Ski programs molding better lives for those living in Salt Lake City’s west-side communities

Posted on February 27, 2020 by comm5775

Story by MARTIN KUPRIANOWICZ

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Children living on the west side of Salt Lake City enjoying the snow and cross-country skiing. Photo by Peter Vordenberg

It’s Saturday. The sun is shining and snow is on the ground. Parents are dropping their children off at Mountainview Elementary in Salt Lake City and the kids are already exploding with excitement — they are going on a field trip. Juan Gilberto Rejón — or “Coach Juan,” as those in west-side communities refer to him — is patiently waiting outside of the school to take roughly 50 elementary students to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge to view a population of wild eagles on this day.

Coach Juan is the founder, executive director, and coach for the Hartland Community 4 Youth & Families, which is a program that aims to create pathways to college for the underserved by getting students involved in the outdoors. Coach Juan started this program because he believes the experiences earned in the outdoors are valuable ones that can set children up to better handle adversity throughout their lives.

On weekends throughout the school year, Coach Juan often takes students on excursions to participate in a wide variety of outdoor activities, from bird watching to skiing. Recently, cross-country skiing has been a big emphasis of the program.

“It’s a blessing for our underserved and our underprivileged because they wouldn’t be able to do it otherwise. It’s too expensive,” Coach Juan said. “For a family of five or six to go skiing at $200 a pop, that’s already over $1,000 being spent for just a day of skiing. There’s just no way these families living in poverty could afford that.”

His ski program is partnered with the Utah Nordic Alliance that takes students cross-country skiing on weekends in the winter. Another partner is She Jumps, an organization that motivates women and girls of all backgrounds to step out of their comfort zone in a fun, non-threatening, inclusive environment to learn outdoor skills.

Coach Juan’s program has been operating for three years, but his inspiration to get students involved with the outdoors goes back almost two decades to the birth of his son.

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Coach Juan pictured outside of Mountainview Elementary, the meeting place for students going to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. Photo by Martin Kuprianowicz

“When I first moved into a 300-bedroom apartment complex here (on the west side) there were a lot of things happening that were not safe for kids. We had a lot of robberies, carjackings, prostitution, drugs, alcohol, so as a community advocate I had to do something for my child,” Coach Juan said.

What began as a mission to improve the quality of life for his child then translated as improving the lives of everyone in his community, especially vulnerable children on the west side of Salt Lake City. Coach Juan started a community soccer program that would eventually grow into a multifaceted, multi-partnered community outdoor program for youth.

The program focuses on helping students to pursue higher education. Coach Juan’s son went through it. Now, his grandchildren are enrolled. Hartland Community 4 Youth & Families has since grown and is now partnered with the Utah Nordic Alliance, headed by former two-time Olympic ski racer Peter Vordenberg.

Vordenberg coaches ski racers who have won gold medals in the Winter Olympics and World Cup championships. In addition, he helps Coach Juan organize the single-day cross-country ski trips by providing students with everything they need to go skiing.

But he didn’t always plan to be a community advocate. It all started by chance one day when he was invited by a friend to tag along with the kids on one of these ski programs.

“I was out there hanging out with all the kids and with Coach Juan and I was like, ‘Oh man, I got to be more involved, not just take pictures but I got to see what I can do to help out.’ So, I joined the board,” Vordenberg said.

Vordenberg has been on the Hartland Community 4 Youth & Families board for three years. He says that his favorite thing about being involved with the program is watching the kids develop a love for skiing and the outdoors. “It really builds their confidence and helps them dream bigger,” Vordenberg said.

Another opportunity for the west-side youth is the Parks and Recreation program that is affiliated with world-class ski areas Brighton and Snowbird. The Northwest Recreation Center is one of many centers throughout the Salt Lake Valley  that shuttle elementary and middle school students to those ski areas and provide them with gear, lift passes, and instructor training.

Snowbird Mountain School Director Maggie Loring has run this program on Fridays in the winter for 18 seasons. She said programmatic goals include developing new skiers and riders who may be interested in one day working as staff at the resorts, and providing a community service to children who may not otherwise get the opportunity to enjoy winter sports.

“One anecdote I can share is that the current manager of our programs was initially in our 4th-grade program, became a junior instructor, and kept going. It’s really an opportunity for resorts to capture both new guests and new staff,” Loring said in an email interview.

However, the impact of these programs is also a lot simpler than getting kids involved with the outdoors and setting them up for potential life paths in the ski industry.

“One of my favorite things about this program is the opportunity to see the kids pour out of the buses so excited to get onto the mountain,” Loring said. “Many of them may not be able to sleep the night before because of how excited they are for this new adventure. I remember from my own childhood how excited I was to get out of school to go skiing!”

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It’s nothing but smiles when the kids get off the bus and go skiing. Photo by Peter Vordenberg

Filed under: Education, Environment, Health & Fitness, Immigrants & Refugees, Nonprofits, SLC's West Side, Sports & Recreation | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Redefining service in a spirit of kindness and empowerment

Posted on April 11, 2018 by comm5775

Story and slideshow by HANNAH CHRISTENSEN

Pacific Islanders (PI) believe that what is best for the village is best for the individual. This value system instills a spirit of empathy, generosity and kindness. This is particularly evident in the types of service we see from local members of the PI community. These individuals redefine service through the work that they do as a way of life.

Puna Fatanitavake is a former teacher at Mana Academy Charter School, where she enjoyed teaching second graders. Previously she taught at Liahona High School in Tonga. Fatanitavake moved to Utah in 2015 with two young children and a third on the way to be closer to her mother and pursue more education.

Because of her service to her students, religion and family, Fatanitavake feels that her life is blessed. “Serving helps me be the strong woman I am right now. The love I had for these kids and the good I could do for them, I didn’t expect anything in return because I knew that God would bless me,” she said.

Fatanitavake also explained how every decision she has ever made was for others — the people in her Tongan village, her children, her mother, her former students and current community. She participates in local service through her religion which allows her to serve while also educating and empowering children on how they can be successful and follow their dreams like she is currently doing by attending LDS Business College.

Ulysses Tongaonevai has also dedicated his career to serving youth in his community. Tongaonevai is a conduct hearing officer for The Office of the Dean of Students at the University of Utah where he also instructs courses for PI students as an adjunct professor. Before working at the university, Tongaonevai worked for local government with youth from at-risk homes.

“I’m here to advocate for these individuals or groups,” he explained. “I’ve done things in the community from cultural awareness, higher ed awareness, I’ve created programs to help young people graduate high school and connect with resources.”

Tongaonevai grew up in the inland empire of Southern California in a single-parent household and did not always know where to turn for help. “Because of where I’ve been and what I’ve experienced, I feel like I need to give back because I’ve been given much,” he said.

One of these programs that Tongaonevai created with his wife, Kalo, is called Teine Malohi, a competitive fast pitch softball program for PI girls. They chose this name because “Teine” is Samoan for “girl” and “Malohi” is Tongan for “strong.”

This girl power program was founded in 2016 and has been sponsored by Royal Outreach, West High School Softball, Uplift Foundation Inc. and the University of Utah Neighborhood Partners. They practice and hold events for the teams at The Sorenson Unity Center in Salt Lake City.

Teine Malohi softball has participants from all over the Salt Lake Valley, including: West Valley, Glendale, Poplar Grove, Rose Park, Herriman, West Jordan, South Jordan, Murray, Taylorsville, Salt Lake City, Bountiful, North Salt Lake and Centerville. There are 53 girls total who participate in three separate age-grouped teams ranging from age 8-14.

Teine Malohi provides an opportunity to be physically active while interacting with the community. It also focuses on affordability (scholarships and equipment), player development, academics, culture, empowerment, student-athlete experiences and college prep.

“We also include a community aspect, not only just within the Pacific islander community, but we encourage the players to do some type of voluntary service in the neighborhoods that they live in, and for them to also connect to their legislative representatives,” Tongaonevai said.

With the goal of empowering young women, the Tongaonevais have been able to create this thriving program that teaches young women from all over the Salt Lake Valley how they can serve their communities. “When I first went to school, I didn’t have the understanding of those resources or how to look for them, I didn’t know they existed,” Tongaonevai recalled. As a result, he has spent his entire adulthood advocating for youth and connecting them to resources.

The PI view is that we are all connected and so it’s important that everyone helps each other to find happiness and success. Community activist Susi Feltch-Malohifo’ou co-founded an organization called Pacific Island Knowledge 2 Action Resources (PIK2AR). “All of our goals encompass helping, educating and empowering,” Feltch-Malohifo’ou said. PIK2AR focuses on economics, cultural preservation and domestic violence.

Feltch-Malohifo’ou seeks to provide services for people of PI background because of her childhood, where she felt disconnected from her roots. By providing knowledge, connection and empowerment to the community, Feltch-Malohifo’ou is able to help orchestrate support groups, a business alliance and cultural community events.

Fatanitavake, Tongaonevai and Feltch-Malohifo’ou each described service as part of everyday life. They don’t separate service into a task to accomplish, or some way to balance the scales. Service is organic, it is a way of life.

These Utahn Pacific Islander leaders each seek not only to serve, but to empower others. Empowering others teaches them to take control of their lives, enabling them to be their best selves. This is the Pacific Island way, believing that we are all in this journey together and the success of one, is the success of all.

 

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Filed under: Organizations, Pacific Islander, Sports & Recreation | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a comment »

McAllister: A greatful University of Utah graduate and supreme gymnast

Posted on April 24, 2012 by comm5775

By LEWIS WALKER

At age five, fearless in the places where most people outside of gymnastics would crumble like a game of Jenga gone wrong, stood Stephanie McAllister. Today with a full-ride gymnastics scholarship to the University of Utah, she is competing against some of the greatest gymnasts in the nation outside of the Olympics.

When McAllister was younger, she was involved in soccer, cheer, dance, pewee baseball, and figure skating, but gymnastics wasn’t always a sure route for her. “Once I got into gymnastics I was good at it but I wasn’t sure if that’s what I wanted to do,” McAllister said.

As McAllister got older her coaches reassured her that she had talent, but going further in her sport it would require her commitment to hard work and attention to certain skills. With the passion and desire to be great, and only at the age of five most would be impressed by the goals she had set for herself. “Stephanie was always the child that wanted to try new things, or planned do things,” said Jenny McAllister, Stephanie’s mother. “As I got into gym I had goals of working my way up through the levels as fast as I could,” McAllister said.

In gymnastics, the levels range from one to 10, but once you get to level 10 most of the competitors are home-schooled and their lives are basically living at the gym, but you would think a teenager would love to be out playing with their friends, this isn’t the case if these athletes choose this route. Now at the age 21, McAllister, the Indiana native has found a comfort in Utah where she has spent the last four years of her life.

Knowing she wanted to go to college, McAllister worked her way up through the levels quickly, limiting herself to level 10, being the highest before becoming elite and being eligible to compete for the Olympics. Like Nastia Liukin, McAllister did not want to become a professional and miss out on the opportunity to become a part of an institution where she would make great friends and form relationships with people she would always remember. “ I always take pictures and my friends make fun of me because every opportunity I have I get my camera out,” McAllister said.

“I didn’t want to exceed level 10 because I didn’t want to give up my life like some other girls,” McAllister said. “Most girls give up the most important times of their lives just to end up in the same place as I am today.” She added that most coaches like the gymnast coming out of level 10 because they are not as burnt out as others and they didn’t give up everything just to train. Only six people get chosen to compete in the U.S. Olympics, so is it really worth giving up and missing out on things in your teenage years just to end up in the same predicament as the rest of your competition?

Today Stephanie McAllister has perfected a gymnastics move on the uneven bars, which is her biggest strength named after herself, “the McAllister.” She performs the move by doing a reverse gripped hand-stand on the high bar into a front spin and back to a hand-stand flipping her grip and down into a hanging position. “To be able to have a move named after you, you need to perform it at a national meet with it never being done before,” she said.

“ I am exceptionally proud of my daughter and where she is in life right now, enjoying every moment, and must I add– a soon to be college graduate,” said Jenny McAllister.

Many people have looked up to McAllister over her years spent at the University, one being freshman Kailah Delaney. “Stephanie has taught me a lot about being a college athlete and juggling my studies,” Delaney said. Many times student-athletes think sports are the reasons they ended up where they are but that isn’t the foundation of what your future is made of. “ It is good to  have someone to look up to when your young because not everyone knows the right things to do, but she has helped me a lot,” Delaney said.

Over the past four years the University of Utah is proud to have gained such a talented, caring person to help their team make its 37th consecutive National Championship appearance possible, she will be missed when the Red Rocks take the Huntsman Arena next year.

Photo credits: Left to right- By:Lewis Walker, By:Lewis Walker,By:Taner Pasamehmetoglu (The Daily Utah Chronicle)

Filed under: Sports & Recreation, Student-Journalists | Tagged: , , | Leave a comment »

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