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Hello family and friends,
We hope this message finds you all in good health and high spirits. Here at SSYO, we have officially wrapped up our awesome summer school season! Our staff, students, and interns have all been basking in the positive vibes and vibrant energy of what we like to call “our happy place.” You see, RISE Summer School is an especially unique program here at SSYO. So much so, that we often refer to it as “our happy place.” What makes it so happy or special you may ask? Well, let's dive into that.
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 Photography by Jodi B Herrling Hello Family and Friends,
We hope this message finds you all in good health and high spirits. Throughout this particular summer, I've been thinking a lot about the SSYO mission statement, that is, “to build strong, young lives, so our community will thrive.” As a person who's almost always assessing things, it's pretty normal for me to ask myself if our organization is staying on course, as far as practicing our core values, in order to continue achieving our mission. However, I've realized something even deeper recently in regard to this assessment. For those of us on staff here at SSYO, building strong, young lives is much more than a mission statement at our place of current employment. “Is it Friday?” Charles* asked as we lined up outside the school. It was Monday afternoon. The bell rang and students were pouring out of the school eager to begin their after-school activities. “It is not Friday,” I said, “It is Monday.” There were sighs of disappointment heard throughout the group. “How many more days until Friday?” Charles asked. “Four more days until Friday,” I replied. On Tuesday afternoon as the students came pouring out of the school at the end of the day, Charles ran up to me, “Three more days until Friday, right?” I looked at him and smiled, “correct, three more days until Friday." The countdown that had begun on Monday would continue each day until the long-awaited day arrived… Friday! What, might you ask, were the students waiting for? Why did they count down every week longing for Friday? The answer… Perler Beads. *This student's name has been changed for privacy.
In today’s world, it is often the case that we have different viewpoints or opinions from those around us. Sometimes it feels as though it’s even expected to disagree socially, politically, or really on anything. It can be difficult to find common ground and even more challenging to turn the other cheek.  Photo taken by Jodi B Herrling Photography As the administrator for SouthSide Community Church I would occasionally interact with the staff at the Youth Outreach pre-COVID (fun fact: we share the same building space but we’re different organizations). Several months ago the aftermath of COVID really did a number on me and I was in a bad place mentally, emotionally, and spiritually as I’m sure many of us were.
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