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Reina de la Costa Maya Maria Jeffery joined the Lions and helped distribute the free Lions Quest books along with a positive message.
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The Lions Quest program saw its first year, the pilot year, at the San Pedro Roman Catholic School as well as the San Pedro High School. What was supposed to be a “test run,” proved to be welcomed and accepted program by both students and teachers.
Lions Quest programs are school-based, comprehensive, positive youth development and prevention programs that unite the home, school and community, to cultivate capable and healthy young people of strong character, through life skills, character education, civic values, drug prevention, and service-learning education. Lions Quest helps students gain positive attitudes and important life skills through easy-to-use classroom materials, solid teacher in-service experiences, and important community links.
Lion Bobby Lopez and Lion Ali Kisling, joined by Reina de la Costa Maya/Miss Belize Universe 2007 Maria Jeffrey, along with members of the San Pedro Lions Club visited the four Standard Four classrooms which will form a part of the project. Students who were in the Standard Four classes last year and are now in the Standard Five classroom also got a visit and an assurance that the program will continue growing with them.
“Life is all about making the right decisions, from the moment we wake up we make a choice. We choose to get up and get on with life rather than stay in bed. As the day progresses many other decisions have to be made. That is what this book teaches you; how to make the right decisions for a healthy and happy life,” commented Lopez to the students.
Miss Jefferey urged the students to enjoy the books to learn from them and to pass on the message to their fellow classmates. While Lion Kisling asked the students if they were ready to tackle the challenges of life, to which he got a resounding, “yes.”
Speaking with Principal Roxani Kay of the San Pedro Roman Catholic School, The Sun discovered that last year’s program was well accepted and could have been more successful. On January 31st of this year, a meeting was held for parents. In this meeting, it was the school’s intention, to speak to all parents about the program. “To truly make this program successful, parents need to know what we are teaching their kids and how to understand the program themselves. Unfortunately, attendance was not at its best. The program has been incorporated in the Standard IV classroom and we have 176 students, out of which only 40 parents attended the meeting,” she commented at that time. Today, she is still a firm believer that in order to make the program truly successful parents need to get more involved. “We teach kids about their behavior and about the changes that they are going through. Both parents and teachers need to be in sync so that the child gets the proper information both at school and at home. Hopefully when we call the meeting for this school year more parents will chose to get involved,” she said. From a parent’s point of view, Mrs. Kay is the mother of a 15-year-old and a 10-year-old, she has read the Lions Quest books and has applied them to her daily life with her children. “If parents only knew about the books and about the program itself they would be shocked to realize that they are very instrumental. Kids do not come with a guide but this book sure is an enormous help,” she ended.
Text books used are bought from Lions Clubs International and shipped to the country. Out of the over 200 elementary schools in Belize, 22 are part of the program, out of the 43 high schools countrywide, 18 are part of the program. These students get equipped with the necessary textbooks to follow the program at a zero dollar cost – Free. This cost is absorbed by the San Pedro Lions Club and paid for through the various fundraisers and donations. Shipment and transportation of fellow members was done through the kind courtesy of Maya Island Air. Lions Clubs of Belize thank you.
Students at the Caye Caulker Roman Catholic School also form part of the Lions Quest program and received their text books from lion members as well and local island high schoolers should receive their books shortly.
For further information about the Lions Quest program, kindly visit www.lions-quest.org or contact Lion Lopez at (602) 5885 or email at [email protected].
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