As we return to a restorative restart, we want to acknowledge that many of our students are also undergoing their own personal restorative restart journeys. One such student is Met High School senior, Jisel Mendez who has worked hard to transcend the struggles of her Freshmen year to excelling as a Senior with excellent grades and prospects for a bright future ahead.  Jisel offers great insights and wisdom that will support any student who might be struggling with negative self-talk. We are joined by her mother, Maria Leon, who will also share how she supported her daughter through the challenges of her high school journey. Dr. Olga Simms joins me to support with  our very first bilingual episode. 

As we return to in person learning, schools are activating best practices to ensure a restorative restart for their communities.  At John Sloat elementary, leaders and staff have worked hard to cultivate a positive return to school with explicit SEL and healing centered practices, such as calming corners for students and adults.  In this episode, Principal Claudia Alfaro, Social Worker Liz Torres, Student Support Services Coordinator Pam Cajucom and 5th grade teacher, Marlayna Flores speak to Rosie Arcona and Mai Xi Lee about prioritizing care for their community with Calming Corners.

You can view pictures of John Sloat's calming corners at this link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1sIbVqmP3wux9pdt1-gatkAGF2VEnULTL?usp=sharing

We know things are hard right now.  In adverse times, it's difficult to see the good that is also happening around you.  While acknowledging the stressors and trauma of the past year, we also wanted to shine a light on the resilience and compassion of our community- the good that is also being experienced, even if we can't always see them sometimes.  We know from research, such as the incredible body of work done at the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, that focusing on the good can also be an antidote for trauma and support for nurturing resilience. With that in mind, today we bring you the good news from our students, teachers, and parents.  Here's hoping to thriving forward together in goodness!

If you are a Sac City parent, student, and/or staff member, and you are interested in being featured on future episodes of "Soaking in the Good, Sac City!" , we welcome you to send a short audio clip with the following:

-Name, Grade if you are a student, role (student, parent, teacher, etc. ), and school site

-"This week's good news is..................and next week, I hope for....................."

You can send you recorded audio to [email protected]

Thank you. 

This week's episode features 2 of our SEL Training Specialists in an intimate conversation with their daughters on the topic of colorism. Africa Fullove and Candace Evans spent some time with their daughters, students Indigo Fullove and Joy Evans to connect on their experiences with colorism and how it has impacted them.  This is the first part of a 2-part conversation on this important topic. 

In his book, “How to Be an Anti-racist”, Ibram X. Kendi defines “colorism as a collection of racist policies that cause inequities between light people and dark people, and these inequities are substantiated by racist ideas about Light and dark people.” Kendi also says, “When gains disproportionately flow to light people and losses disproportionately flow to Dark people, inequities between races mirror inequities within the same races.” Same-race Colorism means preferential treatment based solely on their color- Light skinned vs. Dark skinned complexion.

This segment continues the conversation between SEL Training Specialists Candace Evans and Africa Fullove, and their daughters, Indigo and Joy. The continue to explore the concept of colorism and offer some opportunities for healing and moving forward as a community. 

This week, Africa Fullove joins us to chat with Sac City teacher Miriam Goff.  Miriam Goff is a veteran educator who has taught elementary and middle school, served Sac City has a Behavior Intervention Specialist, and currently is a co-teacher and inclusive practices educator at Cal Middle School in 8th Grade English Language Arts. She is passionate about supporting differently-abled students and works hard to ensure that students with IEPs have equitable access to learning and barrier-free engagement.  Our conversation with Miriam provides much needed perspective and insight into the challenges and successes of students with IEPs. 

This week Nicki Harrelson joins Candace and Mai Xi to chat with Salvador Turkie.  Sal is a Freshmen from West Campus High School in Sac City.  This week Sal joins us to share his thoughts on National Coming Out Day and his experience as a LGBTQ teen.  This is a powerful conversation with a delightful young man who is wise beyond his years.  

For more information on supports for LGBTQ youths, please visit www.scusd.edu/lgbtq-support-services for more information and resources. 

**Please note that there are some audio glitches  in this episode due to  low internet connectivity.  We thank you for listening and for understanding. 

We continue our rich conversation with Hiram Johnson teacher, Michael Washington.  In this episode, Michael shares his hope for eradicating systemic racism and the realities of the challenges ahead.  We also discuss why adult SEL, especially self-awareness, is critically important to better understanding how we show up for students and building relationships with students. 

This week we talk to Michael Washington, a high school Ethnic Studies teacher from Hiram Johnson High School.  Mr. Washington shares his experience balancing critical discourse in the classroom and being authentic to who is as a Black educator navigating race in the educational system.  This is a thoughtfully moving and powerful conversation with a voice that is critically important to equity, access, and social justice in Sac City. This is Part 1 of 2.

Mental health is an important topic, especially during our current context of both the pandemic and racial unrest in our community.  We begin our new season of "Staying SEL: Connected in Sac City" by engaging in a dialogue about mental health, a first step in demystifying a subject that impacts all of us.  

In this first episode of season 2, we talk to Tyler Chan, a Junior at Hiram Johnson High School, about his experience with mental health and his collaboration in a a youth-led "Summer at City Hall" project to promote youth mental health.  Tyler shares the importance of reaching out for support, especially amongst his peer group.  We also talk to Jacqueline Rodriguez, Coordinator of Student Support and Health Services, who shares some important tips and resources for supporting mental health for students, staff, and families. Jacqueline reminds us about the importance of starting with self-care and connecting to others to navigate through these challenging times. She reminds us that we are not alone, help is available and the road to recovery is possible.

The resources shared by Jacqueline can be found here:

 Virtual calming room: https://calmingroom.scusd.edu/

Student support centers: https://www.scusd.edu/student-support

Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386

Crisis Text line:  text “HOME” to 741-741

Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 (TALK)

The Source - Call/Text 916-787-7678 Support for Youth & Caregivers 24/7

Please also visit our SEL website at www.scusd.edu/sel and CLICK on resources for "Students", "Staff", and "Parents" to get additional SEL resources and our new "SEL For Distance Learning and Beyond": https://sites.google.com/scusd.edu/sel/home?authuser=0