Voces del Fuego Sagrado Club Sponsor

Township High School District 113•Highland Park, IL

About The Position

Voces del Fuego Sagrado is a culturally responsive youth development program integrating Indigenous (Mayan) Talking Circles, academic support, and leadership development. Led by an AJ Tz'ib (Scribe/Elder), it provides a brave space for Chicana/o, Hispanic, First Nations, and Latin American youth to explore identity, set academic goals, and build college and career readiness. Grounded in Los Diálogos of Knowledge, the program supports hybrid diasporic youth in developing voice and agency while bridging school, family, and community. It aims to cultivate an intergenerational network of peer mentors and servant leaders who support one another's holistic growth. The Club Sponsor facilitates Talking Circles and structured dialogues; supports students’ academic achievement, college readiness, leadership, and peer mentorship; and helps coordinate service learning and community engagement. The sponsor incorporates culturally sustaining practices and activities that affirm students’ languages, histories, identities, and community knowledge. The role also includes program recruitment, recordkeeping, collaboration with school and community partners, and evaluation and development of the program. The club meets bi-weekly or as determined by the sponsor in consultation with Hispanos Unidos. Additional planning, recruitment, mentoring, service-learning, and event coordination may take place throughout the school year. The position includes designated after-school meetings, events, and approved community engagement activities. Performance is evaluated annually by the Student Activities Director in accordance with district policies.

Requirements

Extensive experience facilitating culturally responsive educational programs, mentorship initiatives, youth leadership development, and community engagement.
Demonstrated expertise in First Nations, Indigenous, and culturally sustaining pedagogies, including more than two decades integrating Indigenous knowledge systems and dialogical educational practices into instructional and leadership settings.
Bilingual and biliterate in English and Spanish, with experience working across multilingual and multicultural learning environments.
Knowledge of Indigenous, Latin American, Chicana/o, and Maya educational traditions.
Experience incorporating Talking Circle methodologies, intergenerational mentorship, identity development, and community-based learning into educational practice.
Strong commitment to educational equity, cultural affirmation, student leadership development, and meaningful partnerships among students, families, schools, and community organizations.
Significant personal and scholarly knowledge of Maya, Indigenous/First Nations of the Americas, Latin American and Caribbean, and Chicana/o intellectual traditions and histories.

Responsibilities

Foster a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment for all participants.
Maintain regular communication with students, staff, and administration, working with families through the Parent Liaison.
Promote student leadership, responsibility, and service, and support academic achievement and school engagement.
Encourage participation by students who may not otherwise be connected to extracurricular opportunities.
Facilitate cultural affirmation, identity development, and community building while complying with district policies and procedures and modeling professionalism, integrity, and respect.
Organize and facilitate regular Talking Circles using First Nations pedagogy.
Teach and uphold circle agreements emphasizing respectful listening, shared voice, confidentiality, and collective responsibility.
Create brave spaces where students can discuss issues affecting their lives, education, families, and communities.
Facilitate structured dialogues exploring identity, leadership, history, culture, civic engagement, and contemporary social issues.
Encourage students to engage multiple ways of knowing through storytelling, reflection, writing, discussion, and community knowledge.
Connect students with academic resources and school supports; promote goal setting, attendance, organization, and academic persistence.
Facilitate coordination with Hispanos Unidos workshops related to college preparation, scholarships, career exploration, financial literacy, and postsecondary planning, including Arts and Humanities contexts from an affinity-group perspective.
Recruit and help train student leaders in connection with established affinity-group programming within HP Counselling and Social Work to serve as peer mentors.
Develop leadership opportunities for older students to support younger students and foster cross-grade mentoring relationships that strengthen school connectedness and belonging.
Assist in coordinating service-learning projects addressing community needs, working with established community outreach programming, Hispanos Unidos, and the Parent Liaison.
Establish partnerships with local organizations, community leaders, families, and cultural institutions.
Promote active citizenship through community outreach and volunteer initiatives when and where possible.
Incorporate culturally sustaining practices affirming students’ languages, histories, and identities across the Arts and Humanities and histories of multilingual diasporic peoples of the Americas.
Facilitate activities celebrating cultural heritage, resilience, and community knowledge.
Encourage students to see themselves as knowledge keepers, scholars, leaders, and agents of positive change.
Maintain attendance records and participation data; assist with recruitment and retention of participants.
Collaborate with Hispanos Unidos, Counselling, Social Work, administration, and staff to support program goals.
Evaluate program effectiveness and contribute to long-term strategic growth.
Attend designated after-school meetings, events, and approved community engagement activities.