This August, our newest group of Peer Leaders took Daemen College by storm with great energy, passion, and leadership for their 2019 Summer Workshop.
This incredible group of 76 rising high school seniors came together from 21 high schools in New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Michigan for a weekend that was nothing short of transformational. Here, Peer Leaders learned to stand in their truth and find power in their story and the obstacles they’ve overcome. Peer Leaders took their leadership potential to new heights with intensive training and campaign planning, empowering them to employ community organizing techniques to create a college-going culture in their school. Last, but not least, these Peer Leaders formed strong bonds that they can carry on in their journey their senior year of high school, college, and beyond.
The workshop was beaming with passion and dedication from the 25 Advisors, 21 alumni season workshop staff, and 26 volunteers,that joined us that weekend. Among them, Writing Coach Michael Simons shared his reasons for returning to Daemen College for his fourth year volunteering with PeerForward, saying, “The PeerForward program makes a demonstratable difference. These young people create a new future by going to college and I see this possibility fulfilled every year.”
There was much to celebrate at this Workshop. For example, on Friday night, we had the pleasure of celebrating the birthday of two of our Peer Leaders, Darlenys and Arlenys Veras from The School of Human Rights in Brooklyn, New York.
Then, we celebrated our newest cohort of Coaches-in-Training, “The 6 Gods,” who officially facilitated their first Summer Workshop. This cohort trained for countless hours in preparation for this Workshop, and will continue their training across many more Summer Workshops to come. (To read more about this cohort of Coaches-in-Training, read our blog post here.)
With Daemen College marking the last Summer Workshop this season for high school Peer Leaders, PeerForward is celebrating another successful summer of training rising high school seniors to change the lives and trajectories of their peers upon returning to each of their high schools. Each summer is filled with meaningful experiences not only for our Peer Leaders, but for each of the staff members, volunteers, and alumni that join together to make it all possible. We can’t wait to continue working with all of our new Peer Leaders as the school year continues!
