Cause that refreshes: teaching about character
By Denise Dick
By DENISE DICK
BOARDMAN
Organizers of a 2-year-old program that teaches character education to elementary students want to expand it to more children — and need your help to do it.
Lori Valenzisi is trying to get a Pepsi Refresh grant to continue a program through Bridge of Hope Church. The church partners with elementary schools to provide character education.
Lori Valenzisi, a team pastor at Bridge of Hope Church, Glenwood Avenue, has applied for a Pepsi Refresh $25,000 grant to expand the program — Superkids — now offered at Robinwood Lane and West Boulevard Elementary schools in Boardman and at Taft and Williamson Elementary schools in Youngstown.
People can go online through June to www.refresheverything.com/lovethisplace to vote for the program. The top 10 vote-getters in each funding category will receive the money.
“It helps kids learn positive character traits like responsibility, respecting themselves and others and perseverance,” Valenzisi said.
She employs fun elements such as music, skits, science experiments and magic tricks to get her message across.
Her monthly sessions range from assemblies with multiple classes to individual classroom presentations, and her approach varies depending on the age group.
Don Robinson, principal at Robinwood, said his teachers and guidance counselor give Superkids high marks.
“It teaches them about treating each other nicely and understanding how other people are feeling,” he said. “It’s the kind of thing we teach every day, but sometimes it helps to hear it from an outside person.”
The program started at the four elementary schools two years ago through her relationship with the guidance counselors at those schools.
If they get the grant, Valenzisi hopes to expand Superkids to other elementary schools within those two districts, as well as others.
“I would love to be able to do this for the whole Mahoning Valley,” Valenzisi said.
It’s gratifying, she said, when a student approaches her to tell her how they are practicing a particular character trait in their daily lives.
“I love that,” Valenzisi said. “If you can impact a child, you can impact a family. And when you can impact a family, you can impact a community.”