Caterpillar Zeeken with his Certificate of Achievement. By. PROJECT PROMISE
With the goal of creating and implementing a community service project that can potentially impact the entire St. Croix community, nonprofit Project Promise's “Caterpillars” have completed Heart to Heart International’s COVID-19 Youth Ambassador program.
According to a release issued Thursday, Project Promise launched its flagship Caterpillar Project to provide a full range of programming for a group of at-risk youth, it made community service an integral part of the program. The COVID-19 pandemic has not stopped this. In fact, it is the focus of their current efforts, the organization said.
Based on guidelines from the CDC and the WHO, the COVID-19 Youth Ambassador Program was created for high school students to lead a new generation of health educators, according to the release. Heart to Heart International’s training program taught these teens a wealth of information about COVID-19. For example, they learned about the disease’s biology, symptoms, risks, and prevention, and looked at COVID-19’s mental health considerations and warning signs. Once they had a solid base of knowledge from which to work, the students participated in a live online workshop in which they received expert assistance creating their own COVID-19 community outreach plan, Project Promise said.
Participating in the program helped the Caterpillars develop their critical thinking, communication, problem solving and collaboration skills while becoming leaders in their communities. Project Promise’s newly certified COVID-19 Youth Ambassadors are now excited to launch their “Stop the Spread” educational campaign. The group will be using a variety of social media platforms to educate others about how to protect themselves from the coronavirus.
“Despite the fact that they are all at home,” says Resa O’Reilly, Project Promise’s founder and president. "Our youth are seeing that they can still have a positive impact on the lives of others and do their part to help stop the spread of COVID-19.” To learn more or sign-up for this training, contact [email protected].
For more information on Heart to Heart International’s ongoing projects and mission visit hearttoheart.org.
