Each year we hold a Junior Coach Leadership Conference to honor the growth and leadership of our youth leaders that participate in the Junior Coach Leadership Program.
Our Junior Coach Leadership Conference was held on Saturday, April 28th to celebrate the fantastic work of these youth leaders. One hundred and ten Junior Coaches from 28 of our direct partner schools joined us for this special day at the Event Center on Auraria Campus.
The day started with lunch and a keynote speech from Justin Simmons, Safety for the Denver Broncos. He shared a story about how a youth leader impacted him when he was a kid and helped him grow into what he is today. A youth ambassador, he called it, inspired him, similar to the way our Junior Coaches inspire their classmates. He held a Q&A at the end for Junior Coaches and there were a lot of curious students asking him about his football career and favorite foods. We appreciated his attendance and are so grateful our Junior Coaches had the opportunity to be in front of him. Everyone left inspired.
All youth leaders participated by rotating between four activities that taught the values of cooperation, adventure/bravery, leadership, and empathy, which will help them throughout school and life to create an inclusive, safe, and healthy community around them.
Cooperative games included Toxic Waste Dump and Magic Tag. Huckle Buckle Bean Stock and the Maze Game represented the critical skills of empathy and leadership skills and allowed Junior Coaches to work together to reach their goal.
It was an awesome day celebrating these amazing Junior Coaches. Each and everyone of them brought their best selves. They are real life super heroes and will help us create a kinder and more inclusive society.
The Junior Coach Leadership Program is a key component of our Coach and TeamUp services. We build play into leadership through the Playworks Junior Coach program, which encourages teams of students to work together to learn games, fair play and positive conflict resolution and to teach these skills and lessons appropriately to their classmates. Each school has about 15 Junior Coaches.
