriculum. I think that even adults can benefit from this program, because I've come across a few that need some de-stressing and calming down before a more charged negative behavior shows itself. The young people we work with day in and day out need to find their own calming rituals and safer spaces within themselves sometimes to be ready to learn and focus. As one teacher explained, the resilient methods may take minutes from learning academic skills, but you will get those minutes back tenfold when successful.

Election Buzz 2016

There has been a buzz in my ear since the start of the campaign trail heat between Hillary and Donald. I think it fits to use their first names here since they have both handled this election with a degree of immaturity, one candidate more than the other of course. I truly want to vote to stop one of whom I believe to be the greater of two evils. When I see evil, I mean not as much how many more skeletons, but how much less moral standing and experience this particular candidate has. I don't want to shy away from the booth this election season because every little voice needs to be taken into consideration when picking the next President, now more than ever. I could be more informed about the issues and the backgrounds of the candidates, but I believe that I have seen what I need to see in the debates, the decorum displayed, the detail of plan from Madam Secretary's side, and the true character comes out. Ending the racial elephant in the room within law enforcement world right now, giving immigrant children the spark to ignite their US education pathway fire, and being about debt relief for current students, youth workers have reason to stand behind the former Secretary of State for the future, what education will look like and access to the kinds of opportunities the youth we service have available to them.