Letitia Calderon | Area Manager, Champions (a division of Knowledge Universe)

Champions Before is a nationwide program that supports more than 400 sites across the country. This program is beginning to address social and emotional learning. A consistent SEL approach will bolster the effectiveness of the new emotional intelligence offerings.

Calderon's plan has three parts. During Step 1, Drs. Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves' book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0, will be distributed to her regional peer groups. All recipients will complete the book's assessment and then begin its self-paced strategies, to improve upon the areas in which they received the lowest scores. During Step 2, each manager will offer the book and discussion groups to their direct reports. During Step 3, site leader teams will develop best practices and incorporate them into the students' EQ program.

Margo Herman | Extension Educator, University of Minnesota Extension Center for Youth Development

Herman plans to create a social and emotional learning video that will be used within her program's emotional learning curriculum. This recording, including PowerPoint visuals, will describe emotional intelligence and how it relates to building a foundation for social and emotional learning for youth. Herman will write the script for the video and create the PowerPoint visuals. Emotional Intelligence 2.0 will be used as the framework for describing these strategies.

Todd Coffey | Director of Strategy and Evaluation, Build the Out-of-School-Time Network (BOSTnet)

BOSTnet will develop a free one-hour online training course about social and emotional learning. Currently, there are few SEL online resources in Massachusetts. This online program will highlight what Coffey learned during his EQ fellowship and include short videos and a quiz. It may also have a group participation component. The participants will learn specific approaches to take when teaching SEL to children.

Susan Hamann | Quality Improvement Coordinator, OregonASK

Hamann plans to create a social and emotional learning program for OregonASK, the area's statewide afterschool network. The program will consist of three phases. First, Hamann will explore the many aspects of SEL. She will research existing resources and talk with local and nationwide youth development professionals about this topic. During Phase 2, Hamann will develop training materials that will allow afterschool professionals to better understand the importance of SEL. Finally, Hamann will provide SEL quality standards to these afterschool professionals.

Keep an eye out for future National Afterschool Association e-newsletters, to take look at the program proposals of other 2016 EQ fellows.

Written by Lisa Stickler, staff writer for AfterSchool Today magazine.