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“We work with the adult mentors in the schools to track the
progress of the action plans created at CGTI and the number
of completed action plans has nearly doubled in my four
years here,” Webb said. “Students are actually going out
and creating positive change. They are taking the skills they
learned at the Teen Institute and putting them into action.”
Operation Snowball and the CGTI have produced several
notable alumni. For instance, there is Dr. Eric Davidson,
Interim Director of Health Service at EIU as well as being
Director of the Illinois Higher Education Center for the
Prevention of Alcohol, Other Drug and Violence Prevention.
Davidson has credited Operation Snowball and the Teen
Institute with inspiring him to set his professional course to be
in the helping field. Alumni also include pro golfer D.A. Points
from Pekin and Kimberly Warzynski-Davids, who became the
Weitz Company’s first female general manager and oversees
Weitz’ s operations in the southwest region in Phoenix. There
is apparently a link between lessons learned and skills built
through Operation Snowball CGTI and staying on the right
path and being successful.
“We want to complement a school’s social-emotional learning
standards and being part of a positive school culture,”
Jakubisin said. “We want kids to be informed and have the
skills to be healthy and successful.”
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