Diego Valley East Charter School Celebrates their TREC Organizational Accreditation

Over a decade ago, we saw the birth of Trauma-Resilient Educational Communities (TREC) at Diego Valley East Charter School (DVE) in El Cajon, CA. On Wednesday, May 29, 2024 DVE staff and students celebrated their TREC Accreditation as a Trauma-Resilient Organization! The celebration was not only a recognition of the accreditation but also a reflection on the journey that DVE has undertaken to become a Trauma-Resilient Organization.

All staff at DVE are Certified individually with TREC’s Trauma-Resilient Professional (TRP).

Assistant Principal Anthony Johnson (Coach A.J.) opened up with welcoming remarks and the invitation for students to participate in the event which demonstrated a commitment to inclusivity and ensuring that everyone feels a part of the achievement. By highlighting DVE's journey and their anonymous Strengths & Needs Assessment, the presentation provided transparency and reflection on the progress made on sustainable transformation.

Coach A.J. invited everyone to enjoy a catered meal from Timmy's Place.  

While everyone was enjoying lunch, Coach A.J. shared about DVE’s journey of becoming a Trauma-Resilient Organization. Expressing that he wanted the students to be engaged with the historical day and learn about the deep-rooted work individually and organizationally, DVE’s anonymous Strengths & Needs Assessment slides were highlighted by Coach A.J. and colleagues.

Learning Center Coordinator Hannah Laney reflected on additional aspects of DVE’s Strengths & Needs Assessment on the slides she spoke on.

TREC Self-Study Chair, L. Somo, who is an English teacher, highlighted several aspects from the Strengths & Needs Assessment on the slides she spoke on.                      

TREC’s PACEs Science Statewide Facilitator, Dana Brown reflected aspects on the final slides of the Strengths & Needs Assessment. Each presenter highlighted a couple of aspects on each slide.

Craig Beswick shared his personal and professional journey and evolution within the educational network which added a personal touch to the event, emphasizing the dedication and passion of those involved in the process with every staff member at DVE, and reflected how the event was an uplifting full circle moment.

Coach A.J. reflected on TREC during his interview following the party, “What TREC means to me is that I have some tools for my toolbelt to not only deal with staff, but students as well as parents, and in the community. Bringing this to our schools has really helped empower some of our teachers, empower our staff to feel more competent when dealing with students that have some type of trauma or just their day-to-day life at home with their families.”

L. Somo was interviewed following the party and shared, “TREC is an invitation for every educator and every school and organization to be a healthier version of themselves, mentally, emotionally, socially. I really enjoyed being the chairperson through the process of TREC Self-Study. I was able to self-reflect as a group, collectively as well, about where we are now as a school and how can we improve in the future. There’s a lot of great ideas that came through the self-study and I’m excited that next year we can implement some of those great ideas. At a personal level, TREC allows everyone, including myself, to really have a deep reflection on our own trauma and how can we improve. I’m very excited that we were able to be a TREC Accredited school that enables us to have more ways to reach out to more students and better serve them effectively.”

Hannah Laney was interviewed following the party and reflected on what TREC means to her. Sharing, “TREC, we’ve been going through the trainings for a couple of years now and it has been wonderful. I was just reflecting on it this morning. When those trainings first started, I remember learning about the ACEs and just realizing, from my own self to start with, wow, we do have some trauma and it does affect everything we do. And, of course, it’s going to affect our students on a day-to-day basis and their ability to receive a quality education. And so the more trainings we went through, the more I learned about it, the more informed we all became on how to identify with our students, allow them to empty the cup, but again still hold the high expectations and keep them on that road towards graduation.”

Dana Brown expressed her gratitude for everyone in the building and acknowledged the students' presence and the significance of their involvement in the celebration which underscores the importance of student engagement and empowerment in creating a trauma-resilient environment. Another best practice!

L. Somo gave a shout out to her TREC Self-Study team and the recognition of her team's efforts in developing the TREC Sustainability Action Plan which highlights the collaborative effort required to achieve accreditation.

Principal Lisa Youngflesh was interviewed following the party and shared, “TREC has been an awesome opportunity for our staff. We have a very passionate staff who cares deeply for students and TREC has just given us more tools to be able to work with our students, to understand what our students need to feel more competent in being able to help our students with the trauma that they have dealt with in their lives. Our TREC training and our TREC discussions and the tools that we have used have just helped our staff feel more confident in working and supporting the students that we have at our school.”

English teacher and SLAM Coordinator, Tomas Nieto reflected on the TREC resiliency program during his interview, “SLAM is our Synthesis, Literature, Art and Media class. It’s a performing arts, poetry class, creative writing class, public speaking class, all of the above. Our students are very much engaged with this. They love it because it’s ten English credits for them and it’s also a class where they could express themselves, meet new friends, explore literary arts, but through a new medium, not what we see in our regular credits, but more so what they see in their daily lives and how they apply those art forms to their own language and articulation. SLAM is one of our TREC certified courses because it does center around self-expression, social-emotional learning, all those different aspects are navigated around poetry and expressing yourselves.”

Craig honored Principal Lisa Youngflesh and Coach A.J. with their award. An acrylic banner now hangs proudly in the front office and symbolizes the leadership and dedication to the school's mission.

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Overall, the celebration was a deeply meaningful and reflective event, emphasizing collaboration, dedication, and inclusivity in creating a trauma-resilient educational community at Diego Valley East.