When North Central College graduate student Ambre contacted 360 Youth Services about working together for a class she was taking, the staff was very excited.
But they were even more pleased to learn that ten years earlier she had attended 360’s Snowball Prevention Education and Leadership retreat. Her best friend was going and invited her to attend a pre-retreat meeting.
A Neuqua Valley High School student at the time, Ambre says she was looking for a sense of community. She was used to talking a lot, but the Snowball retreat taught her how to listen, too. Through that process she learned about herself by listening to others. She appreciated that genuine people were brought together from several schools, and stresses that it was nice to be in a drug-free environment.
Since that time, she has earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Lewis University. Now she is pursuing a Master’s degree from North Central in Higher Education Leadership. She is partnering with 360 for a class that will help find the social impact of the nonprofit, a measurement that will be valuable in many ways. She has studied the organization extensively, toured the programs, and is eagerly determining measurable data to gauge social impact.
Ambre will graduate in the spring of 2016 and is working toward a future in career services at the university level. If the work she’s doing with 360 is any indication, she not only found a sense of community, but a meaningful future as well.
And that’s where Ambre is now.
