e
m
p
o
w
er(^) -
(^) F
in
al
(^) E
xa
m
PHOTOGRAPHY MASK Staff V9 - FALL maskmatters.org 95
prevention program that provides pre-kindergarten through college
students with tools to cope with issues such as peer pressure,
technology-related challenges, refusal skills, substance use/abuse, self-
esteem and boundaries.
“The world in which we live today is not anything we’ve seen
before,” Cabral says. “Our kids are bombarded with all these things,
from drugs to bullying. This program is an evolution of learning and
building something that needs to exist because as parents, we are not
given a parental manual when we have kids.”
In 2017, E3 was piloted as a three-year program for Norterra’s
kindergarten through eighth grade students via the MASK Academy
for the lower-grade levels, and MASK Prep for the higher-grade levels.
Each student receives a colorful lesson book with a plethora of sources
including a resource list for the middle schoolers’ booklet ranging
from the national sex trafficking hotline to a crisis text with a trained
counselor. Also included in the program are classroom posters, parent
university classes with recap videos and mentor visits from humans as
“I feel like I am more aware and that
you really can’t judge a book by its
cover...we’re all different and there’s a
lot going in others’ lives.”
- Elizabeth Oakley, Norterra student
“MASK programs really benefit kids
emotionally and socially. In today’s
world, so much is happening. We
really need to arm children with tools
to survive the world today.”- Michelle Bussiere, Norterra teacher
AT PARTNERSHIP