In this episode of Sage Studio, Tiffiny Webster delves into the PVSA program, the Presidential Volunteer Service Award program, which provides an incredible opportunity for students and families to give back to their communities while earning service credits. Taylore Coulombe, a regional mentor and teacher at Sage Oak, who also manages the PVSA program, joins Tiffiny to discuss the program's significance and introduces two remarkable guests, Kyrie and Gio, who are actively participating in the PVSA program.
The PVSA program at Sage Oak encourages students to engage in community service, fostering values of service and kindness. Students have the freedom to choose their volunteering activities, whether it's writing letters to elders, participating in community gardens, or engaging in beach cleanups. Hours are recorded from May to April the following year, and awards are given based on the number of hours contributed.
The heartwarming conversation with Kyrie and Gio reveals their commitment to volunteering. They create beautiful letters and drawings for elders and engage in gardening, making donations to local pantries. The siblings share how they tailor their letters and drawings based on the recipient's interests, adding a personal touch to brighten their day. Their genuine compassion and dedication inspire others to make a difference in their communities. Taylore and Tiffiny emphasize that even small acts of kindness can have a profound impact, echoing the program's mission to instill a lifelong commitment to service.
Thank you for listening to the Sage Studio podcast presented by Sage Oak Charter Schools and hosted by Tiffiny Webster, M.A.Ed. We invite you to follow the show and leave your review below. Sage Oak Charter Schools is an independent study nonclassroom based TK-12 personalized learning public charter school serving students in Southern California. Visit sageoak.education for more information.
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In this episode of Sage Studio, Tiffiny Webster delves into the PVSA program, the Presidential Volunteer Service Award program, which provides an incredible opportunity for students and families to give back to their communities while earning service credits. Taylore Coulombe, a regional mentor and teacher at Sage Oak, who also manages the PVSA program, joins Tiffiny to discuss the program's significance and introduces two remarkable guests, Kyrie and Gio, who are actively participating in the PVSA program.
The PVSA program at Sage Oak encourages students to engage in community service, fostering values of service and kindness. Students have the freedom to choose their volunteering activities, whether it's writing letters to elders, participating in community gardens, or engaging in beach cleanups. Hours are recorded from May to April the following year, and awards are given based on the number of hours contributed.
The heartwarming conversation with Kyrie and Gio reveals their commitment to volunteering. They create beautiful letters and drawings for elders and engage in gardening, making donations to local pantries. The siblings share how they tailor their letters and drawings based on the recipient's interests, adding a personal touch to brighten their day. Their genuine compassion and dedication inspire others to make a difference in their communities. Taylore and Tiffiny emphasize that even small acts of kindness can have a profound impact, echoing the program's mission to instill a lifelong commitment to service.
Thank you for listening to the Sage Studio podcast presented by Sage Oak Charter Schools and hosted by Tiffiny Webster, M.A.Ed. We invite you to follow the show and leave your review below. Sage Oak Charter Schools is an independent study nonclassroom based TK-12 personalized learning public charter school serving students in Southern California. Visit sageoak.education for more information.
Sage Oak Website
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube
Welcome to another episode of Sage Studio. I am Tiffiny Webster, and today we are talking all about the PVSA program. That is our Presidential Volunteer Service Award program, and it is such an amazing way for students and families to be able to give back to their communities while earning some service credit for it. And I've invited Taylore Coulombe to be back on our podcast today to talk to us a little bit about that program and introduce us to some very special guests. So Taylore give everyone just a quick reminder of who you are, what your role is here at Sage Oak and what this PVSA program is. Yeah, so I'm Taylore Coulombe and I'm a regional mentor and a teacher here at Sage Oak, but I also run the PVSA program, which is the Presidential Volunteer Service Awards program. And this program exists to encourage students to be of service and their communities. We divide students up into regions all over Southern California and students are able to choose what they want to volunteer. it looks really different for all kinds of students. We have kids who do letters in our letter drive. And we have kids who participate in community gardens. And we have kids who do beach cleanup. This runs from May of one year all the way till the end of April the next year, and we record their hours and add them all up, and then based on how many hours they have, they earn certain awards. It is such a great program and I know that it is impacting so many. And one of the things that we love about this is the personalization. We love things that Sage Oak that can be personalized. And this is no different. Students and families get a chance to choose the type of volunteering that they want to do. and they can choose the region that works. Best for them as well. So such a win win. I cannot wait to dig into the story of these two sweet little faces that are joining us today on the podcast. Do you want to introduce who is here with us today, Taylore? Yes, we're so excited to have you guys here with us today. We have two of our participating students and they are just knocking out of the park. They always do. They're absolutely amazing and an inspiration to all. So we have. Kyrie with us today, and we have her brother, Gio. Hi. Welcome. Hi, guys. So great to have you here. Kyrie, I'm going to start with you. Tell us, what grade are you in, Kyrie? I'm in fourth grade, and I am an actual Mensa member, a lifetime Mensa member. Whoa, we are dealing with someone extra special on all different kinds of level, big brain and a big heart today. I love it, Kyrie. That is some good information. Thanks so much for sharing that. How about you, Gio? What grade are you in? First grade. First grade. And you have a big brain and a big heart, too. Gio. I bet you do. I know that you two have been participating in this program for a couple of years now that you've been here at Sage Oak, which is so awesome. So Kyrie, why don't you tell me a little bit about, what do you and your brother do? What type of volunteering do you guys like to do? We like to write letters to elders, and we also color and draw pictures and then write them, and we also we garden, um, with our grandpa and donate to local pantries with our aunt and our mom, you guys are doing so many good things and so many touching things and you're really taking care of people in so many different ways there. I mean, not only are you writing letters and pictures for elders, but I heard you talking about gardening and then also too, giving a lot of support and kindness to families during the holidays. So that is so special. I want to talk about each of those things because they're also important. Gio, when you are drawing pictures or writing letters, what do you like to draw pictures of? Or what do you like to write about? I draw cute Christmas drawings. Like, so cute, like, bear with the Christmas hat. Oh yeah, that is cute. The Christmas Santa hat. I bet that makes people smile when they get one of those pictures from you, right? Yeah, Now when you are doing these letters at different times in the year, what are some of the other things that you like to draw pictures of or write about? Oh, like It's depending on the season. So like, for example, in summer, we would draw ice creams and popsicles and stuff like that and the beach scenery and beach balls, And for fall, like fall leaves, in the spring. Pastel colored flowers. It depends on the season. Honestly, I love it. You guys have a wide variety of things that you can draw and put in new letters, which is so great. Now, do you know the people that you're sending these letters to or sending these pictures to? No, but it does come with the names. Like for example, like Rose. If the name comes like that, it shows how they're doing in their life, what they like, like cooking, baking, crossword puzzles, and we write about those because we get to read about their life story so we know what to write to make them feel very nice and not lonely. Oh, that is so sweet. I love that. Based on the person whose name you get and you learn a little bit about what they like to do and their interests, then you can draw pictures or write them something to go along with that. Yeah. I love that. Okay, so do you ever write letters to other people that like to do gardening? Yeah. You do? And do you tell them that you garden with your own grandpa too? Yeah. And what kind of things do you do in the garden? Grow like vegetables. How does the gardening fit into some of your volunteer time? It fits in as our volunteering time because we grow them and we donate them to the local pantries As I told you, we go with our aunt and mom and our grandpa helps us garden. I love that. So you're spending time with your grandpa in the garden. You get to learn these amazing things about gardening and digging and planting, taking care of things. Plus now you have some really good ideas about what to write about when other people like gardening or what to draw pictures of. And then once you finally grow all of the fruits or vegetables, you can harvest them and then you give them away to other people that need some of your food. So many wonderful things happening there. How did all of this get started? Some people will say this is like, how did the seed get planted, right? How did things get started with you? I started when I was around Gio's age and he started when he was like around like four. Okay. My aunt started this because like, she said that giving back is really good. And that she volunteers in a lot of community service. We were like, Really? That's so cool. Can we join that? Or like something like that. It was so long ago, so we don't really remember that much, but it was probably like that. I bet it was. You guys seem very excited about what you're doing, so I bet you are very excited. What do you think is the most fun, Gio? What do you like the most about writing letters or gardening? Oh, like color. Color, yeah. Okay, Do you like to color the pictures or do you like gardening or both? Oh, I love both. I can't even choose. You can't? Oh my goodness. So great. Good thing you get to do both, right? Yeah. How about for you, Kyrie? What do you like to do? I Love them so much equally too, but if I really had to pick one, I think it's gonna be, have to be writing letters. our talents are like coloring, drawing, so I think I'm a better artist and a better writer because of that too. You know what? I'm a better writer than I am a gardener. I'll tell you that. Gardening is actually really hard. It looks like it's easy, but sometimes it can be a little tricky. I'm impressed that you guys can actually grow food that people can eat. That's pretty good. Now, if you had some other friends that Sage Oak that, maybe they haven't started doing any sort of volunteering yet. Do you think that this would be a good way for them to get started with volunteering? Yeah, I think so. But I think that if they use their talents, they could search online and stuff that can match their talents. Because whatever matches their talent, it will be amazing. Now, I bet that when people get your pictures and get your letters I mean, how do you think they must feel when they receive those? I think they're really grateful that we do community service and that we write them letters so they're not lonely, so I think they're very thankful of that. Yeah. I think they feel very happy and thankful. You think so too, Gio? Yeah. Is that why you enjoy doing all of this volunteering? Yeah, and our aunt always says that giving, if we put out happiness, then we'll, then we will receive happiness back. And that loneliness, loneliness is a serious health risk. So it's really not good for elders or anyone. So that's why we do all of this community service. I think you're right. I think that that's good to keep their spirits up, right? And I mean, when you give somebody their letters or their pictures and you know it's going to make them really happy, how does it make you feel knowing that you did that? Oh, it makes me very proud and I feel like it's like we can do something that can help others that we have the ability. So I feel very proud of myself. I think so. I think that that's something that you can feel really good about is that Not only are you taking the time to make someone else happy, but in return, it does make you feel really proud. Like you're doing doing something for people in your community and doing something that makes you feel, feel good. So that's a wonderful thing What do you think, as far as, does one person or just two people, do you think that that makes enough of a difference? Yes, it does, because a small act can impact a lot. One family at a time, one elder at a time, even a small act can do a lot of things. I love that idea. Now, one thing that I think is really special is that not only are you and your brother each doing things that makes other people feel really good and feel thought of, but it sounds like your whole family really values serving other people and serving the community. It's not just something that you do like once a week. It's something that you're always doing, right? So it's just natural and Yeah, it's very natural. Taylore, I'm going to come back to you for one second and just, kind of on that point when you are getting students and families involved in this volunteer program is the idea for them to just kind of, earn a certain amount of hours or is the goal really for them to understand the impact of volunteering on a deeper level so that they can make these more long term investments in community going forward yeah, I mean, that's definitely the heart of it is we want kids just to, even if it's for one hour to experience how you give happiness and you get happiness back and just how we want kids to grow up with that mindset And so that's truly the heart of it. I mean, we do have these awards, of course, but we also have just the participation award. So even if you are able to get a couple hours in, like, we still want to celebrate that because that's also a victory in and of itself. So yeah, absolutely. I think that is such a special thing to see that. Even if you can only give for a little bit. It's not about reaching the huge milestone or accumulating an award or reaching a certain number. Those can be goals for sure. But really, the intention is really to just make that impact. However big, however small, it all makes a difference. And I think he did really say at best that that when you learn to give away that happiness, you get that happiness back. And then it really makes you feel so good and it makes the people that you're serving makes them feel really good. So it just kind of is a win-win all the way around. So one of the things that you mentioned to me today was that you do a little bit of extra shopping for families that need it during the holidays. And I hear you guys are actually working on this today after this podcast. Is that right? Okay. So tell me a little bit about what do you do to support these families, especially this time of year, during the holidays, we We wrap, we get them at Walmart and then we wrap them for people who don't have much stuff for Christmas as we do, like usually like kids like us want toys and stuff like that. But a mom on that list wanted like home basic needs like toilet paper, dish, dishwash soap, and we like to add some special stuff for those kind of moms and people. That is so special. when you think about the families that you're buying some presents for or household items for? What do you think about that family? How does that make you feel that you're shopping for them for some of these things? Well, we like picking out the gifts and imagining their joy and it makes us so happy. Yeah. Just imagining their joy. Yeah. we feel blessed. So we want others to get stuff too because we feel blessed and yeah. That's really sweet and very, very kind of you. I'm sure that they are going to enjoy it. Well, I really appreciate you talking about that with us today. It's always great to hear about the volunteer work that you're doing. And I can't believe that on the day we're recording this podcast, you guys are actually on your way to go do some more volunteering and more of that joy and love to others that are really going to benefit from it. So thank you so much for all you do. It's. Really great to see, um, what a difference that you are making and how much joy you're giving to others and how much joy you're getting in return. Good to see those smiles. So thank you so much for all you do. Thank you both so much for being on the podcast today. Taylore, thank you so much for just bringing the story to us and allowing us to, to meet this family and hear all about the wonderful things they are doing through this program. We appreciate the work that you do overseeing this program. We know that aside from all of the wonderful impact they get to have in the community. It does take a lot of time and effort on your part to keep everything running smoothly and organized. And so we appreciate you for all the work that you're doing behind there. And again, continuing to bring this to our Sage Oak family so that they can see how they can participate in this amazing program. Thank you for having me. It's a joy and pleasure to get to work and support and see these great amazing kiddos grow in their desire to serve and give, like I said, give their lives away for others. So I love that. Oh, good. We're really proud of you, you guys. You're making a big impact in somebody's life. Appreciate it. All right. Good to see you. Bye. Can't wait to hear it on the next one. Keep up all the good work, okay? Okay. All right.