2017 Summer YDA: Agents of Change Learn Sustainable Farming
86 middle school students participating in the Summer Youth Development Academy (S-YDA) at California State University Dominguez Hills honed their STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) skills through four weeks of learning about sustainable urban farming. Daily, 40-minute classes guided students through a discovery process…
Andeavor Beautifies Stephen M. White Middle School
If you looked around Stephen M White Middle School at the beginning of the summer, you would have seen an aging school in need of some TLC. However, swing by this week, and you see something completely different: a beautified school, ready to be a…
Banning High School Receives Its First ever Robotics Lab Thanks to Phillips 66 and Their Amazing Volunteers
For years, a large building on the campus of Banning High School lay dormant – no students walking through it’s doors. That is until Sharefest sponsor Phillips 66 identified this building as a prime location for a robotics lab, and set out to create…
Multiple Projects in Councilmember Buscaino’s District for the 2018 Sharefest Workday!
On Saturday April 28th, around 2,700 volunteers set out through Los Angeles to make nearly $775,000 worth of improvements throughout Los Angeles, and 9 of those project sites took place in the 15th District. This massive effort is known as the Sharefest Workday and…
Balfour Beatty’s Dedication to Schools and Students is On Display for the 6th Year in a Row
The dedication to improving our community and schools was demonstrated yet again by the team at Balfour Beatty at the 15th Annual Sharefest Workday, and throughout this year. Motivated by the understanding that the amount of work Sharefest can do is strictly limited to…
Your Voice
Written by: Derrick Engoy To say that my first week teaching Creative Writing to high school students was amazing would be a tremendous understatement! But using the word “tremendous” would be a perfect start. Our journey, this semester, will be under the direction of using…
Summer Youth Development Academy (SYDA) 2017 Program Report
OVERVIEW Sharefest conducted one four-week SYDA session in 2017 – July 10-August 4 – reaching a total of 224 students: Middle School (Grades 7-8) – 88 students High School (Grades 9-12) – 136 students Sessions were held from 8am-1pm, Monday-Friday on the campus of California State…
2017 Summer YDA: Voices of Hope
“If you really knew me, you would know I care about…” From this space of personal experience and compassion, 34 students from twenty local high schools shared about their concerns for their communities on Thursday, August 3, 2017, at the Asomugha Foundation in Los Angeles. Students…
2017 Summer YDA: Agents of Change Give Back to Their Community
July 20, 2017: HashtagLunchBag Incoming 7th, 8th, 9th, and 12th grade students enrolled in the 2017 Summer Youth Development Academy (S-YDA) program participated in two day of service events as a part of the STEM, leadership, and service learning curriculums. Each day of service was…
2017 Summer YDA: Agents of Change Student Testimonials
King (8th Grade): “YDA is the best camp I’ve ever been to in my life. It’s helped me socially because I have problems with getting friends at school. At YDA I have a lot of friends and at my school I don’t really have many…
Alcoa Foundation Supports Sharefest Youth Development Academy With a Generous Gift
We are thrilled to have the generous support of the Alcoa Foundation and are so grateful for their $50,000 gift to support Sharefest’s Youth Development Academy! Additionally, Sharefest YDA alum Fernando Aguilar was recently selected for the NatureBridge Alcoa Scholars program! As 1 of only 100 students…
Balfour Beatty Demonstrates Commitment to Education By Giving Back
It’s incredible what can happen when individuals and organizations unite under a common purpose, as the team from Balfour Beatty has demonstrated this time and again in their support and sponsorship of Sharefest projects. Driven by their desire to make an impact in local communities,…