Last week, Kristine Knutter and I left the brisk fall weather of Kansas City to the still steamy temperatures of Southern California. Were we heading to the beach? Going to Disneyland? Better! We were visiting six of our wonderful PTPI student chapters throughout California. Our whirlwind student chapter visits included stops in Buena Park, Santa Ynez, Stockton, Sacramento, Cameron Park, and Clovis. I always tell people that meeting the amazing students and advisors of our chapters is one of the best parts of our job. This trip was certainly no exception. Some of the highlights:
Buena Park Student Chapter - Walking into a full classroom of PTPI chapter members. Wow! The brainstorming and project ideas were fantastic. We even celebrated Mohammad, the president’s, birthday!
Santa Ynez (Teens Working Together) Student Chapter - Awesome discussion. They had great insight about why the chapter is important to them and the community, and came up with so many good ideas about how to get new members to be a part of the chapter! A special thank you to Kay, one of the adult mentors for the group, who was a great host and showed us around wine country (including a special stop at Neverland).
Central Valley Student Chapter (Stockton) – A warm and energetic welcome from this long-time chapter at advisor, Elly’s house. It was a great blend of existing and new members. We did fun icebreakers (I never did learn how to get that knot apart…) and heard about cool chapter activities, such as the school map painting project.
Sacramento Student Chapter- This is our newest student chapter (soon-to- be chartered) and we got to meet with Ursula, the Vice President, and Shaneen, the advisor. Watch out for great things from this chapter!
Cameron Park (Prospectors for Peace) Student Chapter- Lots of excellent ideas were generated at this meeting. Brianna, the founder, even came home from college for our visit. And Shagufta, the president was excited to “win” an “I heart PTPI” button!
Clovis (San Joaquin) Student Chapter- Our final visit was held in Fresno, since the members from this chapter are from all over the San Joaquin Valley. One of the project ideas they are hoping to participate in again next year is Operation International Children. Very exciting- and more wonderful activities to come!
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- PTPI’s Buena Park Student Chapter Members
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- The Santa Ynez (Teens Working Together) Student Chapter with their adult mentors
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- PTPI’s Central Valley (Stockton) Student Chapter
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- PTPI’s newest Student Chapter in Sacramento. Sarah and Kristine met with the chapter’s advisor and vice president
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- Modeling PTPI’s Clovis, CA Student Chapter t-shirts
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- Members of PTPI’s Cameron Park, CA Student Chapter
Thanks again to our incredible chapters for making our visit a wonderful one – and of course for everything you do to promote Peace through Understanding!
Sarah Houston
Managing Director, Student Programs
