07 Jun, 2022
Dear Pure Freedom partners,
This 2021-2022 school year has been marked by new and exciting milestones, expanded curriculums, as well as insightful interactions with students in the classroom. First, let’s talk about the milestones. Remember when last year, we said that Pure Freedom had set new records? This year, the program has surpassed all our expectations. Right from the beginning, in September of 2021, Pure Freedom had reached more than double the number of students as compared to the previous year (850 in 2021, only 313 in 2020). By October, this number alone was up to 1737, as opposed to just 658 for the same month a year earlier. So here is our wrap-up for this 2021-2022 school year:
- Our Pure Freedom educators taught to 7,427 students in total, including 1,533 in March, which was our busiest month
- We had a total of 1,124 class sessions
- We served a total of 43 school districts
- In a total of 21 counties all across Northeast Missouri
“I’m thankful [for this program] because now I’m less scared about growing up.” – 6th Grader
Did we reach our target numbers?
Yes, we did! Our target for class sessions was 800 and we ended the year with 1,124 total. As for the number of students, we anticipated to reach 5,000 of them, which we greatly exceeded with a total number of 7,427 students. This school year was a success on all fronts.
How do these numbers compare with last year?
The snowball effect of last year is still very active, as our numbers once again showed a solid increase this year. To compare, Pure Freedom:
- Served 7,427 students in 2021-2022 as opposed to 5,407 in 2020-2021
- Taught in 43 school districts in 2021-2022 as opposed to 44 schools in 2020-2021 (please note that we now count in terms of school districts instead of simply schools. Therefore, although this year’s number seems lower, it doesn’t reflect the full scope of schools)
- Traveled to 21 counties in 2021-2022 as opposed to 15 in 2020-2021
We expanded our curriculums!
Now onto the curriculums! Our educators worked hard this year to add 2 new levels of curriculums for high school. These curriculums are now labeled High School levels A-D and tackle the topics of healthy relationships, love and trust, what constitutes sexual consent, and more. In addition to this expansion, we also reorganized some of the existing levels in order to make them coincide with the specific life circumstances and maturity of students even more.
Any personal events?
If you remember our wrap-up from last year, you know that Larissa and her husband were pregnant with their first child. They have since welcomed their daughter and the family has been doing well! Larissa now serves as ministry assistant at the Lifeline clinic, and gets to interact with other young mothers. As for Jackson, he now works with our DadLINE fatherhood program. We are excited to welcome Margo to the Pure Freedom program this summer, and we are also looking to hire an additional educator as soon as possible! You can find the job description here.
How did the students receive the program?
We received a lot of encouraging feedback from students. Many of them shared that the program helped them differentiate between healthy and unhealthy relationships and realize that they always have the choice to make healthy decisions for their future.
“Good job on keeping us safe and teaching us about boundaries.” – 7th Grader
“I really liked my educator; she took the time for us to ask questions, and she tried to make things very comfortable.” – 7th Grader
“These class sessions gave me a lot of helpful information that I can use throughout my life. I felt comfortable asking questions and am secure of anything if I need to talk to someone. Thank you for coming!” – 8th Grader
“I liked how there was no bias.” – 8th Grader
“Thanks for this. I learned a lot of new things and I feel like I am going to make healthy decisions in the future.” – 8th Grader
“I liked how they gave us resources for anything we need help with.” – 11th Grader
“I thought this program was very interesting and informative. I learned a lot about how to have healthy relationships and avoid unhealthy ones.” – 9th Grader
“This program really helped me understand that they’re always other options.” – 9th Grader
“I liked that the educator was straightforward and shared a lot of information and things to do in a bad relationship. Also, real love respects!” – 8th Grader
“I liked the way my educator made it clear that we have a choice, but strongly recommended the safe, smarter decisions. Also learning about what she has been through and how far she has come truly gave me hope.” – 9th Grader
If you would like to learn more about Pure Freedom and our approach, click here.
Written by Elodie Takamiya.