Through a FireAidLA Community Grant, we delivered our evidence-based, trauma-informed program, Beat the Odds®: Social and Emotional Skill Building Delivered in a Framework of Drumming, and its corollary Youth-Led Model, to two semester-long elective classes for 6th to 12th graders at Aveson Global Leadership Academy (AGLA) and to all transitional kindergarten (TK) to 5th grade classrooms at Aveson School of Leaders (ASL). These two school communities were displaced as well as separated after Aveson Charter School was destroyed by the Eaton Fire in January 2025.
For sustainable continuation of Beat the Odds® at AGLA and ASL, we will train three Aveson staff members to oversee the program. AGLA wants continuation of the elective Beat the Odds® drum class offerings, and ASL wants after school offerings. The three staff members have been regular participants in the classroom delivery at AGLA, so they have effectively been mentored by the facilitator. One is an instructional aide who teaches drumming after school, one is a PE coach, and one is a culture and community coordinator (and former professional singer) responsible for mindfulness-based learning. They will receive formal online training in Beat the Odds® and its Youth-Led Model, and they will each receive a copy of the self-guided curriculum manual. All three want to be able to support the continuation of the AGLA elective classes, and the instructional aide already teaches after school at ASL.
In addition, we have already trained a counselor, who has experience as a drummer and drum circle facilitator, to deliver Beat the Odds® to Alma Fuerte School, which shares a campus with ASL. After learning about what we were delivering at ASL, the principal of Alma Fuerte asked for help bringing Beat the Odds® to their after-school program.
Outcomes
Students at AGLA reported strong gains in every domain we measured, particularly learning to express themselves, learning to try new things, learning to speak in front of others, learning that it’s okay to make mistakes (this builds a growth mindset that achieves more), learning to take creative risks, and noticing how they feel and how other people feel.
They looked forward to the class, made better friends with their classmates, reported benefits of finding their voice, learning to speak in front of others and lead, improving their mood, and feeling more relaxed and confident.
Fourth and fifth grade students reported gains across the board, particularly in learning to express themselves, learning to try new things, learning teamwork, learning that it’s okay to make mistakes (this builds a growth mindset that achieves more), learning to take creative risks, and noticing how they feel and how other people feel.
They looked forward to the class, made better friends with their classmates, reported benefits in increased confidence, feeling better, and connecting with friends.
TK to third grade students looked forward to sessions, had fun, and made better friends with their classmates.
Facilitator Anecdotes
“The room has no AC, [so] I’ve incorporated a five-minute water break in the middle of class, where I offered the opportunity for students to jam if they would like. During this time, the one sixth grader that we have in the class jumped on the piano and started playing. All the students joined in on the drum kit and other drums to add to the sound. It was a fantastic community moment. The student who jumped on the piano was extremely introverted and didn’t use many words. I took this opportunity to highlight that he became a leader, even without talking and using a bunch of words. We have been discussing the many different leadership styles, and this was a fantastic example of that. On his way out, a male student in the 10th grade stopped me to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Ray. I like this class a lot. Like a lot a lot.’ ”
“We were talking about ways to soothe ourselves when we get angry or sad. One student mentioned that we should “think about something that we loved.” We took this opportunity to go around the circle and have each person name one thing that they love. One student mentioned that the place they loved doesn’t exist anymore because of the fires. I asked the class, who else lost a place that they love because of the fires. Almost everyone raised their hand. I took this opportunity to discuss what we loved about those places. We then went through a visualization exercise, imagining those places in their best shape and form, and remembering how they made us feel. We discussed how we can always go back in our memory and have that place be there, just the way we liked it. We took this opportunity to discuss ways to soothe or deal with those emotions of loss. Students generated the ideas of: listening to music, going for a walk, going for a bike ride, taking a nap, playing with their friends and much much more.”
“During class number two, a grown-up poked her head around my class and was looking around. A student was leading the class, so I excused myself to go talk to her. She is the school counselor, who was hoping to pull a student in the 11th grade out of my class to go for counseling. She said, ‘He looks so engaged, so I think I might leave him be. He usually is not engaged during class.’ She has a hard time getting the student she came for to express himself, yet she got to watch him express his mood in three different ways.”
“I was speaking to the school counselor yesterday and mentioned that these might be my last couple weeks. He said that would be a shame, since most of the students say this is their favorite class.”
“I was working on affirmations with the kindergarten class. And described it as something you could say to make yourself or someone else feel good or strong. Got a few sweet ones, like ‘you are kind’ and ‘I love you.’ Then a young boy said ‘watermelon.’ I asked him and he said watermelon always makes him feel better! So we drummed watermelon. After which it became about fruit. So we all went with it.”
“Today we were talking about our responsibilities with fourth graders and one girl coined the term ‘brother sitting’ because babysitting isn’t hard, but brother is the toughest type of sitting there is. All the other students agreed, and I asked how many of them had to ‘brother sit’ and at least half groaned! Lol.”
“I was setting up and the dance teacher was leaving, and she was saying that in their gratitude circle many of the students said they were grateful for drums.”
Why Beat the Odds® for Fire-Impacted Schools?
Fire-impacted students need resilience that comes from finding their voice, finding belonging, and working together to make a difference in their school and community. This FireAidLA Community Grant, for which we are most grateful, has enabled us to fine-tune delivery of the program to fire-impacted youth. Beat the Odds® is a powerfully effective program that integrates the innate benefits of group drumming and group counseling to enable participants to reflect on life, share their inner world, and connect with others. This settles the brain to enable learning. Research has shown that playing rhythms and moving in sync is not only rewarding to the brain but also it makes us feel more similar to and compassionate towards others—even making us more likely to stand up for someone who is being treated unfairly if we have shared an in-sync rhythmic experience with them. Renowned 20th century educator, Paolo Freire, noted that shared creative experiences lead to meaningful dialogue, and individual and group empowerment.
Forward Momentum in 2026
We have a growing list of at least ten additional fire-impacted schools in Pasadena who are in need of Beat the Odds®. To start, we aim to work with the Waldorf School, which has suffered greatly from two moves in one year. They also have a K-12 model, which would enable sustainable delivery of the program by older youth to younger ones, which enhances the power of the program. Older youth are incentivized to model positive behavior for the younger ones who, in turn, are inspired to model after them. We are actively seeking funding for direct delivery to students, training/mentorship of student and staff leaders, and drumming equipment. If you know of any funding opportunities that could be a good fit, please contact ping@artsandhealinginitiative.org.