Malayzha Nelson & Project Rise

Our afterschool program, Project Rise, not only supports elementary students and their families—it supports college students too! After-school programs like ours play an important role in all students’ educational experiences, whether they are 10 or 21.

Just ask Malayzha Nelson! Nelson is a social work student at Belhaven University. Our students love her, and we’re lucky to have her completing her training hours here at Operation Shoestring!

“I decided to choose Operation Shoestring because of their after-school program. I love working with kids, and I want to do that for my career as well,” said Nelson.

When she first walked through our doors, Nelson said she immediately noticed the “friendly and orderly environment.” She immediately felt at ease since “all of the staff were so nice, and worked so hard while being so consistent with the kids.” 

As she continued to work at Project Rise this semester, she began to fall in love with what she described as a “warm environment” with staff who very clearly love working with children.

“Everyone is very considerate,” remarked Nelson as she reflected on her experience here so far. “I like getting work with all the different age groups of kids here. They have great manners.” 

After-school programs play a vital role in empowering young adults. Project Rise has helped solidify Nelson’s career aspirations, and provided her with important formative experiences and skills to help her one day land her dream job.

“I want to help kids with my career. I want to be a mental health social worker, and assist children by doing so. This has helped me understand what my job would consist of, and all I would have to do. It helps me understand what I need to do to fulfill my role in my future jobs!”

Nelson thinks that Operation Shoestring “really helps her,” and we think it really helps to have Nelson in our afterschool program! 

Learn more about how you can support Project Rise at: operationshoestring.org/support.