
It's the PALS Press!
September 2023
Welcome back!
Welcome to the new PALS school year. It's hard to believe we're already into the 4th week of school. Monica Flores and I have been bopping around town, and we've begun working with students. Last week, we spent an afternoon with the Menchaca Mustang PALS learning about working and leadership styles by doing True Colors. Please send us an e-mail at monica.flores@austinisd.org or sbowley@youthlaunch.org if you'd like for us to come to your campus for supplemental PALS training or True Colors.
Support for Elementary PALS Counselors
We'll be starting a bi-weekly drop-in Zoom meeting for elementary counselors who are starting PALS programs (or who have PALS and need feedback/guidance/space to share). Keep an eye out for the invitation and link for Tuesdays at 10 am starting 9/12.
Looking at the month ahead...
Dates to remember:
9/19, 4 pm - PALS teacher and counselor south meetup, Radio Coffee 4204 Menchaca Rd. 78704
9/26, 4 pm - PALS teacher and counselor north meetup, Easy Tiger 6406 N IH 35 Frontage Rd. 78752
10/4, 10:45 a.m. - Secondary PALS training
10/4, 1 pm - Elementary PALS training, option 1
10/5, 9 am - Elementary PALS training, option 2
Recruitment and Selection, Community Building and Training
August 28 -- Begin advertising PALS and making applications available
September 15 -- PALS should be selected and notified by this date
October 4th or 5th – Student Training with Steve Medel
- October 5 – Students e-mail PALS Press contributions directly to sbowley@youthlaunch.org with the words “PALS PRESS” and the name of your school in the subject line.
Create PALS rosters in eCST.
Secondary PALS
Community, Connection, Training, Commence!
- Reach out to feeder elementary school counselors to make plans for beginning visits, and to address any special needs.
- October 4th: PALS training via Zoom.
Assign student groups for community service, social events, PALS Press write-ups, etc.
Try to have one social event / celebration with your PALS class, even if it’s just a lunch all together.
Get in touch with your campus lead for No Place for Hate and offer the PALS as volunteers and collaborators for each of the activities throughout the year. See if you can get the schedule and give your students the dates.
Upcoming Service Opportunities
You can always look for service opportunities at https://www.givepulse.com/search
Some upcoming opportunities to serve around town are:
Fabric Donation Processing - Austin Creative Reuse: 2005 Wheless Lane, Austin, TX 78723
Come join us for a low-key night volunteering, chatting with friends, and networking! You will help us measure and roll pieces of fabric to be sold at our creative reuse center. This is an indoor, seated/standing event located at Austin Creative Reuse in Windsor Park (just 10 minutes from campus!).
Austin Creative Reuse is a Austin based non-profit that aims to foster conservation, education, and community building through the creative reuse of old items and the reuse of creative items! We take in ~50,000 lbs. of donations every month and we rely on volunteers to help us process all those donations! Most items we resell at our center at very accessible price points, but we also teach people new creative skills in our classroom, donate supplies to schools, and attend community events to teach our youngest generations about creative reuse.
Help with the Harvest at Urban Roots: 7651 Delwau Lane, Austin, TX 78725 Come get your hands dirty with us as we grow thousands of pounds of food for our community!
NOTE: EACH VOLUNTEER MUST BE REGISTERED INDIVIDUALLY BEFORE ARRIVING TO THE FARM. Minors must be registered by a parent or legal guardian.
We invite you to step away from your daily life and visit our farms, each located minutes from Austin’s downtown. You will soak up the sun, get a little muddy, and help support our cause. To support our mission, 75% of the produce is used to improve food access for our neighbors in need, and the other 25% is sold to wholesale and restaurant partners.
Our young leaders will to teach you what you need to know to help us grow thousands of pounds of fresh food! Our farm needs volunteers to plant, cultivate, and harvest fruits and vegetables. You only need an open-mind, ready to receive instruction from our youth leaders.
You may contact us at volunteer@urbanrootsatx.org with any questions or concerns.
2023 Fall Dig-In - Green Corn Project: 1901 Matthews Lane, Austin, TX 78745 Join a team helping folks with limited access to good food start growing some of what they eat!
Green Corn Project is an Austin non-profit that educates Central Texans on organic vegetable gardening. Come learn how to install and maintain an organic vegetable garden or share your gardening knowledge by working with a team of volunteers to install or replant a garden for an individual or organization with limited access to good, nutritious food. We meet at a central location at 1901 Matthews Lane. where we gather our supplies, discuss the day's activities and then divide into teams and drive to individual garden sites.
When you arrive, check-in and get a name tag at the table where someone will help you find a task like bagging compost, sorting plants, or organizing our tools. Once everything is ready, we'll discuss the sites for the day, divide into teams, and drive to the individual gardens. No experience is needed as each team will have an experienced dig-in leader. Please dress appropriately for the weather and for gardening (e.g. closed toed shoes) and bring gardening gloves, hat, water, and sunscreen - we'll supply the tools, materials, and knowledge.
To help us plan, if you're representing a group larger than 3, please contact us through our website prior to registering. For groups under 3, please add a note to the note field on the registration form. We'll send a reminder email a few days before the event as well as notify you of any schedule changes.
For additional information, please visit: https://www.greencornproject.org/dig-ins/.
Monica Flores
Monica Flores supports PALS in the SEWSS Department in AISD. She's a former elementary teacher and administrator, and worked in MTSS. You can reach her at monica.flores@austinisd.org
Stacia Bowley
Stacia Bowley supports PALS through YouthLaunch, an Austin nonprofit that advocates for and supports youth development programming in Austin and beyond. She has taught PALS, supported PALS with AISD, and taught middle- and high school English. You can reach her at sbowley@youthlaunch.org
Thank you for all you do!
About AISD PALS
PALS is a cross-age peer mentoring program founded at Crockett High School in Austin, Texas in 1980. PALS support K-12 students at all levels of their education, and are at work at campuses across Austin ISD.
Email: sbowley@youthlaunch.org
Website: austinisd.org/pals
Location: 4000 South Interstate 35 Frontage Road, Austin, TX, USA
Phone: 9176931344
Facebook: facebook.com/AISDPALS