Be a part of Project Cornerstone at Eaton!

Project Cornerstone’s Asset Building Champions (ABC) program, a YMCA of Silicon Valley Initiative, fosters the development of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) for elementary school youth. It is composed of a kindergarten and elementary school strand, with more than 2,900 adults reading to 38,000+ kids in 127 schools.Volunteers are trained in the Developmental Assets Model for positive youth development, and prepared to read a specially selected children’s book and lead related activities and discussions in classrooms each month.

The program’s goal is to help school communities achieve the following:

• Create a common language and vocabulary about student respect and behavior expectations among all members of the school community — students, parents and caregivers, teachers and staff.
• Help students develop skills to handle physical, verbal, relational and digital bullying and to STAND UP if they see someone else being bullied. 
• Increase the number of caring adults on campus so that all students feel that there is at least one adult they can turn to if they have a problem.
• Contribute to a positive school climate where every student feels valued and supported to achieve and thrive. 

Becoming a Project Cornerstone ABC reader involves:

• Attend an hour-long meeting, once a month during school hours*, to learn about the book, discussion points, and planned activities.
• Preparation and reading the book in a classroom**, leading the discussion, and delivering the activity.

You’ll also need to:

• Attend two additional one-time trainings 1) Assets 101 for new readers only and 2) Classroom Management training offered by the Project Cornerstone Coordinator.
• All Eaton volunteers must have their fingerprints and a current negative tuberculous (TB) test on file with Cupertino Union School District (CUSD). Please visit the CUSD Volunteering page for more information on how to become eligible to volunteer within CUSD.

*Monthly training dates and time TBD during school hours.

** You may be offered the option to read to a classroom besides your child’s.

Our goal is to have at least one reader in every classroom. Some classrooms, however, end up with many readers and others have no readers. If you are interested in reading, but your child's classroom is already full, please let the Committee Lead know. We'd love to have your help with reading in another classroom.