As a kid skates without any assistance or lands their first jump, senior Brianna Chang celebrates with them as if it was her making that milestone — because as a coaching volunteer at the Chicago Youth Foundation, it was a milestone for her, too.
Brianna has been an active member of CYF for the past nine years and is a figure skater herself. She got involved because her coach is one of the founders of CYF, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to make ice sports widely accessible by providing free ice time, lessons and equipment to kids weekly that otherwise wouldn’t have access. The organization targets younger kids and hopes to continue with them for a long time.
In the coming years, Brianna and her peer volunteers will be graduating high school and won’t be able to work at CYF anymore, she hopes that the program will keep its value and expand.
Brianna is currently an on-ice program director and has always been a coach. Her involvement has grown over the years, and so has her own coaching talent.
“It’s just super cool seeing kids progress,” Brianna said. “The fact that our volunteer retention rate is so good, we can also retain the same kids. So it’s super cool seeing them grow as skaters and also as people.”
Brianna said that it has been interesting to hear the stories from the different kids, especially when the kids are in the target demographic — people who wouldn’t normally have access to ice sports.
Brianna finds fulfillment in seeing the kids learn how to skate well.
“It’s like reliving like when I was skating, too,” Brianna said. “When they land a jump, it’s just so exciting seeing them progress. That’s probably my favorite part.”
