Valued Youth Partnership

Angel Castillo – 2025 First Place High School Reflection Winner

Angel Castillo VYPAngel Castillo 

10th Grade, Odessa High School, Odessa, Texas

My IDRA Valued Youth Partnership Experience

Since I became a Valued Youth Partnership tutor in my sophomore year, I have learned more about myself and grew as a better person. Last year as a freshman, I put on an act every day I came to school. I would walk into my classes and put on a fake act to my teachers and classmates hoping they could see me as a good person. I finished my work all the time, participated in activities and answered questions, and got good grades every six weeks.

Although deep down, I knew it wasn’t the real me doing this; it was all an act. I was at my lowest point in my life, but I never wanted anyone to know about who I really was. Once my sophomore year started, I still put on an act every day.

One day, my friend told me about the IDRA Valued Youth Partnership program. She convinced me to join, and I agreed to it. After I joined the program and got hired, we started traveling to Austin Montessori. The first day I went into the classroom, I felt like I wasn’t the right person for this type of program. I didn’t want people to know how I really felt. The only choice I felt that I had was putting on another act. I walked into the class every day hoping the kids would see me as a role model and feel safe with the fake me. I always had a filter so the kids wouldn’t see the real me.

Every other day, I walked into the class, and I felt like I was changing every time. It was as if the fake version of me was becoming a part of the real me. These kids helped me grow when I was at the lowest point of my life.

The IDRA Valued Youth Partnership program has helped me become a better student by giving me a purpose to come to school every day. I come to school excited to see my kids again and to help them with anything. I feel happy knowing that they trust me, feel safe with me, and could talk to me about anything. Every day, I learn something new about myself by seeing these kids work hard. I’ve become more patient and calmer. I feel like I’ve been able to drop the mask and show people my true self after I’ve changed as a person.

When I look back into what I’ve done in the IDRA Valued Youth Partnership program, I always remember the memories I’ve made with my students. The first memory I always look back to is when I was able to make one of the shyest kids in the class comfortable enough that he opened up to me and his classmates.

The second memory was when I saw my kid get pulled out of the class by the teacher crying out of fear and anger as I was about to leave the school. I stopped for a second before I gave my friend my stuff and ran toward my kid going to comfort her while the teacher was talking to her explaining what she did wrong. When I look back to these memories, I feel happy knowing that my kids feel safe around me.

When I first started tutoring, I didn’t have an answer to what tutoring means to me. I felt like I was just tutoring because it was my job too. I’ve learned that after spending six months every day with my kids I feel like I finally found my answer to what tutoring really means to me. What tutoring means to me isn’t just about helping these kids every day with their work, but to be able to build a connection with them so they don’t just remember you as their tutor, but as someone special they had every day.

See the booklet with all the winning reflections from 2025 (pdf).

The IDRA Valued Youth Partnership is a research-based cross-age tutoring program. According to the Valued Youth creed, all students are valuable, none is expendable. The lives of three-quarters of a million students, families and educators have been positively impacted by the program.

Contact

5815 Callaghan Road, Suite 101
San Antonio, TX 78228

Phone: 210-444-1710
Fax: 210-444-1714