Heritage Middle School Safe School Ambassadors Organized Donation of 696 Clothing Items to Support Families

At Heritage Middle School, our Safe School Ambassadors (SSA) program is made up of several small groups, each led by a mentor teacher. Every group is assigned a month and a theme and is responsible for creating a school-wide initiative.

The theme for December was Kindness. Under the leadership of mentor teacher, Ms. Ashley Williams, the team (Cheyla Bermudez, Emmalyn Kenez, Kaylee Villalon, Molly Porter (not pictured), Rachel Ferrante, and Viktoria Bohler) immediately knew they wanted to do something that would directly help our community. Together they decided to launch a building-wide clothing drive.

To make the project even more impactful, the girls reached out to Mr. Morgan, who connected them with the district’s Family & Community Engagement (FACE) Team. After meeting with the FACE team and learning about their December community event, the girls chose to collaborate and collect clothing to support that initiative.

The SSA girls took the lead on every part of the project:

Planning and promoting a grade-level competition to boost participation
Writing and announcing daily updates on the morning announcements
Creating a spirit week tied to different donation items
Designing and maintaining a bulletin board to show which grade was in the lead
Emptying donation bins daily, counting the items, and updating the spreadsheet

Their hard work paid off, HMS donated a total of 696 clothing items to support families across our community.

The girls also volunteered at the FACE Team’s event, where they helped sort and fold clothing, organize tables, and assist families in finding what they needed. Their leadership, teamwork, and compassion were on full display from start to finish.

Heritage Middle School scholars completed a two-day Safe School Ambassadors training through a partnership with the Orange County Youth Bureau.

More about the Safe School Ambassadors program:

The Safe School Ambassadors Program (SSA) is an evidence-based program that harnesses the power of socially influential students to prevent and stop bullying and mistreatment. Student leaders are carefully identified through student and staff surveys. They are selected based upon specific criteria, such as: strong position and influence in their peer group, good communication skills, and a history of standing up for friends. The recruited students participate in a two-day interactive training along with several adults who serve as program mentors. The training gives student Ambassadors the skills and tools to resolve conflicts, defuse incidents, and support isolated and excluded students. After the training, small group meetings of Ambassadors are held every few weeks. These meetings, led by the adult mentors, provide time for strengthening skills, support data collection and analysis of Ambassador interventions, and help sustain student and adult commitment to the program.

Story information provided by Ms. Ashley Williams.

ATTENTION: Are your scholars or colleagues doing something great? Please contact the district Communications Team at communications@necsd.net. We’d love to visit your class or event and/or post your pictures and recap to highlight the amazing accomplishments throughout our district!

Date: 2025-12-29 01:55:16 PM

Heritage Middle School Safe School Ambassadors Organized Donation of 696 Clothing Items to Support Families

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