Mountain Lake Academy Lake Placid
As the trip leader for Mountain Lake Academy, a youth residence that offers academic and treatment programs tailored to the social-emotional and educational needs of adolescent males, ages 12 to 21. Some of the services our agency has requested include, providing academic and relational support for students across programs, coordinating and performing in a program wide variety show, preparing a special dinner that precedes the variety show, and painting an inspirational quote on the gym wall.
My team and I have been busy at work since November addressing different ways in which to target our agencies needs. The theme we are promoting this year is "Diversity and Inclusion," which we have incorporated into each of the tasks the agency has requested. The dinner showcases different regional cuisines. The quote we have chosen promote embracing diversity. For the talent show, we are preparing a song we will be singing together as a team.
Over the course of our 12 weeks of training for Alternative Breaks, we talked about addressing challenges of working with youth that have been labelled 'at -risk'. We have focused on studying topics that include the adolescent brain, positive youth development, the psychology of biases, youth school dropout, and positive effective youth communication. Our training has focuses on how to effectively apply theoretical and psychosocial principles of youth development, as well as general service learning principles, to the work.”