The Junior Optimist Club of Coronado diligently considers fresh ideas to support the community, and new members can be found at Coronado Middle School.
Kevin Paiz-Ramirez, a sixth-grade science teacher, since 2017 has been co-advisor to CMS JO club or JOI, which allows students to be involved in projects around Coronado.
“Junior Optimists is a wonderful way to support student leadership,” he said.
Paiz-Ramirez said he supports his students alongside fellow CMS teacher Matthew Smith by actively encouraging Junior Optimists to give back and make a difference.
Smith became co-advisor at the same time as Paiz-Ramirez and teaches sixth-grade humanities and seventh-grade world history.
Positive experiences
“Mr. Ramirez and I both had positive experiences with the Optimist Club during our youth so we agreed to take on running the club together,” he said.
Paiz-Ramirez began his teaching career at CMS almost 10 years ago as a Masters graduate from the Bronx in 2013. Apart from advising and teaching, he is the activities director and science department lead.
Co-advising means collaborating to support the club with planning meeting times, approval to the school academic calendar and advertising in school broadcasts, he said.
“Our students pitch new ways we can get involved.”
-Teacher Kevin Paiz-Ramirez
“Bringing out the best in kids”
The Optimist Club of Coronado (OCC), the adult club committed to “bringing out the best in kids” through positive community service projects intended to empower the youth, sponsors the program.
Founded in 1970, the OCC maintains the optimist motto known today as “Friend of Youth,” and it raises money for youth programs in the city.
Junior Optimist Club Of Coronado was established at the middle school from 1994-1995 and chartered on March 12, 1998, according to the OCC and Optimist International websites.
Since then, CMS JO has remained an active club alongside JOI at Coronado High School.
“The club is very active and always up to something,” said Coronado Unified School District Public Information Officer Maria Simon.
COVID sunsets popular fundraiser
Prior to COVID-19, Junior Optimists participated significantly in Pasta for Pennies, the most important club-sponsored event, according to the CMS website.
Paiz-Ramirez said that the pandemic sunsetted the annual three weeks-long Pasta for Pennies fundraiser, done in association with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
“It was also a great way to work alongside the Optimist Club of Coronado as they would volunteer their time to come to our school and help to sort and count out every cent,” he said.
The fundraiser took place from late January to mid-February and each advisory class kept a donation box in which students were encouraged to contribute their change. The classroom with the largest collection had a pasta party sponsored by Olive Garden.
Paiz-Ramirez said CMS JO club collected $56,000 in donations with the help of previous club advisor Jennifer Landry, who is now the teacher’s union president.
“It remains something that we are very proud of,” he said. “Our students pitch new ways we can get involved.”
Monthly after-school meetings
The JOI members convene after school on the third Thursday of the month for greetings, icebreaker activities, and to learn from student officers about events in the community.
Meetings conclude reciting the Optimist Creed, a shared statement encouraging Optimists to be strong, optimistic, enthusiastic, cheerful, and positive.
“Playing icebreaker games in class will hopefully allow our kids to make new friends so that once we get together for an outside activity they are ready to pair off as teams,” said Paiz-Ramirez.
During discussion of upcoming events, Junior optimists volunteer to sign up on the club canvas page.
“Our most recent donation brought in over 443 pounds of food which provided over 369 meals to those in need,” he added. “Currently, we are exploring new ideas on how to support a local animal shelter with discussions of a blanket drive.”
Numerous public service events
CMS JO club participates in multiple service projects, at times collaborating with adult Optimist Club and CHS JO members. The events include the “Cider and Snaps” holiday event during the Coronado Holiday Parade and “Souper Bowl of Caring.”
That is a one-day event on Super Bowl Sunday going door to door in the community to receive donations of non-perishable food items for a local food bank. The two groups collected 1,000 non-perishable food items in February, said Paiz-Ramirez.
Another event was the “Ho Ho Holiday” food drive, where CMS JO club supported the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank through a friendly competition among CMS advisory classes for the most donations.
He said the club garnered over 369 meals.
CMS JO club has also made “Blessing Bags” of personal necessity items to support Meals on Wheels and local shelters.
“It was such a joy to put the bags together as all of our students worked in an assembly line fashion trying to make a game of how many bags we could put together in a given time frame,” he said.
Junior Optimists also do local beach and community clean-ups.
“We are currently trying to organize a blanket drive for a local animal shelter along with some more local clean-ups,” he said. “Then round out our year with elections for the student officers.”
A rewarding experience
Paiz-Ramirez believes one’s positivity and support inspires others to give back.
“It is such a wonderful feeling to see a student join our club in sixth grade and then go on to see that familiar face in an Optimist meeting so many years later talking about the impact they have made,” he said.
Smith said they ask prospective members about their willingness to serve before joining at the CMS yearly club day, welcoming members committed to spend their Saturdays beautifying Coronado’s beaches or Friday night running carnival games for children at the community center.
“As an Optimist, you must always be thinking about how you can get involved, help others, and make the world a better place.”
-CMS teacher Matthew Smith.
“As an Optimist, you must always be thinking about how you can get involved, help others, and make the world a better place,” he said.
Smith said that CMS and CHS JOI working side by side on major service projects and district meetings influences a vast majority of CMS students to continue in the club, with some elected to officer positions.
“It is a privilege and a joy to run this club alongside Mr. Ramirez,” he said. “We are both very thankful for the support we have gotten from the community and the adult Optimist club that sponsors us.”
