Cheering for the Friends Program

Pairing teen volunteers with younger kids leads to success in building self-esteem

Posted

Through the New Horizon Counseling Center’s Friends Program, Liya Angel and Shani Zinn joined forces to successfully accomplish Zinn’s goal to be a member of the Woodmere Middle School basketball cheerleading team.

After practicing with Woodmere resident Angel, 15, on her gymnastics moves, Zinn, 12, cheered in her first game in early December. “She cheers with the best of them,” Holly Zinn, Shani’s mom, said. She said that Shani, a Hewlett resident, has been in the Friends Program for five years, since she was in the second grade, “It’s been very successful for her,” Holly added.

The Joan Baum Friends Program at the New Horizon Counseling Center has been helping local children with special needs for about 35 years by pairing them with a compassionate and reliable teenager. Volunteers from Hewlett and Lynbrook high schools serve as friends with their younger counterparts in the community. It is a support system designed to provide one-on-one interaction that promotes social skill development, learning and confidence. 

Angel, a sophomore at Hewlett High, first got involved with the Friends Program as a freshman. “It changes my view on a lot of things,” she said, of how she feels about participating in the program. She said she enjoys hanging out with Zinn, and it makes her happy to see that the seventh-grader likes to spend time with her.

They meet once a week for about an hour on Fridays or Sundays at Zinn’s home, Angel said. A majority of the high school students go to the younger child’s house, because that is where he or she is most comfortable, and because a parent or adult figure must be present, said program supervisor Audrey Goodman. 

Goodman said that the Friends Program is geared toward children who are new in the district or country, have socialization problems, live with single parents, need a role model, have emotional or physical challenges or just want a special friend, “like a big sister/big brother/special buddy,” she said. 

The two clicked as Zinn has always loved gymnastics and Angel has a background in the sport. Angel began cheerleading when she was seven years old at 5 Star Sports and Entertainment Academy, and was a competitive cheerleader until she injured herself in the eighth grade. Though not a cheerleader now, her experience came in handy helping Zinn. 

Middle school cheerleading coach Robert Machado,  said that Zinn works hard and is always smiling. “I can tell that she practices at home for she comes to each practice well prepared,” he said.

The Friends program runs from September through May and is open to all children until the eighth grade, Goodman said. There are roughly 50 high school volunteers and 50 younger children in the Hewlett program, she said, and about 25 high school students and 25 younger children in the Lynbrook program. She added that the Friends Program is currently seeking more high school volunteers from Hewlett and more referrals in Lynbrook. “Everyone wins,” Goodman said, about the volunteers and the children who benefit from their support. 

The New Horizon Counseling Center, which its main offices in Queens and its primary services in Valley Stream, offers services including outpatient, school-based and at-home counseling, help for those with developmental disabilities and chemical dependency programs. 

For more information about the Friends Program and other youth services, call (516) 569-6600 or visit the website at www.nhcc.us.