Hi! My name is Haley, and did a volunteer and research project.
I had never heard of the term ‘ACEs’ before, and it intrigued me enough that I ended up doing my senior project all about ACES. ACEs stands for Adverse Childhood Experience, and I started volunteering at a local Idaho elementary school for a few months. As I was volunteering, I started my research about ACES: the
rammifications, the signs, and why we need to reduce ACEs. As I interacted with the kids, being there helped me gain a more accurate perspective of the challenges they go through on a daily basis.
I then had the chance to interview a few admin and teachers that worked at the elementary school, and it was interesting to get their perspective on the problem of ACES. I gathered the data from the interviews, data from my research, and took my experiences with volunteering with the kids and compiled it into a couple data reports.
I love that quote ^ about how one teacher’s perspective changed dramatically because of all the challenges her kids face. ACES are extremely common, I think it’s crazy and sad how 61% of all adults have experienced at least 1 adverse childhood experience. That’s why my main goal for this project was to spread awareness and help educate so we can stop the stigma of ACES.
I also had the chance to create a survey that I had at the showcase that VOICE advocacy (a nonprofit organization based in Rexburg) and I can use to keep gathering data about ACES. We want to keep fighting to prevent ACES, and it’s a very important thing to be aware of.