Winners Circle Welcomes New Captains

The school year has officially started and The Partnership For Our Kids is pleased to announce that we have four fabulous new Winners Circle Captains joining our amazing team of volunteers!

Mark Jimenez
Mark Jimenez, a former Winners Circle Goal Buddy, has accepted the role of Co-Captain at Kellom Elementary. Jimenez truly enjoys volunteering for an organization dedicated to the success of children. “I like the fact that Winners Circle works to encourage and support younger children in setting and pursuing goals in and outside of the classroom.”

In his professional life, Jimenez has been in banking for the past 12 years and for the last five, he has served as a branch manager for Great Western Bank . As a child, Jimenez spent time on the island of St. Vincent and the Dominican Republic, where his parents were missionaries. “I've been blessed by more people than I could mention, who have encouraged or mentored me,” he says. “This is my opportunity to give back to our young people at an age when they need encouragement and support the most.”

Cameron Lind

Another former Goal Buddy, Cameron Lind, has taken the position of Captain at Field Club Elementary and has great respect for all of his fellow Winners Circle volunteers. “They volunteer because they sincerely want to make a difference in the lives of the kids,” he says. Of course, Lind’s favorite part of Winners Circle is the students and he takes particular pleasure in helping them celebrate their successes. “There are very few things in life more satisfying than the smile of a child, and we see those smiles when they share with us their success in reaching their goals.”

Professionally, Lind works as a Talent Management Specialist at Omaha Public Power District. A teacher to the core, Lind has held a variety of professional positions which have allowed him to utilize his unique skills, including director of youth programs at the American Lung Association, teaching positions through Omaha Public Schools, Iowa Western and Metropolitan Community Colleges, and diversity/leadership training with First Data Corporation. Lind has a lot of talent as an actor and has appeared in numerous community theater productions and over 50 local and national commercials and training films.

Maria Valentin

Maria Valentin is brand new to the Partnership and is serving as a Winners Circle Captain at Jackson Elementary. Valentin loves that Winners Circle allows her to be a positive influence in the lives of Omaha youth. “It creates an opportunity for me to motivate and empower students so they can see themselves living a successful life.

When Valentin isn’t volunteering with Winners Circle, she works in the ConAgra Foods Corporate Community Affairs Department. Valentin has more than 18 years of experience in community relations, management and volunteerism and is eager to share her professional experiences with Winners Circle students.

Ronald Jefferson
Ronald Jefferson Jr. will be serving as a Winners Circle Captain at Field Club Elementary and is excited for his new role with the program.

Growing up, Jefferson attended school in the OPS district and obtained his Bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Jefferson currently works at Omaha Public Power District as a programmer, assisting in maintaining and creating enterprise systems. Jefferson is active in his church, serving as the band leader at Ambassador’s Worship Center and was recently married this past June. Jefferson says he is eager to be able to encourage, support, and reward the accomplishments of Omaha youth and is proud to be a part of the Winners Circle program.

Raising The Bar

Each school year students and staff of The Partnership For Our Kids work to achieve bigger and better goals and the 2010-2011 academic year will be no different. This fall, All Our Kids will be raising the student GPA requirement from a 2.0 to a 2.5. “It has been something that we have discussed for a while now, and after seeing that our students were able to consistently average over a 2.5 GPA, we felt it was appropriate to raise our bar to better prepare them for success,” explains All Our Kids Program Director, Phillip Burrell. Burrell says he believes this new benchmark will really help students to make an easier transition into college.

Program staff members are confident that this new challenge will be well received by the students. “Although it will take a little extra effort on the students’ part, I think they realize the work and discipline they are putting in now will put them in a better position to succeed in the future,” says Burrell. He goes on to explain that in the event that a student is not able to meet the new requirement, an action plan for success has already been put in place. “A student that does not reach this benchmark will be put on academic probation. While on probation, students are visited at school by their program specialist and a plan is set up to improve the student’s grades,” he says.

Burrell says that the current program requirements for school and meeting attendance will remain the same in the 2010-2011 school year, but he doesn’t rule out a change in the future. “We are always looking to raise the bar as our students achieve and surpass the benchmarks of our program.”

Partnership Student Receives Ak-Sar-Ben/Horatio Alger Scholarship Award

Congratulations to Partnership high school graduate, Ceci Menjivar, for receiving the 2010 Ak-Sar-Ben/Horatio Alger Scholarship Award. Ceci is one of only 50 local students selected to receive this prestigious award. The mission of the Horatio Alger Association is “to provide scholarship assistance to deserving young people who have demonstrated integrity and determination in overcoming adversity in their lives and who have shown the academic potential and personal aspiration to make a unique contribution to society.”

Ceci exemplifies this mission in every aspect of her life. As a child, Ceci and her parents immigrated to the United States from war-torn El Salvador. After arriving in the U.S., Ceci ambitiously learned fluent English in an astonishingly short amount of time. With that same sense of determination, Ceci graduated from Bryan High School this past spring with an impressive 4.55 GPA and the distinction of senior class vice president.

This fall, Ceci will attend Creighton University, where she will study business administration. Ceci says she not only plans to obtain her Bachelor’s degree, but will acquire her Master’s degree as well. After completing her education, Ceci intends to give back to her community and especially to those who have helped her in achieving her success so far.

We are so proud of you Ceci and we look forward to the amazing things you will accomplish in the future!

Today's Lesson: Goal Setting

It’s back to school for Winners Circle teachers and the lesson of the day is goal-setting! More than 250 teachers will take part in the goal setting review sessions that Winners Circle staff has begun hosting this week. “Obviously teachers already know how to write goals as part of their professional training,” says Goal Development Coordinator, Sue Lipsey. “Our trainings cover the standards Winners Circle requires.” These requirements include ensuring that the goal is appropriate for the student, that there is a means of measuring the goal, the goal is understandable for the student, parent and Goal Buddy and the goal is individualized based on student ability.
Trainings not only serve as a Winners Circle refresher course for classroom teachers, but have actually improved program effectiveness. “ Interestingly enough, the schools that have allotted the most time for Winners Circle training are the schools with the strongest goals for students, when considering both measurement and individualization,” says Lipsey.

In addition, the Winners Circle trainings provide another method of strengthening the relationships between Winners Circle program staff and classroom teachers, allowing the teachers an open forum to ask questions and discuss the program. “Training is also a communications method for the Winners Circle staff to announce updates and promote goal-setting as a means of teaching students the skill of self-management,” adds Lipsey.

New this year, each training session will be tailored to every individual school based on that school’s biggest need. “If a school has had a number of goals written without including measurements, the training might focus on writing strong measurements for goals,” Lipsey explains. Lipsey adds that this is crucial because of the connections between the skill of goal setting and academic success of students. According to The 2009 Gallup Student Poll, goal setting instills hope in students and as measured by Gallup, hope is a stronger indicator of academic success than traditional measures of standardized tests.

Winners Circle training sessions will continue through the week of August 15th. If you would like more information on the Winners Circle training schedule call 557-6380 or email slipsey@winners-circle.org