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Program Spotlight: Resiliency for Life (RFL)
Wednesday, May 8, 2019
Program Spotlight: Resiliency for Life
You may or may not have heard about the Resiliency for Life Program - but they are doing some awesome things. Just take a look at the program description and read about some of their Alumni achievements - it is quite impressive. Consider this your intro to the program, the people behind it, and the benefit the program provides to some of our most vulnerable high school students.
What is Resiliency for Life?
The Resiliency for Life Program, also known as RFL, has been a familiar sight at Framingham High School for over 18 years. The goal of the voluntary program is to assist some of Framingham High School's most vulnerable and under-performing students in identifying what is underlying their academic struggles. Since the challenges are usually rooted in social emotional issues such as depression, anxiety, trauma and family strife, the teacher works side by side with a social worker, and together they help each student develop his or her own unique improvement plan. The objective of the program is to help students who are at-risk of failing grades or possibly even dropping out of school to reach their very individualized goals for high school- and beyond. The program really focuses on improving attendance to school and to classes, improving work completion and timeliness, and on teaching students coping skills to help them work through some of their internal struggles.
In the 2017-18 school year the two full-time staff members (Mark Goldschmidt, Resiliency for Life Program Coordinator and Teacher and Ms. Anna Greenberg, Resiliency for Life Program, Social Worker) worked with 43 students. All eleven seniors were accepted to college, eight of the 43 students took dual enrollment college courses at Framingham State University or MassBay Community College, and two of the eleven seniors took Advanced Placement (AP) courses. No student who was enrolled in the program has dropped out of school in over 5 years, which is impressive given that about 10% of similarly "high needs" students around the state have dropped out.
The program has a very unique funding model. Both staffing positions are covered by the school district, but the program's affiliated 501c3 charity called Friends of Resiliency for Life raises funds to provide for things such as school and office supplies, therapy co-pays, summer school tuition, incidental medical expenses that affect learning, such as eyeglasses, college matriculation fees, SAT/ACT fees, emergency needs such as a week's worth of clothing for a student whose family had a house fire, field trips to colleges and for community-building activities, transportation for students who miss the bus to school, etc. Last year the program also acquired an assistance dog from an accredited agency so that she can comfort dysregulated students. This goes to show the "by any means necessary" approach of the Resiliency for Life Program.
Nala, the RFL Service Dog
In April of 2018 RFL was ecstatic to welcome its newest staff member named Nala, a 2 ½ year-old yellow lab from an organization called NEADS in Princeton, MA. Nala is an assistance dog whose job is to comfort our students when they are struggling emotionally. This year we had eight students who were hospitalized for depression, and Nala was a great help to soothe many of them and others when their sadness or anxiety would become debilitating. They could sit next to her and complete work or pat her or even take walks with her and the results were amazing. On the day when Mr. Goldschmidt completed his training with Nala he sat down for dinner and his phone rang. It was one of the vice principals calling to say that a Resiliency student’s house had just caught fire. Mr. Goldschmidt brought Nala to the student’s grandmother’s house and the student found such comfort in patting her while they all sat on the floor together, even though all of the student’s possessions had been lost. And that was just Nala’s first day on the job. Many students and teachers who aren’t even in the Resiliency Program stop by regularly to get a boost from patting Nala, and our principal Mrs. Banach is one of her biggest fans.
Alumni Spotlight
The program and staff are special and helpful - but when you look at achievements from some of their alums, it offers eye-opening and impressive outcomes that really prove the value of individual attention and support.
Because RFL students are part of a supportive community, they are very willing to give back. Last summer, about 15 alums returned to FHS to share their thoughts and experiences on how to have a successful high school experience with the new rising freshmen in the Resiliency for Life Summer Program. Here are some of their stories:
- Nathalia Castrillon from the Class of 2011 graduated from the Fashion Design program at Framingham State University and then went on to star as a designer on the show Project Runway in the fall of 2016. This past fall she spoke about sustainable fashion at the United Nations in New York and then returned a few months later to present a fashion show there too. She is on the board of the Isabella Gardner Museum and was recently accepted as one of the first students in a new sustainable arts masters program at Rhode Island School of Design. She still sought out Mr. Goldschmidt for help on her application essay, however, as those lines of support and communication remain open for all of our graduates.
- Rodrigo Scaldiferri from the Class of 2010 is a Platform Sales Manager at Oracle. He finished his bachelor’s degree at FSU in just three years while working 40 hours a week at the mall to help pay for college.
- Diana Bones from the Class of 2008 served in the US Army in the middle east and is now employed as a guard for the MA Department of Corrections.
- Daisy Marroquin also served multiple tours in the middle east, and after getting married, buying a house, raising two children and graduating in multiple honor societies from Framingham State University she recently accepted a position in finance at Raytheon.
- After high school, Luiz Fontenelle from the Class of 2015 attended Wheelock College, then transferred to UMASS Boston where our students and staff ran into him while taking a tour, and now he is attending UMASS Amherst where he is a pre-med student majoring in biology.
Professional Development by Dr. Larry Epstein
For the program to continue to expand be successful with future students, training and professional development is necessary. When you find a program that as impactful as Dr. Larry Epstein’s - you stick with it! Last year Dr. Larry Epstein had provided training sessions for some teachers, as well as, middle school and high school administrators. His practice focuses on ways to work with challenging (implosive and explosive) students. It was so well received and the demand to offer this again was growing so much that the board of the non-profit Friends of Resiliency for Life agreed to pay up to $15,000 to bring Dr. Epstein back for continued training. He recently completed working with a cohort of 40 FPS staff members, including the RFL Staff.
Huge thanks go to the Friends of RFL Board who provided the support to bring this wonderful opportunity to the District.
Stay tuned for a more detailed breakdown on the training!