Dylan’s Wings of Change (DWC), a non-profit foundation dedicated to the memory of Dylan Hockley, who was killed in the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012 along with 19 other first-graders and six educators, is inviting qualified individuals to join its team of certified trainers in its Wingman program.
The Wingman program is a unique youth leadership program that develops social and emotional skills through team bonding and trust building activities. Wingman inspires children to be more empathetic and courageous to create strong, inclusive communities as an antidote to the epidemic of social isolation we face today.
The three-day Wingman Trainer workshop will equip the adults with a full understanding of the Wingman program, experiential education techniques and the student training curriculum the certified trainers will be leading. The Certified Wingman Trainers then provide instruction to students leading the program in schools. Certified Wingman Trainers are compensated on a contract/day basis for training student leaders.
According to the Dylan’s Wings of Change website, applicants to be Certified Wingman Trainers are “ideally, retired educators wishing to maintain their connection to schools and students; qualified educators taking extended time out of the classroom; or experienced youth facilitators with non-school backgrounds.”
Training will take place on August 6, 7, and 8 at NJSBA headquarters. (An earlier training took place in July.)
Attendance at all three days is required. Each of the three days will run from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with a continental breakfast and lunch provided. The training is sponsored by the Educational Leadership Foundation of New Jersey and supported by the New Jersey School Boards Association.
Registration is available on the Dylan’s Wings of Change page.
About Dylan’s Wings of Change DWC sponsored the start of the Wingman program in Connecticut in 2015. Since then it has been adopted by 37 schools across the tristate area, over 240 dance studios in the U.S. and overseas, as well as summer camps and after-school programs.
New Jersey is the first state selected for a statewide offering of Wingman and DWC has partnered with ELFNJ and NJSBA to spread awareness of the program and develop the support infrastructure to maximize success. Seventeen schools enrolled in Wingman in New Jersey in the 2018-2019 school year, and this trainer recruitment is to prepare for the 2019-2020 school year.