From Loners to Leaders

How PHlight Club Changed the Trajectory of the Lives of Two Teens

Kimejoe Lambeth and Eugene James are 15-year-olds from rural Alaska, living on Prince of Wales Island. In most respects, they are typical teens. Eugene likes to spend time outdoors, especially hunting, fishing, and hiking; he also enjoys playing video games. Kimejoe loves to care for her many pets, take photos, and make things with her hands.

But what sets them apart is their strong commitment to making a difference in the lives of other kids, and the leadership skills they have developed and polished over the past three years by taking part in our Kaleidoscope Connect activities.

Life Before PHlight Club

When Eugene was around seven, family issues made him feel lonely, isolated, and disconnected. There were no other kids his age in his hometown, Naukati, a small village of about 150 people. “I was emotionally put down,” described Eugene. By 6th grade, he had run away from home several times and was in a downward spiral. He had built an emotional wall and couldn’t connect with people. Unable to share his feelings, he became frustrated and angry.

About that same time, Kimejoe was experiencing her own struggles in the nearby town of Hollis. She was extremely shy and didn’t believe she had anyone in her life she could depend on. She had serious physical problems with her hips that required multiple surgeries and long-term use of crutches. She felt like an outsider and sought to isolate herself from the rest of the world. She was beginning to make risky decisions that could significantly alter the course of her life.

Then in 2014, Kimejoe and Eugene met each other for the first time during a Kaleidoscope Connect Phlight Club hosted in Hydaburg, another village on the island. Phlight Clubs are intensive, multi-day, youth-centered events based on the principles and practices of Kaleidoscope Connect’s Integrative Youth Development™ (IYD). Phlight Clubs bring together teens and adults from their communities for non-stop learning, connecting, and growing. Students learn to identify adults in their lives, called Anchors, that create a Web of Support to keep them from falling through the cracks and into risk behaviors.

PHlight Club Made a Lifelong Impact

When talking with Eugene and Kimejoe, it’s clear they think about their lives in terms of “before Phlight Club” and “after Phlight Club”.

“After years of feeling isolated and lonely, I had bottled up my feelings to the point I thought I would explode,” explained Eugene. “Phlight Club made me realize that I wasn’t alone, that there were many people out there who loved and cared for me. I learned how to identify those people and reach out and ask for support. I discovered the importance of building a strong Web of Support. By the last day of Phlight Club, I felt safe enough to share my feelings, which was a huge relief. That first Phlight Club not only helped me through a rough patch, but it also had an enormous impact on the rest of my life.”

Kimejoe described a similar experience. “I went to my first Phlight Club feeling very timid and hesitant. I wasn’t much of a risk-taker, but the trust-building activities drew me out of my shell and broadened my horizons. All my life I was sure I didn’t need to rely on anyone and I was too proud ask for help. But Phlight Club helped me realize that I needed other people; I couldn’t just do it on my own.”

“My favorite memory from that Phlight Club,” recalled Kimejoe, “is a trust-building exercise where my peers picked me up over their heads so I would “fly” like Superman. I was terrified on so many levels, including being dropped on my injured hip. I didn’t think I could do it. But the other kids, under adult supervision, gathered around to make sure I would be safe, not only physically but emotionally. They created a support system that I could count on. They picked me up and I flew!  It was incredible! That feeling of excitement and accomplishment will be with me forever.”

Emerging Leaders

That was three years ago. Since then, Eugene has been to eight Phlight Clubs and Kimejoe to six. They still learn something new at each Phlight Club and continue to deepen their connections, but now they do so in leadership roles. As Phlight Club co-leaders, they help other kids – and the adults who support them – learn what it takes to become resilient young adults with thick Webs of Support.

Amy McDonald, their teacher and mentor, along with serving as a Kaleidoscope Connect regional leader, knows she can count on Eugene and Kimejoe during Phlight Clubs. “I truly rely on the fact that they are leaders among their peers,” said Amy. “I can always strategically place them to facilitate activities. They know the principles and practices inside and out, and can elicit conversations with both students and adults. The other kids really listen to and connect with them. Watching Eugene and Kimejoe grow over the years into the leaders they are today has been one of the highlights of my teaching career.”

Eugene wants to make an impact on his peers. “I look back at how Phlight Club helped me build trust and connect with others, inside and outside of school, and I want to teach other kids how they can succeed in life,” he said. “I love the atmosphere at Phlight Clubs. Everyone is so caring and connected, and I thrive on helping the kids grow, learn, and enjoy themselves. I want Phlight Club to have as big of an impact on their lives as it has on mine.”

Kimejoe agrees. “I know how much of a difference Phlight Club made for me,” she said. “Without Phlight Club I don’t think I would have made the right decisions. Who knows where I would have ended up? I want to make sure that other kids who are struggling learn that it’s okay to ask for help. When I’m co-leading a Phlight Club, I encourage kids to be open and participate, even if they are afraid. I want everyone to have a strong Web of Support.”

What the Future Will Bring

So what’s next for this dynamic duo?  They plan to continue co-leading Phlight Clubs while completing high school. They want to help as many youth as possible build connections and develop the resiliency needed to flourish in school and life. They are now also co-leading Kaleidoscope Connect Academies that teach adults the principles and practices of IYD, and even traveling outside of Alaska to make a difference in other communities, such as Seeley Lake, Montana.

After graduation, Eugene plans to attend Bible school in Florida. Kimejoe wants to be a social worker, specializing in trauma intervention, so she can give back to her community.

Wherever life takes them, Kimejoe and Eugene will always carry with them the tools and strategies they learned in Phlight Club and will make sure their Webs of Support stay strong!

Student & Community Success with Kaleidoscope Connect

 

By Dr. Angela Gauthier, Vice Principal, St. Gabriel High School

St. Albert, Alberta, Canada

St. Gabriel High School (SGHS) is a non-traditional, blended-learning high school with nearly 200 full and part-time students, seven teachers, three support staff and a youth success coach/counsellor. More than half of our students are over the age of 18 and many are dealing with social/emotional issues, especially high anxiety.   

Our Introduction to Kaleidoscope Connect
Melanie Morrison, our success coach, and I first heard about Kaleidoscope Connect in the fall of 2015 through Derek Peterson, a dynamic youth development expert from Brightways Learning. 

Kaleidoscope Connect’s Integrative Youth Development (IYD) framework immediately resonated with us, because it focuses on building resilient youth by helping them develop important social and emotional skills including self-awareness, self-management, relationship-building and responsible decision-making. While IYD supports Social Emotional Learning (SEL), it is so much more than that. It truly addresses the “whole world around the child” and their individual “developmental ecologies,” as Brightways Learning refers to it.

The possibilities of its success with our student population had us very excited!  

ANGELA AND HER STUDENTS WITH DEREK PETERSON

Kaleidoscope Phase 1 and 2 Academies
Our next step was to participate in Kaleidoscope Connect’s Phase 1 and 2 professional development Academies for adults who work with youth. 

During these two two-day, in-depth training sessions, Melanie and I learned how IYD integrates and applies the best of current youth development research for treating, teaching, counseling, neighboring, and parenting children and teens. 

We learned and practiced methods to help our students get on -- and stay on -- a course towards resilience and success. We learned how to use the online Student Support Card tool to measure and assess seven key impact areas, or “PHactors,” that influence young people’s positive development.

After completing Phase 2, we felt we were ready to introduce the principles and practices to our students, and implement what we had learned to mindfully connect with them.  

The Kids “Get It”!
In March 2016, we provided our students with four hour-long training sessions over four weeks, using the training guide and easy-to-follow, scripted Kaleidoscope Lessons provided by Brightways Learning. 

During the sessions, students learned how to identify the seven key PHactors that would help them grow and thrive. They learned how to see and build their invisible “webs of support” by identifying and choosing at least five caring adults to whom each student had a relationship connection (Anchors) and who would help guide them through their lives.

Students learned that they could use the online Student Support Card surveys to measure their strengths and track their growth and progress as it related to their webs of support.
 
Throughout the process, the kids were able to connect with Derek via Skype to ask questions, gain clarification and receive support and encouragement. 

The students were excited and enthusiastic. They really got it!

Community Involvement
While we were teaching the students, we also introduced and taught the webs of support to our staff, school council, district counsellors, and parents. 

Our goal was for everyone to understand, live, and use the language and principles while connecting and building relationships with our youth. Because of the positive feedback from our community, we included this model in our school’s three-year Education Plan.
 
To further our community’s involvement, we hosted a Christmas luncheon to acknowledge and thank the students’ Anchors. We also invited the parish priest, maintenance staff, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) liaison, and other community members. In honour of the event, the students painted a visual representation of their families/PHamilies* -- a large tree with branches -- including a photo of each Anchor. The tree is hanging in our main room and it’s a great conversation-starter to continue spreading the word to our community about IYD and what we’re doing.

We even shared our story at the Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium (ERLC) Leader Symposium last month. Now other schools in our area are planning to implement Integrative Youth Development and Kaleidoscope Connect practices to benefit their students and community. Plus the ERLC will be hosting Phase 1 and 2 Academies in May!
 
Continued Success with Students
Our students continue to complete their Student Support Card surveys at regular intervals, in order to measure their growth and compare how their webs of support have changed over time. We are thrilled to see that ALL of their webs continue to grow stronger! 

We meet monthly for a pizza lunch to discuss “How’s your web today?” This prompts encouraging and enlightening discussions with the students about how their webs of support have helped them become more connected and resilient, while improving their social and emotional skills.
  
Here are just a few impact statements from the students:
 
“I have a better reference for what’s going on with my relationships. I can tell how strong my supports are.”
 
“I learned who my real Anchors are and how they help me grow as a person.”
 
“It has helped me grow and realize that some of the people in my life were toxic and doing me no good.”
 
“It has helped me learn that my real Anchors are there when I need them. It also showed me that I can be an Anchor for people in the future so they can better themselves.”
 
Next Steps
 
This month, SGHS is starting another training session to introduce the Student Support Card to a new group of students. We want to affect as many lives as possible.

It is clear that Kaleidoscope Connect’s IYD approach has a positive impact on all those who hear the message; especially those who participate in the teaching and learning. Once you understand the approach, it is difficult to look at student success in life in any other way!

*Hamily is a youth’s “PH family” - the adults the youth chooses to have in their web of support.

 

Why Kaleidoscope Connect Matters

For nearly a decade, Jennie “JenJen” McLean has been involved with Kaleidoscope Connect through our Academies that teach adults the principles and practices of Integrative Youth Development (IYD), and Phlight Clubs which are multi-day, life-changing youth development events. 

JenJen recently sat down to discuss the impact Kaleidoscope Connect has had on her and the youth in her life.  

Q: JenJen, tell me about yourself. 

A: I have lived in Fairbanks, Alaska my entire life. I knew from an early age that I liked kids and wanted to be involved in their lives. I connected with the kids. I understood their challenges and aspirations. I live to nurture young people, validate them, and make an impact on their futures.  

Q: How long have you been participating in and supporting students through Phlight Clubs? 

A: Since 2008, when I worked at Yukon-Koyukuk School District (YKSD). My colleague and mentor, Andrea Durney, told me about an upcoming Phlight Club that the district was hosting for teens from our middle and high schools, and invited me along.  

During that first Phlight Club, my primary role was to feed and nurture the 50+ students who attended. After I saw the power of Phlight Club and how it affected the kids who attended, I became a part of the team.  

Over the next 8 years, I have attended 16 Phlight Clubs, first as an adult co-leader and then as a facilitator.  

Q: In what ways have you seen Phlight Club and the IYD principles and practices impact youth and adults in their communities? 

A: Phlight Club changes the way teens see themselves.  

Kids in YKSD live in small villages and are raised not only by parents, but also by grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends. Phlight Club shows them how important it is to maintain those relationships, and it deepens their sense of pride about who they are and what they are capable of. It supports them in growing family, school, and community bonds. And, from this, their self-esteem rises.  

If kids are “thinly-webbed” (lacking a strong support system), Phlight Club teaches them how to “grow their balloons” (develop resilience and self-esteem) and strengthen their webs of support by giving them the confidence to reach out to caring adults (Anchors) to connect and develop special bonds.  

I’ve witnessed quiet, reluctant, and vulnerable kids walk into a Phlight Club looking terrified. Within hours, these same kids have bonded with their peers, made friends and connected with Anchors.  

We adults are all impacted by witnessing the rapid transformation in the kids, and realizing the role that we, as adults, can play in their development. 

The mindset that teens adopt doesn’t disappear when Phlight Club ends. I see kids outside of Phlight Club on a regular basis, in various community settings. Even kids who attended years ago, still talk about their experience and how they have maintained strong connections to this day. They leave equipped with tools that propel them into adulthood.  

Q: How have you personally been affected by what you've learned through Phlight Club and Academy training. 

A: I’ve been affected both personally and professionally. It has changed me.  

Through the Academies and Phlight Clubs, a whole new world was opened for me. I learned that I, too, need a strong web of support and I gained the courage to seek Anchors and develop my leadership skills. I’ve learned that by helping kids grow their balloons, my own balloon also grows. 

Being a Phlight Club leader has reinforced and validated my nurturing skills and love for helping youth. It has provided me with a framework and setting to refine and apply my skills and see, first hand, how students’ lives are improved.  

I now arrange my entire life and my schedule around my involvement in Phlight Clubs.  

Q: What are three key or important reasons you think that a YOUTH should get involved with Phlight Club? 

A: Phlight Clubs wake kids up. They begin to understand that they are not “broken” and they learn how to build their webs of support. They develop the self-confidence and resilience they need to avoid risk-taking behaviors and to thrive. The effect on teens is permanent.  

There are so many reasons why youth should get involved, but if I had to pick three they would be:

• Surviving

• Succeeding

• Seeing themselves and others in “Full Color”: recognizing what makes them unique, resilient and successful in life.

Q: What are three key or important reasons you think that an ADULT should get involved with Phlight Club and Kaleidoscope Academies? 

A: There are so many teens in our communities who need more Anchors. Getting involved with Phlight Club not only helps improve the lives of the youth who attend, but it also teaches the adults how to effectively communicate and connect with them.  

I can’t count the number of kids I’ve Anchored over the years, but I can tell you that I have gained as much as I have given. The Academies have helped me take my knowledge of youth development to the next level. 

Three reasons to get involved are: 

• Making a measurable difference in the lives of children

• Growing family connections

• Strengthening community ties

Q: Any last words you would like to say? 

A: In my ideal world, all children would have a chance to attend at least one Phlight Club in their lives. Our youth would be much better equipped to thrive amid the constant yet unpredictable changes and challenges they face. Wouldn’t we all love to see our communities filled with kids who are healthy, happy, and productive? 

To learn more about Kaleidoscope Connect, Phlight Clubs, and Kaleidoscope Academies, please visit our website or contact Cindy Barnes at cbarnes@brightwayslearning.org.