The start of the 2023-24 school year has been busy for the founders of Journeymen/One Village, Alex Craighead and Nicky Wilks, and their staff.

They’ve held all-day workshops with Vashon Island School District staff and students from multiple buildings and across grades, with the drive of helping ensure the culture of the school district buildings is one of inclusion and belonging.

This work has manifested itself through multiple days of retreats, impact days, small group work, and activities with Vashon High School and McMurray Middle School staff, as well as upperclassmen mentors, student leaders at McMurray, and all of the 7th and 8th graders.

For Craighead and Wilks, the start of this year represents a big shift in their partnership with the District.

“Up until this year, we’ve largely done Tier 2 support, targeted support for students with higher needs, whether that is someone struggling with substance abuse, a divorce or change in the household, or academic struggles, for example,” explained Craighead. “This year has been a big growth year for us and we are working with all students in many grades, helping to address district- and school building-level issues, in addition to that targeted support.”

The scope of work with McMurray was the culmination of responding to themes identified by students last year: kindness, mutual respect, school pride, and inclusion. Approximately 60 student leaders from McMurray attended an all-day leadership retreat with Journeymen staff, and, largely engaged in small groups, worked on ways to bring those values to McMurray and create action items for the current school year.

Seventh grader Cedar Henderson felt the day-long leadership retreat was well done and meaningful, and she was glad the McMurray administration and building staff were placing a focus on school culture for the 2023-24 school year.

“I think it’s really important for all the students to work on this together,” said Henderson. “I think students appreciate that our school is putting effort into this and I think a lot of McMurray is going to do better this year. I have a lot of hope for this year.”

The mission of Journeymen’s One Village Initiative — to “create cultures of belonging through transformational experiences and leadership training for youth and their people” — aligns with the Vashon Island School District’s promise from its current strategic plan: every student is welcomed, known, and treasured.

“Can we as adults in the community ensure that every young person in the building feels like they belong there?” asked Wilks. “I feel that is our community’s responsibility, and it does feel like a tall order. But as a collective, we can accomplish it. Because if we don’t, there is plenty of research and data that says those students are not going to maximize their potential.”

Craighead and Wilks felt the response to their work with teachers was fantastic.

As previous educators within VISD themselves, they both understand that teachers are constantly presented with new acronyms, new platforms, and new delivery systems, and all of that can lead to burnout. However, when it comes to prioritizing the social-emotional health and safety of the staff and students, the VISD teachers are fully engaged, they said.

“Our teachers in the District understand that we have to embody the culture we want to create,” said Wilks. “…But all of us need to know and have the tools to be able to lean into that culture better.”

Changing culture is hardly a task that is completed in a day, however, especially when dealing with deeply-rooted societal issues such as homophobia, racism, bigotry, and other ills. Wilks noted throughout their travels for Journeymen and working with other schools and communities, these problems are persistent nearly everywhere.

“The issues facing young people on Vashon are not very different from anywhere else,” said Wilks. “The opportunity on Vashon is what is unique. We have a tight-knit community that has all three schools right next to each other with relationships in place. We will be able to see the impact of all this work.”

Both Craighead and Wilks grew up on Vashon and after returning, began Journeymen seven years ago to help combat many of the issues facing school-aged youth in the community. For the district to reach out and partner with Journeymen for their work feels affirming, they said.

“To have the schools call on us to help feels like a big responsibility for us,” said Craighead. “It really is coming from a place of wanting to ensure our students feel safe, a sense of belonging, and that they feel good about walking through the front doors of the schools. There is obviously still work to do, but I think we are closer than ever to meeting that need.”