Trust the Journey

Some of our staff on the last night of programs

In March this year, we decided as a team to finish our Ambassadors of Compassion project early and create a new project that would really benefit our youth. Due to time constraints and contracts, I had a month and a half to adjust and change aspects of the program around. At first, I was overwhelmed and nervous about creating something completely new rather than using an outline from another organization. Our team realized that we often talked about our dream that the youth of Langley would have the means to live healthy lives -- physically, emotionally, intellectually, socially, and spiritually. However, we were not always successful at reaching all of those aspects. In order for our youth to grow and lead others, we need to make sure they are healthy and capable before we send them out. That is how Student Life came to be.

Student Life is a 12-week program meant for those who want to discover more about themselves and work with a mentor who can coach them through their weekly ups and downs. This program is meant to stretch you, build resilience and to get you thinking deeper about life’s tough questions. The word
resilience is the power or ability to return to the original form after being bent, compressed, or stretched. It is the skill to recover readily from illness, depression and adversity.

Currently, we have just finished the last week of our twelve week program and it has been such an amazing journey. The months leading up to Student Life, I was overwhelmed by the amount of details and content I thought I had to create. While it did take some time at the beginning to create something from nothing, it was easy because I had my team of staff members who were passionate about the different aspects of physical, emotional, intellectual, social and spiritual health. The youth engaged in group conversations and contributed appropriately to the topics each week. After each mentoring session, I would hear positive reflections from both the youth workers and the youth themselves. Personally, my relationship with my youth mentee has grown tons. It went from a casual “hello” in the hallways to her running up to me and asking my opinion on important aspects of her life. I look forward to even more in-depth conversations with her about how we can live a healthy life and the importance of working towards goals.

Thank you for all of your support and encouragement throughout this past year. In order to keep running Student Life and to build relationships with these youth, I ask for your continued prayers and to prayerfully consider financially supporting my work. I am currently trying to raise $850 in monthly pledges to continue this program. By reaching this goal, I will be able to work with more youth that are on the fringes who are in need of a friend. Your role as a supporter makes it possible to do just that. Allow us to work together and transform the lives of these youth.

- Savannah Deepwell