AHA! has provided a valuable student program known as Peace Builders to our GVJH students. Their work has focused on Social Emotional Learning and building relationships with students and each other. During the pandemic, there was a need to find as many avenues to help our students feel connected with the school through distance learning. Their work was essential in implementing a school wide assembly remotely to kick off the school year and our students were engaged throughout the whole process. Additionally, AHA! provided teacher workshops to help teachers find strategies to connect with students through ice breaker activities and help students feel comfortable learning in a remote learning environment such as Zoom. We also engaged in a similar workshop model process with our parents through a series of workshops aimed at building coherence around the Social Emotional Learning competencies. Through the pandemic things felt reactive, but as we begin this school year, we want to be intentional about creating a positive and engaging climate for our students and parents while also empowering our teachers to support our students’ SEL needs.     

AHA! Peace Builders: 78.9% of Peace Builder participants reported at least 6 and as many as 10 or more improvements in their lives.  In the areas of Social and Emotional Learning Core competencies, participants’ responses indicate improvement in how they scored themselves in the following areas:  Self Awareness- +19.2%, Social Awareness- +20.18%, Relationship Skills and Responsible Decision-making- +25.2%.  Participants’ comments included feeling: 

more comfortable at school, more aware of conflict resolution and how to calm self and others, able to talk to more people and build stronger friendships, learned to trust more people, believing in self more and know that it’s okay to be sad/have rough days, having a more positive mindset over the year, and when stressed out, using the breathing techniques.

Heroes Assembly: The assemblies were facilitated by AHA! in conjunction with teachers and administration and focus on cultivating leadership qualities, building essential connections between social groups, and inspiring students to find the power within themselves to make a true contribution to our school community. Students were able to go into breakout rooms and talk about what it means to be emotionally brave and join with others to create a culture of caring, respect, and empathy. The goal of the assemblies is to provide a unifying start to the year, emphasizing the potential of every person at our school to succeed and thrive, and to lift others up. 86% said they are very and extremely useful, 91% said the facilitators were helpful and very skilled, 90% said they wanted others to see this assembly and become heroes 83% said it was a positive use of their time, 81% said they felt motivated to step up and help others!

Teacher Workshop: The workshop were held with the intention of helping teachers understand that emotions and relationships drive learning and are a fundamental part of brain development. They gave our teachers the experience of the activities they can then bring into their Zoom classrooms

such as check-ins, games, activities, mindfulness, brainstorms, and tips on making the classroom or virtual classroom a place where emotional intelligence/management can be enhanced. 

Teachers were also provided with tangible tools to reference throughout the school year.