Success Stories

Vital Link OC and Saddleback College teamed up together to host our first online summer event entitled 2020 Saddleback College Leadership NEXT Academy. This career exploration academy was full of workshops and fun activities to prepare students for what comes after high school. Students learned how to navigate through exciting possibilities and finding their personal …

“I told the students they could get together and work on their art journals over the summer. Two girls’ eyes popped open with delight and they said to each other, “Let’s get together and paint in our apartments this summer!” -Thea Calhoun, Creative Arts Journaling Mentor Support for OASIS has enabled us to provide vital …

“In November of 2019, Selah’s dad discovered a large hard mass protruding from Selah’s abdomen, we knew something wasn’t right and took her to the ER for x-rays. The x-rays revealed a large mass on her right kidney and 3 smaller masses on her left kidney. We were rushed to St Joseph’s where they ran …

We know that safer-at-home orders have a distorted meaning for those whose homes weren’t safe even in pre-pandemic times. Globally, cases of relationship violence have risen. During the first two weeks of shutdowns, Human Options saw a 100% increase in requests for food and other basic needs as well as double the number of requests …

New Vista Career Academy recently partnered with The Mission Continues, a national, nonpartisan nonprofit that empowers veterans to continue their service, and empowers communities with veteran talent, skills and preparedness to generate visible impact. Through a grant from the Tech Sgt. Jack Kushner Ret’d Foundation, Inc., we secured funds to purchase the school’s first flagpole …

Connie and I were matched together in 2012, just after her 16th birthday. As I remember it, we were both very nervous yet excited to start this new pairing, as neither one of us quite knew what we were getting into. I still remember the first day we met very clearly. We sat across from …

A now familiar tiled-grid of faces greets parents and students alike, during Gisler Elementary’s zoom End-of- Year Performance. Each child in turn fills the screen and they have our undivided attention. A canned applause lights up their faces as they finish their song. They did it! The beginning of the COVID crisis was a time …

When Jocelyn started Pacific Chorale Academy as a fourth grader, she was shy, introverted, and could hardly be heard when she spoke. But she loved to sing, and her smile shone through during rehearsals as she became a stronger and braver singer. Two years later, Jocelyn was a leader in her section and was singing …

The last several months have presented us all with many upheavals and challenges – social, financial, emotional; the physical time away from our Waldorf family. It also has brought some surprising silver linings: an ancestral call to bread baking (store shelves emptied of yeast and flour…who would have guessed?); a new form of Victory Garden …

Together, Apart: How Waldorf School of Orange County Keeps its Roots Intact During Distance Learning In the last few months, the COVID-19 pandemic has been publicized as a contradiction in terms: it’s a tragedy, it’s an opportunity; it’s a portal to the vision of a new world, it’s a bottomless hole of deep despair. Working …