Proud of Youth

<li “=”” style=”” tve-u-177ad25f289″=””>Staring at the laptop screen. Feeling like the math problem is a foreign language.  <li “=”” style=”” tve-u-177ad25f28b”=””>Knowing your Mom said to not close the program until you are finished. <li “=”” style=”” tve-u-177ad25f28c”=””>Trying for the 5th time to figure it out. <li “=”” style=”” tve-u-177ad25f28e”=””>Feeling like a failure since you see all the other students have submitted the homework. <li “=”” style=”” tve-u-177ad25f28f”=””>You just don’t get it! <li “=”” style=”” tve-u-177ad25f291″=””>Slamming the laptop closed. <li “=”” style=”” tve-u-177ad25f292″=””>You hear your Mom in the laundry room, so you go downstairs and turn on the t.v. <li “=”” =””=”” style=”” tve-u-177ad25f293″=””>She comes into the room, “Did you finish the Math homework?” <li “=”” =””=”” style=”” tve-u-177ad25f293″=””>“No,” you reply. <li “=”” =””=”” style=”” tve-u-177ad25f293″=””>“I told you not to come down until you are finished,” your Mom reminds you. <li “=”” =””=”” style=”” tve-u-177ad25f293″=””>“I…don’t…get…it,” you spout back. <li “=”” =””=”” style=”” tve-u-177ad25f293″=””>“Either go back to the Den and finish it or go to your room,” she yells back. You storm up to your room and slam the door.

How many times is this happening in homes every day. Too many to count. We are seeing signs that our young people are overwhelmed and struggling more than ever! Parents are at their wits end. Teachers are grieving that their students are so far behind because of the missed or interrupted instruction time. Our B.I.O.N.I.C. Team student members have been trying in different ways to say, “Believe It Or Not I Care” to their peers, schools, and communities. They have recently been telling us that they are really getting concerned about their peers!We think that if students could really sense how proud their communities are of them for how they have adjusted back and forth to the remote and in-person learning changes, it could give them the encouragement they need to make it through the rest of the school year. They have seen how stressed the adults – parents, teachers, relatives, community members – are around them, and in the midst of it all we have been asking our youth to keep trying, learning, studying, etc. Many are at their breaking point. What could happen if our students, while being driven home from school after a difficult day or driving to a restaurant for lunch during remote learning, saw unique messages for THEM in the community? Wouldn’t that give them some encouragement to study harder when they open that book or laptop the next time? Could it help lift their head when turning onto their street as they see that message in the windows of every home? We are hoping you will help us put out the message that we are proud of our young people for how they have endured this last difficult year with so many things being robbed from them – friends, extended family, sports, concerts, school activities, community celebrations! We think it will put a smile on their face, a lift to their step, and a motivation in their hearts to keep going!

Click the heart to download your own copy

We hope you will put this heart up in your windows. We are also going to post it on our social media profiles, etc. In order to help get these out in as many windows as possible, we are going to have a contest to encourage people to share these on social media which will help it spread the fastest. This is how the contest will work: It will last until Tuesday, March 2nd with two categories for the competition: students, adults. Sign in below to enter the contest, and then you will get a unique referral link. Each time you share your custom link on one of the social media sites at the bottom of this page (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn) you will get 10 points. If someone you sent it to comes to this page, you will get 10 points. If they sign up to join the contest you will get 10 points. For each person they send the link to that comes to this page, you will get one point. These same things will happen for them when they share the post. When you put posts on social media, please use the #ProudofYouth hashtag.

We want our students to see the attached hearts in as many windows as possible! Help us empower them to be inspired knowing that the adults in their communities are proud of them and support them! We believe this will help them finish out this school year strong! Our young people have endured one of the most difficult times in history and they need to know we believe in them. If we flip the message that they have been hearing from so many directions, we can help them see that what they are learning now can help them become stronger and more resilient to be the future leaders to face ANYTHING that lies ahead in their future and our world! Let them know we are #ProudofYouth!