Honoring 2018 Branchout! Achievements: Spreading Awareness at TJHSST tjSTAR event!

BranchOut! 2018 was a huge year for our growing program! As the 2019 season arrives, we are taking a moment to look back at some of the exceptional achievements our student mentors made in the last year.

Last June our student mentors setup at the TJHSST tjSTAR Event, determined to spread the word about a multicultural STEM program that had deeply impacted their lives. With an informational booth and an opportunity to present, we were able to spread the word about our volunteer program, BranchOut!

Alongside the program founders, our student mentors shared their experiences. It was amazing to see them speak from the heart, they were most definitely the light of our presentation! Something great happens when students hear about positive experiences from their own peers. We are confident that each person walked away inspired.

BranchOut! 2019 kicks off this coming weekend with our annual training, and informational session. We are extremely eager to see what this new season will bring to our growing program.

As we head into a fresh year for BranchOut! We would like to share some recent developments of BranchOut! with you:

- We are now a partner of Department of Neighborhood and Human Service of Fairfax County to serve more community centers,

- We received a Gold Star Award for Fairfax County volunteering organizations; we were one of two volunteering organizations awarded with the honor,

- We expanded collaboration with both FCPS in Virginia and MCPS in Maryland to serve more campuses,

- We established the first local chapter - Howard County Chapter,

- We formed a School Club of BranchOut! at Oakton High School, VA (Thank you, Lawrence Zhu, an 11th grader at Oakton HS, for your persistence in making this a reality!),

- We received confirmation that the U.S Senator Tim Kaine will grant Congressional certificates to students with outstanding performance, and

- We are in the process of applying to the Maryland's Governor's Service Award.

With all these achievements, we are confident that BranchOut! will be making even more impact to the communities around us.

Are you interesting in joining BranchOut! for the 2020 summer season?

Applications open: 1/20/2020

Visit www.velbranchout.org for more information!

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