Compassion is one of the three leadership classes at Alvarado. The goal of Compassion is to spread kindness and positivity at Alvarado and within the community. The class focuses on developing leadership skills and character traits that encourage students to be thoughtful and compassionate servant leaders. Compassion students are challenged to think outside of themselves as they create opportunities for others to be the world’s greatest version of themselves. The HONOR value of being open-hearted is exemplified in Compassion through students working together to include, celebrate and meet the needs of those that are often forgotten about or overlooked.

One of the Alvarado belief statements that encompasses the heart of Compassion is the idea that all students are gifted and talented. Compassion promotes the inclusion of students with special needs by giving them the opportunity to share their gifts and talents as they plan and participate in school activities including Spirit Weeks (Start with Hello Week, Kindness Week, Gratitude Week), teacher appreciations, staff and student birthday celebrations, and community outreach activities.

Throughout the school year, Compassion students take ownership of our community by determining the needs and finding ways to help. Some examples of how Compassion has helped the community in the past include: facilitating a school-wide project to make greetings cards for patients at the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, raising money to purchase duffle bags filled with comfort items for children in foster homes, organizing lemonade stands to raise money for families affected by the California wildfires, participating in a beach clean up, and partnering with the 7th grade science classes to raise money to provide relief for the fires in Australia by designing and selling pins.

Despite the challenges of virtual learning, this school year, Compassion students were able to overcome the barriers of virtual learning and make an impact on the community by collaborating with LA County on the idea of building a skatepark in Rowland Heights, creating a positive and uplifting website for students to visit, and making positive videos and social media posts that feature good news happening in the world.

Join us on our journey as we work together to make the world a more positive and compassionate place.

Mrs. Saechang

Compassion Coordinator

Servant Leadership Poem

Leading up to this assignment, Compassion students explored the idea of servant leadership and how service and sacrifice allow leaders to meet the needs of and positively impact the people around them so that they can be the greatest versions of themselves. Compassion students were then asked to reflect on their understanding and experience as servant leaders through this Servant Leadership Poem assignment. In the following videos, students express some of their feelings, worries and hopes as servant leaders.

Sabrina Su

I think that our school’s HONOR values all connect to this assignment. When being a servant leader, we must be honest, open-hearted, never giving up, taking ownership, and have respect. For people to trust you as their leader, you must be honest when speaking to them. You must be able to care and accept everyone, showing open heartedness. You must be a role model for others, and not give up when things get harsh. You must take ownership and be honest about your mistakes. Lastly, you must respect your people for them to respect you, as a servant leader.

Matthew Nguyen

I learned more about myself and who I am as a person. Helping others and making them feel better about themselves is something I strive to improve at and I think that doing this assignment was able to help me think more about some traits that I want to improve on so I can become a better servant leader for others, so that they know that they can rely on me.

Victoria Peng

I discovered that it's okay for me to sometimes be shy and have bad days. As a learner, I discovered that being a servant leader is not sacrificing everything you have for someone to the point where you don’t realize your bad days or sad feelings. I learned that my teacher also has days that she feels down, but as a role model to her class. She stays positive to influence everyone.

I feel like the belief “Everyone needs a teacher” connects with this work. Since it's okay for people to rely on you as a servant leader, but it's also okay for you to rely on others. The main HONOR value is “Open-hearted” because you need to accept others and be willing to have the patience to listen to others.

I struggled with admitting that I sometimes don’t feel motivated and insecure too. I overcame this challenge because I knew I’m not the only one facing these. Other people might have the same insecurities that I do, that raised my confidence because I know I’m not alone with these struggles.

I have grown to have more patience and respect for myself, sometimes I worry about people’s expectations about me to the point where I forget to take care of myself. The belief where it states, “Everyday is an opportunity to be the greatest version of me” Since it's virtual this year, we don’t really get to express who we really are. Even if it's hard for most of us, we can still be the greatest version of ourselves at home even if we are not out in public.

Doris Tseng

The goal of this assignment was to learn about servant leadership and to show readers what being a servant leader is like. I learned to respect and show love at the same time as being a leader to them.

I feel like the school’s statement about Everyday is a chance to show the best version of myself really connects to this work because through this assignment I gained confidence and I was sure that I did the best I could that day.

I think open-hearted really described this work because we wrote in starters about understanding people and caring about them.

Alanah Butler

The goal was to understand how servant leadership worked and why it’s beneficial. I learned that the goal of servant leadership is to help others succeed, and to meet their needs. Not to try to do what you think is best for yourself, but to do what’s best for others, and to succeed by helping others achieve their goal.

As an individual, I learned that I like being a servant leader. It’s almost like, everyone’s in a play, and I’m one of the stage workers, trying to get everyone ready for the play. Although my job is important, I also need to help others be their best selves, and the way that I succeed is seeing others succeed. As a learner, I discovered that I like to learn in new ways. Like, instead of doing the same old lecture, I like when my teachers do different activities when they teach us a new topic.

Theron Maglunog

Video Theron M 5_18_2021 9_25_53 AM

Arden Rangel

As an individual I discovered that I am capable of doing more than I am aware just have to keep aiming for it. As a learner I learned that not everything is about the work but other small aspects like, communicating, taking criticism and things like that are important.

I learned that my teacher truly is one of the kindest, most caring and hardworking people.

It is connected with work because each belief is always being used like one that I've done a lot is to try harder tomorrow. The values connected because like never give up really just pushes the students even though it is only 3 words it has a lot of meaning. I struggled with procrastinating, the work was easy and we did some in class but if I had to do it on my own I would procrastinate. Just that single day that says when it is due really took a toll on my motivation to do the work so I did breaks. Instead of just doing it all at once I took a break between slides for 15-20 minutes.

I've grown better at saying when I need help, this year I had to push through my pride and insecurities and be able to say when I needed help. I don't remember the exact statement but it was something like you can try harder tomorrow and that just kinda stuck with me the whole year. I would have days where I really just wasn't at my best but then remembered that saying and did my best the next day because we always have more chances.

Video Arden R 5_17_2021 7_42_51 PM

Anna Lin

The goal was to tell yourself how you are a servant leader to all your friends, teachers, and more people. I learned that some servant leaders are shy, believe in yourself that you will be a servant leader one day, scared to talk in front of people, and try to be there for others that need help.

Video Anna Lin 5_18_2021 11_47_39 AM

Buddies Reflection

One unique aspect of Compassion is that every week students have the opportunity to plan activities and be a “buddy” to the students with moderate to severe special needs at Alvarado. “Buddies” provides Compassion students with the opportunity to practice the HONOR value of being openhearted. Through “Buddies,” Compassion students learn how to be a friend to individuals that interact and communicate differently from themselves. Even through distance learning, Compassion students were able to come up with creative activities to facilitate meaningful interactions between their classmates and their buddies. As they created the activities, Compassion students had to consider the different abilities and communication levels of each individual with special needs. These are examples of some of the amazing activities that made virtual “Buddies” possible.

[Template] matching cards

Matthew Nguyen

The goal of buddies is to be able to befriend and talk to students with special needs to help them feel more comfortable around other students and just people in general.

I learned how to communicate better with others and explain things. I have learned how to appreciate all of my friends because whenever I have time to do a buddy activity with my buddy, Andy I always have fun because we talk with each other and others.

Copy of Buddies- Choose your Adventure

Doris Tseng

I discovered about myself throughout this work that I’m actually quite patient which personally I’m surprised. As a learner, I discovered that not all people will participate and I can’t do anything about it which I’m okay with.

I struggled because I’m not really good at coming up with conversations because the pandemic took away my social skills. I overcame this challenge by asking GTKY questions to my buddy.

Copy of Odd one out (Fall edition)

Victoria Peng

Our school’s HONOR values really helped me into helping Dragon. I applied the HONOR values while helping the dragon and that made me practice and get more familiar with the HONOR values in my everyday life.

Some struggles I faced while working with Dragon group was the participation of my group. Most of them didn’t have a mic and some of them refused to participate. Though I overcame this challenge by explaining and helping Dragon the best I can.

Underwater Adventure Buddies activity

Theron Maglunog

The goal of buddies is to show compassion, understanding, and love to our buddies because they have special needs. During the year, I feel like I’ve gotten really close to my buddy, Andy, he is a good friend of mine, and I’m always happy when I do a buddy assignment with him.

Copy of Spot the Difference & Would you Rather

Anna Lin

The goal was to make your buddies comfortable with you and to have fun with your buddies. I learn that don't be shy to talk with your buddies, give him or her a chance to talk, and just help him or her that don't know what to do.

Copy of 🍭Candy land quest🍭

Jazlynn Marquez

My goal was to connect with my buddy and get to know then but this was my favorite activity to do with my buddy. What i got to learn was too learn about my buddy and all the buddies and get to know them and what they can handle and how they think about the things we don't think about.

Copy of Easter Activity

Alanah Butler

With our buddies, we had to make easter baskets, and if we finished early, we could find the egg hunt and questions at the bottom. The goal was to hang out with our buddies and get to know them, hlst creating a deeper bond with them.

One thing I struggled with this activity was that we kept getting a bit off track. We would start talking and then forget to do the activity. The way that I overcame the challenge was realizing that, although the activity was to create a basket, the main goal was to bond with my buddy. So, I would talk with him, and subtly ask what he wanted on the basket. When we finished, we went to an easter egg hunt, but we didn’t really answer the questions, because we were already talking,and we didn’t need to ask these questions.

[Template] Ginger bread craft

Arden Rangel

The goal was just to make the buddies happy and let them enjoy themself even when they aren't actually in school. I learned that buddies are really open to try new things, all you need is a little patience. I discovered that being with new people isn't that bad and could be pleasant in all honesty. Working with a buddy made me happy because the simple thing of activities I normally wouldn't make me excited did make me excited. Being able to encourage my buddy and give them reassurance that they are doing great.

My teacher is really kind and cares about everybody in her class or not and is always there to help an encourage. Just being overall kind to one another not just when teachers were in the breakout room.

Open hearted was the most used in this, staying open minded that the buddies would just need a bit more help and explaining then us.

I struggled with getting the buddy to talk in the beginning and be able to work with me but after the activities of getting to know you they became more open with talking. I have grown with communicating, seeing as some of the buddies have trouble communicating we had to find more ways to do so.

Copy of Scavenger Hunt for Buddies- Oct 13

Sabrina Su

Buddies is a program where regular students have fun and hangout with the students who are a bit different. The goal was to make our buddies feel normal and included. Along the way, I was able to learn how to be more patient and learned to understand how everyone is a little different from each other.

I find that 2 of our school’s beliefs can connect to buddies the most. These beliefs are: All Students are Gifted and Talented as well as All Students have futures. Even though our buddies may have something different about them, they will always have their own gifted and talented part of themselves. They can use their own gifted and talented part of themselves and make their futures.

Committee Reflection

Compassion students are broken up into four different committees that meet throughout the school year. Committee time provides students with hands-on opportunities to practice servant leadership as they brainstorm ideas to include, support and celebrate individuals within Alvarado and our community. These committees include the Birthday Committee, Buddies Committee, Community Impact Committee and Some Good News Committee. Through the resourcefulness and creativity of the students during distance learning, all of the committees were able to come up with ways to spread kindness and positivity at Alvarado and within the Rowland Heights community. These are some examples of the innovative ideas that the students developed to accomplish this goal.

[Template] Earth Day Buddies Poster

Doris Tseng

My committee was Buddies and we had to make activities for when buddies meet up each week. I learned to take responsibility for me and this whole group and not procrastinate.

I learned to not procrastinate on this activity and do things early in case there’s problems.

[Template] Halloween Bingo Slide 8

Arden Rangel

The goal was to just make a great activity and make the buddies happy

I learned that everybody will require different things to have an efficient group so I have to stay open minded about that. I discovered that I can't always do things alone and need others' help. Even when I think otherwise I will need help so I don't get burnt out and the same goes for my group .I discovered as a learner how to make functioning/easy activities from barely anything but a faint thought. She really cares about us and takes into consideration that we do get burned out.

The HONOR values connected with my work by always being honest about how the work is going, saying if I didn't get to finish, not going half way, understanding when my groups couldn't do work either and respecting and being responsible with time also with each other. Never give up was the one that stayed the most with me the whole time and it was just one of my motivation boosts. I found it hard to actually do the buddy activities and have the motivation to make them but my group was always there to help so it made me feel better.

Being better with social interactions, my group was bigger then what I was used to but there people in my group were patient with me and understanding.

Copy of Buddies Activity

Victoria Peng

The goal of this work was to give the buddies a fun visual game! I came up with this fun game idea to get to know my group and my buddies more through a fun game!

I learned that I have a lot in common with my other group members which made us get along more! I discovered confidence about myself to share ideas and express more about me to my group.

Theron Maglunog

The goal for the birthday committee is to directly show every single person in this school, staff member, student that their birthday will be celebrated no matter what. You never know, some people’s birthday might not be celebrated at home, might have been forgotten by some, or just in general not appreciated. Our goal is to make people feel appreciated that it’s their birthday. Throughout the year, I learnt to always tell someone Happy Birthday even if I might know them well because as the leader of this committee, I feel as if it’s my duty and job.

Matthew Nguyen

The goal of the Birthdays committee is to show appreciation for teachers and students' birthdays with a social media account to post birthday cards and show that we remember and care about their birthdays.

I learned how to better design cards and be able to show appreciation for others no matter what. Through small acts such as making a simple birthday card and posting it or just even saying happy birthday to someone can show that I care about them enough to remember something as important as their birthday and let them know they are loved and always remembered.

Sabrina Su

I chose to be in the community committee because I always felt a want to be involved with making the environment a better place for people. I always want to be able to make people happy and I felt helping the community was a good way to satisfy my desire. Something we have done in the community committee is creating a website. The website is where people can use it to help them boost their moods! People can type in their own quotes to help other people, and when people feel sad or unconfident, they can refer to the page with everyone’s quotes to hopefully make them feel a bit better! The website also includes some fun things such as quizzes about the world which people can just have fun with!

Alanah Butler

The goal is to spread positivity, and to help students find a safe place to feel comfortable, and interact with others.

HONOR connected with our work because we had to Never give up. It was hard to know where to start from, but once we did, we made a really cool website. It was also worrying that maybe students wouldn’t use it or see it, but we did. We actually got a lot of responses.

Click on image to open the link.

Nalani Fuentes

My team and I decided we could widen our information output by creating this instagram, as well as making videos of the good news going around! My team and I learned how to communicate and I got to try out a bit of editing.

Click image to join website

Alanah Butler

SGN was a way to bring positivity to the students at Alvarado. The goal was to have them not focus so much on the bad that was happening, but to realize that there are still good things going on. We wanted to help spread a little light during the dark times any of us were going through.

One thing I struggled with was figuring out how and where to start. At first, we had wanted to make our own YouTube channel. Then we did an Instagram page, and that was still a little frustrating because we didn’t know what to put on there, and we couldn’t figure out things. Soon, we made our first video, but making videos and scripts are a lot harder than you’d think. But, we did it. We just had to stick together and listen to everyone’s opinion and perspective. It was easier to fix things and to see other ways to do different posts or say a line of a script differently.

End of the Year Reflection

Anna Lin

Matthew Nguyen

Doris Tseng

Victoria Peng

Theron Maglunog

Anna Lin

Jazlynn Marquez

Alanah Butler

Arden Rangel

Sabrina Su

Doris Tseng

Arden Rangel

Victoria Peng

Nalani Fuentes

Alanah Butler

Jazlynn Marquez

Arden Rangel

Sabrina Su

Theron Maglunog

Alanah Butler

Nalani Fuentes

Ayiana Gabriel

Chloe Lau

Edwin Lee

Anna Lin

Matthew Nguyen

Victoria Peng

Doris Tseng

Lauren Yoon

Kimberly Ricardo

Raymond Schoenen