By TR Robertson
The final Youth Enrichment Service Collaborative meeting for the 2025-2026 school year heard a presentation from members of the Carlsbad Unified School District Champions program at Sage Creek and Carlsbad High Schools. This program is based on a collaborative initiative bringing together high school seniors from Sage Creek High School and Carlsbad High School.
These student leaders serve as positive role models as they work with community service groups and mentor younger students in elementary and middle schools in the school district. Their purpose is to promote healthy choices and leadership techniques. The program was started in 2012, and the Champions are sometimes referred to as Senior Ambassadors. When visiting the schools they share their academic journey, future goals, school experiences, career aspirations as well as working with the students academically and in other activities. The main goal with all of the various approaches they use is to work with the students to become lifelong learners, develop communication skills and basically become a well-rounded student with good moral character with critical thinking skills.
For the YES meeting, various Champions from each school introduced themselves, spoke about what they liked most about the academic programs each school provided, extracurricular activities they were involved in and told the group what college they were going to and the major they had planned at this time. The colleges ranged from eastern schools like Georgetown to some much closer to home such as Palomar Junior College and San Diego State University.
The YES Collaborative is a month meeting on the third Thursday of the month, meeting from 8:30-9:30 am at the Pine St. auditorium. The mission of YES is to be instrumental in creating a positive environment and safety net for young people in Carlsbad and the surrounding community to flourish and grow by collaborating with agencies and organizations that help young people thrive and resist negative. Numerous agencies attend the meetings and share programs and activities they are involved in during the month as well as hearing a keynote speaker each month. The next meeting will be on September 17th.
