. : Programs
HIP | Halting the Imbalance of Power
A Colorado Trust Initiative designed to teach effective interventions for the bully, the bullied and the bystander and encourage positive youth development.
The CREW | Creative Righteous Educated Little Women
Our gender specific program for girls 5th-8th grade throughout Huerfano County, promotes positive life skills and guides them through the difficulties of adolescence.
CONNECT
An alternative to suspension for the La Veta School District. If a student gets suspended, they are referred to Connect where the student receives a tutor/mentor that keeps them educationally engaged for the endurance of their suspension. We use a pre/post test to determine if there may be a problem that would require additional services such as anger management, mental health counseling, etc. The tutor/mentor follows the student’s progress after re-entry into school.
O & E | The Huerfano Re-1 School of Opportunity and Enrichment
Huerfano Counties’ new alternative school contracts with HCYS to provide their community based electives as well as a student support coordinator (SSC). The SSC utilized community agencies and businesses to provide real life situations that expose youth to adult expectations and trainings. This person also receives referrals from the O & E staff, and arranges for, services that youth may need such as parenting, anger management, etc.
HEAT | Huerfano Education Against Tobacco
We integrate tobacco prevention and education strategies into all of our programs. We also have Get R!EAL which is a youth led activist program that exposes big tobacco advertising lies! N-O-T Not On Tobacco is a youth tobacco prevention and cessation program.
Get R!EAL | Resist! Expose Advertising Lies
Colorado's youth movement against big tobacco advertising has made a name for itself in rural Colorado. Get R!EAL (Resist! Expose Advertising Lies) has established itself in Huerfano County at La Veta's Junior and Senior High School. The coalition consists of 15 youth in grades 7th - 12th. Get R!EAL is a generation of Colorado teens taking action against the tobacco industry. Their goal is to empower themselves and other teens to take a stand against Big Tobacco by providing them with information and advocacy skills.
Get R!EAL youth have organized and participated in a wide range of tobacco prevention activities, both locally and statewide. This year’s events include the Regional Get R!EAL Tobacco Forum, Powerful Wall Activity, and Community Tobacco Investigation. During the Fall training event selected youth were provided with extensive knowledge of the tobacco industries deceptive manipulation of and targeted strategies toward Colorado's youth through education, activities, and activism. Get R!EAL is funded by the TGYS Tobacco Initiative and sponsored by Brenda McChesney. Huerfano County's Get R!EAL coalition is one of over 60 all over the state. On Sunday April 22 they were guests of the Colorado Rockies and enjoyed a day of baseball!
Peakview Bully Program
The Peakveiw bullying program has been moving along well and students are engaged and eager to participate in the program. The 2nd week of January was national name calling week. We had a great response to our poster contest asking the students and their families to create a poster depicting a no name-calling theme and positive alternatives to call other names. The winners received a family pass for four to the Fox Theater!
As we began to get back into the swing of the new semester we began to explore our feelings. We have discussed happy, sad, excited, tired, private, and fine. In our discussions, we have talked about each feeling individually. Discussions center on what feeling might look like, how our body reacts or feels when we are experiencing a specific emotion, and how we act according to the feeling we may be experiencing. We play a game called “put ups and not put downs”. Taking a paper heart, we ask the students about hurtful things that others have said to them and as they are telling me I begin to crumple up the heart until it is a wad of paper. The lesson with “This is my feeling’s spot and I can now wear it on my shirt. This is what it feels like when someone chooses to hurt my feelings.” We have had long discussions about how a “put up” could make someone feel better, and we began to un-crumple the heart and compare it to the uncrumpled heart and ask the students what looks and feels better. Of course they choose the nice plain neat heart. We talk about why we choose to hurt the people around us.
Along with working with our primary PATHs curriculum, we have continued to integrate our ACTION/ALLY plan. We have made book marks with our students with an acronym for the word ALLIES. Active Loyal Learner Invested in Everyone’s Safety. We also play a social butterfly game which is altered to fit the needs of students and the lessons. I am truly enjoying my time with the students an am planning several new activities are being developed.
La Veta Bully Program
Huerfano County Youth Service’s Bullying Prevention and Character Education Program, a Colorado Trust Initiative, has expanded over the past year exponentially. At its induction into La Veta School District, the Bullying Prevention Program served roughly one hundred students in grades 1st- 6th. Since then the La Veta program has expanded to serve every child PreK through 8th grade in La Veta through a variety of Bullying Prevention, Character Education, and Critical Thinking curriculums. Due to the success of the program and the overwhelming demand from educators and parents alike, Huerfano County Youth Services Prevention Program expanded at the beginning of the 2006-2007 school year county wide expanding to Walsenburg and Gardner School Districts. Youth served by HCYS grew to over 700, a substantial increase from the 2005-2006 school year.
The needed for Bullying Prevention Programming is glaringly obvious when assessing the data collected during the 2005-2006 school year. Surveys from Walsenburg and Gardner students detailed that students felt that there is bullying that goes on a regular basis. La Veta schools had similar findings at the inception of the program. The Post survey indicated a substantial reduction in bullying behavior and perceived bullying.
NOT | Not on Tobacco
HCYS also provides a smoking cessation and prevention class (N-O-T) Not On Tobacco for youth interested in quitting tobacco or preventing themselves from beginning to use tobacco. This is a ten week course with emphasis on personal health and the truth about tobacco’s efforts to addict youth and its potential for life long harm. If you are interested in learning more about this program for youth under 24 years old, please call Debbie at 738-1573.
Outdoor Program
This is our newest program and we are very excited about it. This program is for youth, grades 6-8, with a focus on nurturing outdoor survival skills and activities. They will experience cross country skiing, snow shoeing, mountain hikes, rock climbing, compass and map reading and more. Meeting monthly they work on a variety of outdoor activities. That could be an overnight excursion or a one day backpacking trip.
Mentoring
All of our programs integrate some form of “natural mentoring” in them. We provide weekly interaction and training with monthly activities facilitated by positive adult role models. Concentrating on venues that address our Counties’ high teen pregnancy and school drop out issues, we found working in a group setting, utilizing community volunteers to support lessons of self efficacy, to be an effective way to address our youth’s issues. The ability to work with youth in a group setting is providing numerous positive outcomes. By empowering youth both individually and in a group setting we are equipping our youth with the tools to validate and find value in themselves. This can only decrease self destructive behaviors, reduce youth crime and violence, and prevent the potential for future child abuse and neglect.