The Valley Guardians work closely with the Leadership Society of Arizona to offer a life-changing mentorship opportunity to children in the valley, by helping children reach their full potential. Together, we’re teaching children the tools for success. We are helping them to understand themselves, solve problems, and be successful entrepreneurs.
This Fall, 8 of our scholars in the Executive Leadership Program went up to Strawberry, AZ for a leadership retreat. The retreat was a 3-day event that gave teens a much-needed outdoor experience with a focus on changing the way they approach problems.
This experience taught students how to manage stress, set goals, and plan for the future. Additionally, the retreat focused on practicing self-reliance and daily life skills. The Executive Leadership Getaways are designed to be another way to teach kids leadership they can apply in their daily life.
The Leadership Society of Arizona works with students one-on-one to help them create a Personal Improvement Plan focused on mentoring, coaching, and building self-confidence to carry with them for the rest of their lives.
The Importance of Leadership
Many children feel they don’t have control over their lives. In many low-income families, children feel trapped, as if they can’t make a difference in their own lives. This leads children to continue the cycle of generational poverty and makes it harder for children to be successful.
“The most important thing we teach children is that they have full control over their life. Reality is governed by natural laws. As we learn to understand these laws, we can predict our futures and simplify our lives. This is empowering for children! It means that they determine their success in life. We help them see that they are unique and important. As they learn to understand who they are and where they come from, it becomes easier to figure out where they want to go,” said Dr. Alfredo Rivera, one of the Directors of Leadership Society of Arizona.
Leadership Society of Arizona teaches children how to be confident and stable leaders wherever they go.
“A big focus of ours is on problem-solving. We teach students how to ask for help instead of spending time stressing. We tell them to look for experts. We teach them how to talk to wiser people in their lives. No one becomes successful on their own. The key to simplifying life is asking for help and utilizing expertise.” continued Rivera.
The Executive Leadership Program
The Valley Guardians Executive Leadership Program was designed to provide success coaching for students (ages 12-18) with financial needs. This program is a multi-year coaching opportunity to help students become happier, more successful, and plan for their futures. Students will receive scholarship funding up to $5,000 per year for 4 years! The scholarship covers success coaching, academic assistance, technology, and any other financial costs as needed. It seeks top students who are motivated to improve themselves, have a thirst for knowledge, and want to develop a vision for their life. At our core, we believe that no child’s circumstances should hold them back from success.
“We were recommended to reach out to The Valley Guardians after an entrepreneurship competition. Our missions matched so closely, it was a perfect fit.” LSA developed No-Influence Leadership (sourced from 28 years of industry-tested research and the most licensed IP at Arizona State University) and found that when applied to a high school student’s life it can make a significant impact (7 years, 2.5K students, 98% satisfaction, 50% stress reduction, improved standardized testing and academics, 60% increase in confidence, 88% of parents identified positive changes). The Valley Guardians felt that LSA’s leadership education and mentoring was a valuable component to add to an existing pilot program they were running with Genesis City Academy in Phoenix. When we initially partnered LSA primarily mentored high school students virtually in addition to a handful of in-person leadership workshops. Eventually, The Valley Guardians saw that we had more tools to make a greater impact on children’s lives. The Executive Leadership Program proved to be a tremendous success,” explained Rivera.
The Valley Guardians are providing the scholar’s access to the Kolbe index and Enneagram tests. The Kolbe index is a great tool for identifying how your modus operandi works, basically, your “Hard Drive” concerning follow through, fact-finding, quick start, and implementer.
The Enneagram refers to the nine different types of styles, with each representing a worldview and archetype that resonates with the way people think, feel, and act with the world, others, and themselves. Both these tests will help children understand themselves better and how to interact with the world around them!
This year, The Valley Guardians will host the first-ever Entrepreneurship Award Program. The scholars will have access to “My First Sale”, a company with a fully integrated platform to take kids right from idea/inception to product/sales/services to start their own business. With this, they will present and pitch their potential businesses, with the winner being crowned the first-ever Valley Guardians Entrepreneurship Award!
Leading Children to Success
“Partnering with The Valley Guardians has been a win-win for everyone. With them, we have been able to scale the program to make a bigger impact on the future of high school students in the valley. We have 25 scholars currently from all over Phoenix. We host 20+ workshops a semester, two retreats a year, and we offer ongoing mentorship. The program is designed to be flexible and give students all the support they need to develop into happy and successful people. I think that is why we are all so invested to see it continue being a success” stated Rivera.
The Valley Guardians believe that children are full of unlimited potential. By teaching children how to tap into their full potential they have the power to transform their life. We do this by helping deserving kids into the best educational and mentorship opportunities available.
With your support, these important leadership and life skills will continue to shape the future of our valley. From 6 students in 2019 to 25 this year, this program continues to grow, and be a flagship model for many other organizations to use and adapt to further give back and compound helping what is most important the kids; our future leaders. The Valley Guardians are changing lives through this leadership program, with the continued hard work of LSA.
As a 501(c)(3) non-profit with a $0-dollar operating budget, every cent of your donations goes directly to the children here in our hometown. With the help of our sponsor and donors, the Valley Guardians can continue to support children through opportunities, like the Executive Leadership Program, to help them succeed. You can donate, here.
