Kristopher Brown

“The mission of VIBE & IMAGINE is to develop African American students with active and creative minds, a strong sense of student and leadership skills and the courage to act on their beliefs to become successful citizens. We would like to provide a more robust experience for our students including: providing guest speakers; workshops; trips and activities that promote citizenship, honesty, integrity, students skills and knowledge about career choices. Our goal is to promote leadership and good decision making skills through the use of SEL and leadership skills training. Social and emotional learning will serve as the foundation for our program. Furthermore, the club will focus on the following: (1) encourage educational goal-setting; (2) help students develop self-advocacy skills; (3) help students develop strategies for combating peer pressure; (4) teach students skills that will enable them to appropriately deal with conflict and challenges; (5) help students develop a positive self-image; (6) provide opportunities for service learning and community service; (7) immerse students in leadership training; (8) enhance students' cultural competencies; and (9) challenge students to find their voice and life purpose. It is our hope that by providing a more robust experience for students in this program, anchored in SEL, we will be able to increase the overall sense of belonging for these students and improve the climate they experience in school. Likewise, by grounding our program in SEL, it is our hope that students take with them the agency that they develop in all aspects of their school experience.”