Established in February 2006 in the City of Santa Clarita, Vital Intervention and Directional Alternatives (VIDA), is an intensive 16-week program designed to assist “at-risk” teens, between the age of 12 and 17. In providing the program, the City of Santa Clarita and the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station recognize the importance of offering counseling, family action, community service, physical training, team building, and career guidance to wayward youth in our community. All this is done in an effort to help redirect negative behavior of our youth, who may be tempted to explore gang affiliation, drug use, or crime.
On Saturday, November 15, 2014, Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station VIDA competed in the VIDA games at Lynwood High School. The competition is between all 7 VIDA sites countywide, and consists of a knowledge portion, a close order drill portion and physical training portion. Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station VIDA was the games overall winner and took home the coveted VIDA games cup trophy.
On Thursday, December 4th, 2014, the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station VIDA awards night took place. It was a night to recognize all the 17 participants that worked so hard over the past 16 weeks. Each participant received a class photo and "dog tag" with their name and class number on it, so that VIDA will always stay close to their heart. There were a couple special awards also given that night for those participants that stood out to the VIDA staff. The Deputy Award went to Emilio Castillo. The Honor, Courage and Commitment Awards went to Louis Goodman and Ricardo Centurion. Most Motivational Award went to D'Aundre Hayes and the Honor Participant award went to Alicia Duprey.
On Saturday, December 6th, 2014, seventeen of the original twenty-two Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station VIDA participants attended the countywide VIDA graduation. The national anthem was sung by Santa Clarita Valley VIDA graduate Alicia Duprey, who also was awarded the honor participant award which is given to one participant from each site that embodied all of the VIDA characteristics that the staff looked for over the 16 week program. It was another very successful VIDA class, and the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station is extremely proud of all the participants.
We are presently taking children for the upcoming February 2015 VIDA class. If you are interested please call Deputy Ferrone at 661-510-0881 or email to[email protected]
You can also visit www.santaclarita.lasd.org
Written By:
Deputy Joshua Dubin
Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff's Station
661-255-1121
[email protected]
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
