March 2020 Newsletter
Student Spotlight: Brianna, Longview High School, Texas
Sophomore student, Brianna, from our Longview JKL program is embracing her creative energy and making her mark on campus.
Before joining JKL, Brianna struggled with self-confidence and the ability to be proud of her own art. “Since the start of our JKL program last fall, I have watched Brianna grow into a confident and outgoing young lady who has had perfect attendance” – Ms. Clark.
Brianna is an aspiring young artist who is gaining inspiration from the weekly gratitude circles, CrossFit workouts and peer to peer motivation. The just keep livin program has provided a safe and encouraging space for Brianna to share her passions and be accepted for who she is. Things like volunteering at her church, anime art and love for Korean pop music culture are all embraced.
After high school, Brianna would like to become a veterinarian and travel to Korea! We can’t wait to see Brianna blossom into an amazing person!
JKL Students “Have Courage” With HITRECORD
Our just keep livin students at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles were lucky enough to get a visit from the team from HITRECORD
HITRECORD is an online collaborative platform started by the actor, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, where people all over the world come together to collaborate on creative projects including short films, writing, music, and photography. The idea behind HITRECORD is for creativity to build upon itself in a virtual space.
At Fairfax, students were shown a few writing prompts based on our jkl monthly quote about having courage, and were able to use the prompts as jumping off points to let their creativity come through. Then the students took turns reading each other’s pieces aloud, thus showing courage themselves.
We loved seeing our students open up and expand their horizons to the HITRECORD community. We look forward to future collaborations!
What Are You Grateful For?
"I’m grateful for my little sister, because she keeps me motivated and now that I’m going to college, I get to be a role model for her to look up to so she can be better than me"
"My aunt is fighting cancer and I’m grateful she’s been getting through it, and I’m grateful for everyone that supports her and my family."
"I’m grateful for getting to have new opportunities, like doing my first camping trip with JKL, and getting to watch a UT football game in a nice suite thanks to JKL"
Baby2Baby Community Service Project
Three of our Los Angeles JKL programs have visited Baby2Baby in Culver City this past month to help volunteer!
Baby2Baby provides children living in poverty, ages 0-12, with diapers, clothing and all the basic necessities that every child deserves. Our students always enjoy supporting this amazing organization whether it was sorting donations or filling necessities for children facing emergency situations such as fires or entering the foster care system. We are proud to partner with this organization and look forward to continuing to support their efforts!
Celebrating African American History Month in New Orleans
In honor of African American History Month, JKL students from Warren Easton High School in New Orelans attended a field trip to the “Studio Be” warehouse gallery.
Founder and Resident Artist, Branden “B-Mike” Odums gave a tour to our students and provided some background on his new exhibit entitled “Ephemeral Eternal.” The Art displayed in the exhibit pays homage to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King, Hurricane Katrina, Trayvon Martin, as well as many others.
Voices of Parkland Screening
just keep livin programs in Los Angeles had the very special opportunity to attend a screening for the documentary, Voices of Parkland, thanks to the Brady Campaign, a gun violence prevention movement.
It was an unforgettable night at the Ace Hotel alongside Team ENOUGH LA. The documentary features 35 testimonials from those who experienced the tragic shooting at Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. We are so grateful that our students were able to experience this and hear from the survivors who had the strength and courage to share their stories.
Camila’s Tips
For the February monthly nutritional activity, our Chavez High School just keep livin program indulged in our Co-Founder Camila McConaughey’s “Woman of Today” Strawberry & Granola bark delicious recipe!
Ingredients: 18 ounces of plain Greek yogurt 2 teaspoons of honey 1 cup freeze-dried strawberries 1 cup of granola
Directions: Mix yogurt and honey and keep aside.
Line a flat pan with sides with parchment paper and spread yogurt-honey mixture evenly, about 1/2 an inch. Make sure it’s not too thin to avoid it breaking easily.
Sprinkle strawberries and granola over yogurt.
Freeze for 3 hours until completely frozen.
Remove from pan and peel off the parchment then break into pieces and enjoy immediately as the yogurt begins to melt fast.