Leadership Circles: Building Communities By Building Youth One Individual at a Time

Format

Individual Presentation

Format

Workshop

First Presenter's Institution

Texas Tech University

First Presenter’s Email Address

cici.nunez@ttu.edu

First Presenter's Brief Biography

CiCi Nunez is the Associate Director of Texas Tech University’s United Future Leaders (UFL) program. UFL is the youth leadership development program of the Center for Adolescent Resiliency. CiCi begun her career in the non-profit space, particularly with youth-serving organizations in marginalized neighborhoods. She is an advocate for adolescent well-being and strong communities, her work with UFL has allowed her to champion youth and help build healthy communities.

Submitter

I am submitting this proposal as one of the presenter(s)

Location

Sloane

Strand #1

Head: Academic Achievement & Leadership

Strand #2

Heart: Social & Emotional Skills

Relevance

This workshop focuses on a curriculum building social emotional learning competencies while sharpening leadership skills. The mentor/facilitator utilizes this curriculum through a lens of understanding how tolerable and toxic stress affects the adolescent brain.

Brief Program Description

Leadership Circles were birthed to meet needs in a middle school post pandemic. In West Texas, a middle school with 75% low socioeconomic status students and high-frequency behavior incidents in the classroom. This workshop aims to help participants unlock a new perspective and arm themselves with tools to improve their own communities and help alter adolescent life trajectories to a healthier and contributing adult.

Summary

We can get wrapped up in building communities, that we sometimes forget to the build people. Leadership Circles were birthed to meet needs in a middle school post pandemic. In West Texas, a middle school was staffed with 95% first year teachers (never been in a classroom), 75% of students were low socioeconomic status, families facing many adversities, high-frequency behavior incidents in the classroom, and an administration team asking for help to support their students. This was an opportunity to help build their school community by building each student one individual at a time. This curriculum is designed for middle and high school youth facing many adversities—at home and in the classroom. The focus is on teaching social emotional learning competencies while sharpening leadership skills. The curriculum was developed requiring the practitioner to operate through a lens of understanding the effects of positive stress, tolerable stress, and toxic stress on youth. Disruptive behaviors are correlated to youth experiencing tolerable and toxic stress. Emotional dysregulation is exhausting for everyone, and equipping youth to regulate their emotions and behaviors greatly benefits the individual and school community. The past two years have allowed our center’s program to lock arms with educators for the same goal—changed behavior and improved academic performance. Apathy in a school community does not allow youth to thrive, but by focusing on one individual at a time, we can build a school community that allows youth to feel agency over their lives and futures. This workshop aims to help participants unlock a new perspective and arm themselves with tools to improve their own communities and help alter adolescent life trajectories to a healthier and contributing adult.

Evidence

The program design and program implementation are two years old. There is a formal program evaluation protocol in place and research IRB’s are in the process of submission with the university and the school district. The curriculum is rooted in the existing literature for social emotional learning and positive youth development. Furthermore, the curriculum operates through a lens of providing a safe environment due to the literature on the effects of stress on brain development. Current program evaluation data is showing favorable results and something our school partner has been pleased with.

CASEL-5 Durlak, Joseph & Mahoney, Joseph & Boyle, Alaina. (2022). What We Know, and What We Need to Find Out About Universal, School-Based Social and Emotional Learning Programs for Children and Adolescents: A Review of Meta-Analyses and Directions for Future Research. Psychological Bulletin. 148. 765–782. 10.1037/bul0000383.

https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/media/3977/download?inline&file=Evidence_for_SEL_REPORT.pdf

Adverse Childhood Experiences

Radcliff, E., Crouch, E., Strompolis, M., & Srivastav, A. (2019). Homelessness in Childhood and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Maternal and Child Health Journal, 23(6), 811–820. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-018-02698-w

“Educational programs such as ACE Interface® can help practitioners and community members to understand the connections among childhood adversities and the importance of building safe, stable, and nurturing environments for children and families to prevent or help overcome the effects of these adversities.”

Stress on Brain Development

Scientific Council, N. (2014). Excessive stress disrupts the development of brain architecture. Journal of Children’s Services, 9(2), 143–153. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCS-01-2014-0006

“Children who grow up in conditions of economic hardship often exhibit elevated stress hormone levels. This is especially true for children who live in chronic situations of poverty and experience an accumulation of adverse conditions (e.g. overcrowding, noise, substandard housing, separation from parent(s), exposure to violence, family turmoil). Moreover, the impact of economic hardship on children’s stress systems is often exacerbated when mothers experience symptoms of depression (Essex et al., 2002; Lupien et al., 2000, 2001). Recent research also has demonstrated that a mother’s depression during her child’s early years increases the child’s cortisol reactions to adverse family conditions later in childhood (Ashman et al., 2002; Dawson and Ashman, 2000; Jones et al., 1997).”

“A rich and growing scientific knowledge base illuminates the multiple adverse effects of early life stresses, including their long-term impacts on children’s ability to learn, adapt, and cope with stress throughout their lives. Yet little attention has been paid to the development and implementation of strategies to prevent or reduce significant stressors that affect children and families every day.”

Learning Objective 1

1. Identify and understand positive stress, tolerable stress, and toxic stress.

Learning Objective 2

2. Understand how youth behaviors are correlated to their experience of tolerable stress and toxic stress without a supportive adult in their lives.

Learning Objective 3

3. Understand how equipping youth with social emotional competencies allows them to perform better in the classroom and sharpen their leadership skills.

Presentation Year

2025

Start Date

3-5-2025 9:45 AM

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Mar 5th, 9:45 AM

Leadership Circles: Building Communities By Building Youth One Individual at a Time

Sloane

Leadership Circles were birthed to meet needs in a middle school post pandemic. In West Texas, a middle school with 75% low socioeconomic status students and high-frequency behavior incidents in the classroom. This workshop aims to help participants unlock a new perspective and arm themselves with tools to improve their own communities and help alter adolescent life trajectories to a healthier and contributing adult.