West Leadership Weekly Round Up: May 28th - June 1st

Well we made it! The 2017-2018 school year has come to an end and it certainly was a successful one!

In this shortened week, we were quite busy with events such as HS graduation, 8th grade continuation, and end of year celebrations and final presentations.

Students at GrowHaus, an organization focused on
helping eliminate food deserts in the metro area.

With high school students finishing up last week, this past week was spent wrapping things up with our middle school students. Monday was Memorial Day so no school took place. Tuesday we had our final early release day so during those shortened periods students finished their final reflections and presentations for their Stand Up projects.

Our middle school students had significantly less time to work on these projects as they were gone for Explore courses last week. Nevertheless, we did have a few students who incorporated their Explore field trips with their social justice projects for my class. For example, one middle school student who was interested in food deserts was actually able to visit an organization that is combating this problem here in Denver and then share her experience with her classmates. This was excellent to see our younger students be passionate about a topic and then be active in learning how to help. What a great way to finish up the year.

On Wednesday, we had our last day with students. Most of the middle school students participated in a cookout and enjoyed some time outside at Sunken Gardens. Due to this, not all students were able to present their final projects in time, however they did finish them and most importantly, took the time to reflect upon the year. Several reflections were quite insightful and will certainly be helpful in continuing to improve the class next year.

"The most powerful lessons I learned this year were about relationships and emotions. The way I have grown this year is I have become more confident and I have grown a lot of self love." - 8th grade mentee

"I think the most powerful lesson was dating abuse because we are all in a stage where we can go through dating abuse and its good to know more about dating and understanding what to do if we are ever in that position." - 7th grade mentee 

"I have grown this year because I learned to speak up for myself even more and am able to say something when there’s a problem or bad situation. I can improve by being more social and sometimes even getting out of my comfort zone. I can offer the world my perseverance." - 8th grade mentee

It was certainly bittersweet ending the year after classes on Wednesday. Fortunately we were able to celebrate and send everyone off with bang by having our H.S. graduation and 8th grade continuation ceremonies. During the H.S. graduation on Wednesday night, two of our mentor leaders were asked to speak and did an excellent job not only being humorous and fun, but also by providing thoughtful advice and goals for their classmates. During our 8th grade continuation ceremonies, two of our 8th grade mentees also won awards for Best Math Student and Best History Student for their entire grades. It was just so cool to see these hardworking and talented YESS mentors and mentees being celebrated for all their efforts this year. I was very proud of all of them and certainly look forward to seeing what they accomplish in the years to come. 

After our continuation ceremonies on Thursday, students left for the rest of the day and staff began the checkout and clean up process. This continued into Friday as teachers packed up their rooms, posted final grades, and began getting things in place for the fall. Although everyone is excited for summer break, I will certainly miss the students and will be excited to see them again in a few short months.

On that note, I just wanted to say thank you to all of our students, parents, fellow WLA teachers and staff, and of course my colleagues at the YESS Institute for helping make this year such a successful and exciting one. I look forward to continuing our work in the fall. But until then...have a fun and relaxing summer everyone! -Ben