Participant Spotlight: Beacon Students

Can you all introduce yourselves and tell me your name and how long you’ve been in the Beacon program? 

Malia: My name is Malia. I’m 17 but turning 18 next week. I’ve been in Beacon since tenth grade, so almost two and a half years now. 

Cherish: My name is Cherish. I’m 14 years old, and I’ve been part of Beacon since school started in September. I’m in the ninth grade

Aamiya: My name is Aamiya. I’m in twelfth grade, and I’ve been a part of Beacon since ninth grade.

What kinds of activities are you typically doing at Beacon? What does an average day look like for you?

Malia: My favorite activities at Beacon are cooking and internship hours. The average day for me at Beacon would just be going to cooking, making something nice to eat, and then going and doing my internship hours with my favorite teacher.

Cherish: My favorite activity would have to be dance, and an average day just looks like me doing my homework, then me heading to dance, and then I start my internship hours. I’m a teacher’s assistant. 

Aamiya: After school I wait in the auditorium until three, I do some homework, and then after that, I normally go to dance. And on Mondays, that’s when I do cooking and stuff. I also help out with the [basketball] games because I’m a team manager, so I help do scoreboarding and books.

What are your favorite parts about Beacon, and what have you learned from the program? 

Aamiya: My favorite part is when we go on trips and the service they give us. We went to Area 53, we went to Six Flags, and [Beacon] invested in our school parties, too.

Malia: My favorite part of Beacon is the support that I get from the staff, because I feel like I can come to some of the staff when I feel some type of way about things…I don’t have to hold in all my emotions. I have somebody I can go to. My other favorite part would be cooking, because I like food. We made crepes one time, and we made guacamole and ice cream, too. 

Cherish: My favorite part of Beacon is that I get the chance to make money. 

Do you guys feel like, by being in Beacon, you’ve gotten to learn more about what you want to do after school and what you want to pursue a career in?

Aamiya: Yes, because I want to be a dance teacher in the future, and when we first started the dance program, I was helping out making up steps for the dances. That helped me practice for the future. 

Malia: I would say my internship has been helpful, since I do my internship with my science teacher. It kind of helped me realize that I want to do science when I go to college. I’m not sure what…maybe I’ll do biology. [The internship] helps increase my passion for science, because that is my favorite subject, and I learn things when I’m with my science teacher. 

How do you like the teachers and staff members at Beacon? 

Malia: To be honest…they’re cool or whatever. I like Miss E [Elaine Aboni] the most. She’s my favorite. 

Aamiya: I talk to all the teachers. I have a personal relationship with all of them, but Miss E [Elaine Aboni] is really my favorite. We could just sit here and talk all day about anything 

So you really feel like you can ask them questions and they’ll give you genuine advice?

Aamiya: Yeah, they don’t sugarcoat. 

How many students participate in the program? 

Elaine Aboni (“Miss E”): We have maybe 70, but on a daily basis, you’ll see about 35.

Are there any new things that you’re trying out soon or that you hope to start doing for students?

Elaine Aboni (“Miss E”): Yeah, I’ve done a few surveys just to see what more students would like to see. We had a few responses that students would like to use photo booths and to go on more trips, stuff like camping, so we can do a lot of team building. That’s something that we’re in the process of getting approved. We’re also going to start these career readiness classes next week and have a class called “Transitioning,” which is a class that teaches high school students how to transition into adulthood. And we also have college readiness as well. These are some things that we’ve been kind of doing loosely, and now we have more of a structured study.