What does “Jovenes De Valor” stand for? It stands for “Teens with Value.” Jovenes De Valor is an after-school club that brings all cultures together to help each other and the community. The club is directed by Carla Conradt (Austin High School success coach), Kathy Sforza and Jens Levison (AHS teachers). The reason we have created this club is to prevent teens from getting into trouble and to avoid any drugs or alcohol. What we do in our meetings is work on homework for 30 minutes, and for the rest of the time we just talk about new things we want to do or ways to help our community. The club started in April 2008. We meet every Tuesday and Thursday at 3:15 p.m.

Last school year, the club helped clean up Austin. We went by Riverside Arena, the library and to the parks to clean up any garbage that was laying around. Another activity we did was go roller skating. Skating was fun for both the pros and the beginners. This year so far we have helped set up and take down the Heritage Festival. One of the students, Genna Alvarado, volunteered to be in the water dunk tank. What a brave girl she was because it sure was cold, and she got dunked plenty of times. We also marched in the homecoming parade to try to get more students involved in the club. We plan to help Austin out more in the future and to become better people because our generation can make a difference. Our doors are always open for any new students who want to join.

The Jovenes De Valor club is an activity sponsored by a grant from the Austin-Southland Integration Collaborative. Wendy Torres is a junior at Austin High School.