THRIVE - Student Support Group
Entirely created, organized, and facilitated by students at Golden Valley High School, THRIVE is a premiere support group that operates in providing assistance in school work, building powerful bonds, and supporting the mental health and emotional needs of their peers.
The Origins of Thrive: In the Fall of 2020, the #BulldogSTRONG Tier I Team at GVHS welcomed two students, Jayden Reyes Sarmiento and Gerardo Bernal, to their team in order to have the necessary student voice when making decisions surrounding school climate and culture. On October 7, 2020, during a virtual Tier I Team meeting, staff members were discussing the struggles that GVHS students were going through in distance learning. In that meeting, Jayden posed the question, "What if we created a peer support group to help students?" Instantly, all of the staff members in the Tier I Team were inspired by this simple, yet thought provoking question and thus the genesis of a powerful student led support system was launched. Over the next few weeks, Jayden and Gerardo met with administrators and support staff to formalize this group. The name of this group would become THRIVE and was appropriately named in order to foster hope for students in that despite their struggles, they can Thrive with peer support. Jayden and Gerardo strategically added Manjot Sidhu and Juan Duran to further the development of Thrive. These four students would become the original Thrive Leaders - students that facilitate Thrive Meetings of which includes planning, creating weekly agendas, taking notes, and creating Thrive Reports. Thrive Meetings are driven by data gathered from a Google Form that measures the social and emotional needs of students. Thrive Leaders worked with GVHS administration and support staff (known as Thrive Guides) in selecting students that would benefit from peer support and on October 28, 2020, the first Thrive Meeting took place over Zoom, launching GVHS into a new and critical era of student support. By February 2021, Thrive added an additional four Thrive Leaders: D'Anthony Wilson (9th Grade) Andres Espinoza (11th Grade) Esmeralda Arinaga (11th Grade) and Mya Reyes (11th Grade). The addition of these non Senior students further demonstrates that Thrive is growing at GVHS and the future of this student led peer support group is bright.
Thrive Logo: The Thrive Logo symbolizes peer support. The four corners represent four students connected and supporting each other.
Thrive Meetings: Thrive Leaders lead student support meetings every Wednesday from 2-3pm over Zoom. Agendas are created through a data driven approach to meet the social and emotional needs of students. Additionally, Thrive Leaders meet every Monday with Thrive Guides (GVHS administrators and support staff) to reflect on the week's previous support meeting and action plan to improve for the next one.
Thrive Expectations: Timely, Honesty, Respect, Improve, Valued, Engage (THRIVE)
Thrive Tenants: Student leaders in Thrive (known as Thrive Leaders) are guided by the following tenants: 1. Students that learn together will thrive together. 2. Success can be achieved with support. 3. We are here to support one another’s success. 4. We are in this together. 5. Together we will rise up to be #BulldogSTRONG
Thrive Support is Multilingual: Thrive Leaders can provide support in English, Spanish, Punjabi, and Hindi.
Thrive Gear: Students that participate in Thrive (whether as a participant or Thrive Leader) can be rewarded with Thrive Gear: t-shirts, polos, phone chargers, masks, pens, lanyards - one element of Thrive is to reward and recognize students that demonstrate GROWTH, PRIDE, & SERVICE through active participation at Thrive Meetings.
Need Thrive Support? If you are a student and interested in receiving additional support or if you are a parent and feel your student could benefit from peer connectivity, please contact one of the following Thrive Guides:
Michell Gearhart, Assistant Principal of Administration: [email protected]
Chris Juarez, Dean of Student Behaviors and Support: [email protected]
Brittany Brandon, Social Worker: [email protected]
Melissa Waldrop, English Teacher and THRIVE Club Adviser: [email protected]
Marshall Garcia, History Teacher and THRIVE Club Adviser: [email protected]
Matthew Fontaine, Interventionist: [email protected]
Janine Lynch, Counselor and Tier II/III Team: [email protected]
Fernando Ruiz, History Teacher and Blood Drive Coordinator: [email protected]