Norwood students give back, gain much in return through Avenues for Success

Norwood City Schools’ Avenues for Success will host its second annual Glow for the Cure May 21 as students work to serve their community by raising funds for The Cure Starts Now Foundation and the iWILL Awareness Foundation.
 
The students leading the effort, which features hot air balloons at the Norwood High School practice field, call themselves “Team Erase!!!” since their mission is to erase cancer.
 
“We believe that teaching our students to serve others builds compassionate, caring, young people,” says Laura Ferguson, After School Program Coordinator for Avenues For Success, which affords unique learning opportunities both before and after school for students of all ages.
 
Glow for the Cure is just one of the ways the students engage with their community.
 
Since Avenues for Success believes that students thrive through nontraditional social, academic and recreational avenues, there’s a Skateboarding Club, for example, that picks up trash as they skate throughout the neighborhood, in addition to a Family Floral Club that creates flower arrangements for local nursing homes.
 
Because students are able to dabble in various activities and even discover their passions, they excel in a multitude of ways.
 
“The impact of Avenues for Success in our students’ lives is far reaching,” Ferguson says. “We have students that have struggled academically that have improved their grades, students that had difficulty in social settings and began to make friends in their clubs, students that have been exposed to the arts in ways that can only happen in the hours after school, and students that have experienced new opportunities that have led them to future career choices.” 

Do Good: 

• Attend Glow for the Cure Saturday, May 21 from 5 p.m. until dusk. The event is family friendly and takes place at Norwood High School. 

• Avenues for Success can deliver unique opportunities to its students only through community partnerships, so if you're interested in pairing up, contact Laura Ferguson. 

• Avenues for Success is always in need of volunteers. Want to get involved? Find out how.