Help Students Achieve College and Career Success

Robert is opinionated, plain and simple.  Robert is definitely the entertainer of the group.  He loves to be the center of attention and often cracks jokes and makes everyone laugh.  Robert's energy is amazing and he act's as a leader to the rest of the group.  

However, when we are making decisions as a group Robert finds it hard when he feels like his opinion isn't being heard.  Recently we were working together to design our t-shirt.  This is an exciting process because we like to have the students involved in every aspect of the process: from choosing the colors to the final design.  This year the group voted to have a turquoise shirt with a soccer ball on the back with each of their sparks (passions) represented as pictures inside the soccer ball.

Robert was not pleased with this decision.  He brought forth the idea that we should put a 'Taco Cat' on the back of the shirt.  Taco Cat is a popular internet meme that is a picture cat inside of a taco usually accompanied by the caption 'Taco Cat spelled backwards is Taco Cat.'  

When designing our shirt we wanted to have it reflect what our program is about: discovering what you are passionate about (your spark) and using that to do better in school .

We explained to Robert that we felt that a shirt with Taco Cat on it, though funny, would not reflect our club. Despite our reservations, we put the Taco Cat design up for a vote and the other students instead voted unanimously for the soccer ball design created by another student.  This upset Robert to the point where he stormed out insisting we were not being respectful of his ideas.

The next week the kids got together and were finishing up the design for the shirt. Robert was not there. Each of the students were given a space on the soccer ball and we instructed them to draw or select an image that represented their spark. The rest of the students insisted that Robert be given his own space and that we incorporate Taco Cat into the image in some way. Ultimately they choose an image of an acoustic guitar, since his spark is guitar and then had Taco Cat in the background.

This was a potentially difficult situation where we got to see our students treat each others interests and ideas with great respect. The design for the finished T-shirt is attached and we look forward to getting them printed and distributed.

Our students have also shown great interest in the well being of their community in their choice and execution of a community project.

This year the middle school that we currently work in is being combined with the local high school. This means that grades 7 through 12 will be in the same building. This transition has been a concern for parents, students and administrators alike. Our students decided that it was important to make the best of the situation and make the transition as smooth as possible for themselves and their fellow students. They are creating a video, that will be posted on social media that will explain the changes and what can be expected. This video will contain interviews that the students themselves will conduct with individuals such as the mayor, teachers and principals. The students are also designing a pamphlet that will give information about the school merger as well as tips and tricks about how to deal with the change. These will be distributed to students and parents.

With the changing school district Jovial Futures needs your continued support to adapt the upcoming changes and to continue to enrich our students lives. Thank you so much for your donations and support of our program.

• T-Shirt Design (PDF)