Social Emotional Retreat at Little Village Academy
This year I had the pleasure to be a presenter at a wonderful program for Chicago Public School middle school students at Little Village Academy (LVA) in the primarily Latino Southwest Chicago neighborhood. The school, faculty and students face a multitude of challenges that create impediments to successful learning: gun violence, poverty, drug and alcohol use at home and in the community, and gang intimidation to name just a few. To counter these external forces, LVA just held its 4th Annual Middle School Social Emotional Retreat, bringing together resources from all over the community to help educate and support students’ Social Emotional Learning at this critical pre-teen age. Session topics included healthy relationships, communicating with your parents, depression, violence, self-esteem, hygiene, and drug and alcohol prevention. The most moving presentation on the consequences of gang membership was presented by a self-described “undertaker” who has personally buried over 700 yo...