Youth Program: Build My Spirit
Build My Spirit before and after-school program and summer camp
Click Here to Sign Up and For More Information!
What is Build My Spirit?
Build My Spirit is a before- and after-school program for low-income BIPOC youth ages five through seventeen residing in San Diego. The program promotes connection to nature, wellness, healthy coping skills, and resiliency. Participants will develop a new understanding of how to protect the earth’s human and natural resources. We equip youth with strategies to help them lead productive, purposeful, healthy, principled lives.
Why Build My Spirit?
We live in challenging times.
A pandemic, racial injustices, disparities, threats to women’s rights, environmental challenges. History teaches us that whenever events of these proportions happen, the most vulnerable members of society are the ones who suffer the most and carry the heaviest burden. To be part of the solution, ASCENDtials develops programs that ease these challenges. ASCENDtials uses a holistic approach that incorporates ancient Black thought and develops critical cosmic consciousness. We prepare our youth for the challenges they face, helping prevent illness and disease, instilling deeper self-knowledge and self-appreciation, building community, and honoring human rights and the environment. We create a Oneness that unifies rather than divides us.
Our Program
Our Build My Spirit program is a before- and after-school program for low-income BIPOC youth ages five through seventeen who live in San Diego. The program promotes wellness, connection to nature, healthy coping skills, and resiliency. The curriculum covers seven topics: ancestral history, natural sciences, preserving intangible cultural heritage, dogma and doctrines, social justice, problem-solving, and volunteerism. It is customized for every age and experience level. Youth learn about the five senses and how to tune into the sixth sense, proprioception (awareness of where one’s body is in space), through yoga, art, music, museum visits, hiking, swimming, gardening, eating healthy meals, and djembe drumming. All activities ask youth to imagine, think critically, build intuition and consciousness, tap into a common humanity, achieve alignment, use higher-level problem-solving skills, develop social-emotional skills, and practice balance and harmony according to the life cycles and laws of nature.This program is planned for a group of up to 12 children per activity.
The before- and after-school program also supports the youth’s families. Caregivers will be relieved to know that their children are cared for and that they are learning in a safe and nourishing environment, gaining skills that will last them a lifetime and that they can use in every aspect of their lives.
Build My Spirit lays a foundation for success where children can tap into their true potential and be healthy, happy, productive, and fulfilled.
Meet Our Experts!
Titus has many talents, ever expanding with the needs of the changing times. He loves using his Voice, Hands, Health, & Head in Heart to manifest changes for the whole of all sentient beings. He performs the Art of Spoken Word, Sound Healing, yoga and massage therapy, and various practices of body works.
Monét Nyree is a multifaceted creator from San Diego, California. She endeavors in graphic design, photography, collaging, performance art, and muse work. With a Bachelor’s degree in Black Studies, she utilizes her imagination and creativity to incite radical new ways of thinking and paradigm shifts.
Tonia Ferguson is a mental health expert with a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology. She is passionate about her work with youth, adults, and families who have been impacted by severe and persistent mental illness. She promotes social-emotional learning and professional development and implements art techniques for emotional expression.
Dr. Keisha Clark leads the Office of Equity in San Diego County. Her priorities are supporting the organization’s efforts to become an antiracist system and tackling racial bias, disproportionality, disparities, inequities, and diversity and inclusion issues involving African American, immigrant and refugee families, and gender and sexual minorities (GSM) affected by mental health and justice systems.
Karehma Simon is a Certified Registered Yoga Instructor (RYT-500) based in San Diego. Her expertise includes Ashtanga Primary Series as well as Level 2 energy work, Healing Touch. She focuses on alignment-based practice that highlights the mechanics of the body. She has used yoga and sitting meditation as an adjunct therapy for personal emotional healing and mindfulness.
Mika Marzette is the Director/Founder of ASCENDtials and the creator of the Build My Spirit program. She has spent more than 20 years in the field of education with the goal of securing real change for humanity and the environment. She is a certified Kemetic Yoga instructor.
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We at ASCENDtials believe that
a just and fair society is possible.
Build My Spirit program supports our youth and their families. We offer activities that equip youth with knowledge about nature, themselves, and their place in the natural and the societal realms. It also provides tools for wellness, coping strategies, creative and critical thinking, individual problem-solving, and overall quality of life.
The program also supports the youth’s families. Caregivers will be relieved to know that their children are cared for and that they are learning in a safe and nourishing environment, gaining skills that will last a lifetime and that they can use in every aspect of their lives.
We lay a foundation for success where children can tap into their true potential and be healthy, happy, productive, and fulfilled.
Over the course of one year
This program will offer:
Yoga Sessions
Three times a week
Art Session
Monthly
Swimming Lessons
Monthly
The “Build My Spirit” program helps reach our socio-economically disadvantaged youth around the world, particularly in East and West Africa, through Ascendtials programming.
It started as the foundation of the organization. It’s critical to empower youth by exploring growth opportunities through discussions of issues surrounding them. The education they receive regarding the science of sciences is a critical base for knowing thyself and their purpose here on Earth. We also believe it vital to instill boundaries and principles that prepare, aid in protecting them from the gaping holes placed before them. Ascendtials want to ensure our children are properly equipped to thrive under systems until they are able to dismantle them with the knowledge learned. Teaching children through a process of creative learning is how we begin to set them on the path to success.
Drumming Lessons
Monthly
Observational Hiking Sessions
Monthly
Local Museum Visits
Once a quarter
Socio-emotional skills, coping skills, higher-level problem-solving skills activities
Weekly
The expected outcomes of the Build My Spirit Program are as follows:
- Participants are trained in Kemetic Yoga techniques and problem-solving and coping strategies that they will be able to practice and apply in their everyday life. They are aware of the necessity of taking care of their physical, emotional, and spiritual health.
- Participants are trained in Kemetic yoga techniques, problem-solving and coping strategies, that they will be able to practice and apply in their everyday life, even beyond the scope of this project and instilled awareness for the necessity of taking care for their physio-emotional health and wellness
- Participants will gain plenty of exposure to learning in nature and thus have spent quality time in the outdoors, away from screen time, focusing on the natural elements, art, music and movement
- Participants will develop a clear understanding our their role in eating to thrive and enjoying the benefits of fresh, healthy, nutritious food
- Will experience enhanced critical thinking and higher-level problem-solving skills in participants
- Summer camp helps families with quality child care, educational, wellness activities in the outdoors
This program is planned for a group of up to 12 children per activity.
FAQs
How to become an expert?
Reach out to dir@ascendtials.org. View the partner page for more information!
How often/ frequent are the sessions?
We created a sample template. There are 8 sessions a month, 4 yoga sessions a month, and a combination of 4 other sessions of art, music and healing sessions
How long are the sessions?
Sessions are from 45 minutes to an hour long.
Who are the schools?
Integrity Charter School
Who are the students?
Students range from 3rd-8th grade
What are the locations? Can the sessions be online?
Cafe X, World Beat Cultural Center, Sweetwater Community Garden
Is there a staff to youth ratio that has to be maintained if the group becomes larger than 20?
Yes, we have additional staff that will support.
Is there an opportunity for experts to become familiar with the curriculum before launch? Will there be training on the curriculum?
There will be onboarding for usage of all curriculum and materials for all sessions
What is the payscale and structure?
Depending on the expert, experts can earn up to $250 per session.
What schedule will experts be working-before school, afterschool, summer camp? Is there an expectation to arrive prior and/or stay after the youth have left?
The schedule will be either Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4-5:30pm or Wednesdays at 1:30-2:45 pm.
REGISTER FOR OUR SUMMER CAMP THIS YEAR
Build My Spirit Summer Camp
Build My Spirit has a summer camp version that lasts one week. The camp includes yoga, art, music, swimming, and hiking to promote healing and resiliency while reducing stress and anxiety. All activities help enable children to reach their full potential.