Shaka Soul Surfers (Part 2): Estefania Holt on Training Volunteers to Work with the Disability Community for Inclusive Recreation

When Estefania Holt transitioned from the traditional classroom to the open waves, she didn't just change her scenery—she transformed lives. On our latest episode, the founder of Shaka Soul Surfers shares how her innovative surf program is making waves in the special needs community, providing an uplifting and inclusive experience for children with developmental disabilities.

Episode Notes:

Welcome to Part Two of our engaging conversation with Estefania Holt, the inspiring founder of Shaka Soul Surfers. In this episode, we dive deeper into Estefania's unique approach to volunteer training, community building, and the power of surfing as a tool for social skills development and community integration.

Join us as Estefania shares her journey from special education teacher to passionate advocate for individuals with developmental disabilities. She provides insight into the challenges she faced and the innovative solutions she implemented to create a safe, inclusive, and empowering environment for the community she's serving and her volunteers.

Connect with Estefania Holt and Shaka Soul Surfers:
For more information or to get in touch with Estefania and Shaka Soul Surfers, visit https://www.shakasoulsurfers.org/contact.html.

Episode Highlights:

• Estefania's approach to volunteer training and community building.
• The transformative power of surfing for social skills development and community integration.
• The impact of working with high school volunteers and creating long-lasting relationships.
• Estefania's journey from special education teacher to a passionate advocate for the disability community.

Sponsor Message:

A heartfelt thank you to our generous sponsors, Specially Designed Education Services (SDES), publishers of The Functional Academics Program.

SDES's collaborative efforts with educators and families pave the way for a more inclusive and supportive learning environment. Their Functional Academics Program empowers students with moderate to severe disabilities to improve their ability to live independently and show meaningful growth both academically and personally.

To learn more, visit sdesworks.com.

Support the show

Barbara Beck is the host of the FAST 15 Podcast. She is a highly dedicated Disability Advocate and Special Education Consultant specializing in IEP Transition Services. Barbara has an extensive background as a special education teacher spanning nearly 30 years. She has dedicated her career to empowering transition-age youth and fostering positive post-school outcomes.

Barbara's expertise lies in providing comprehensive support and guidance to students with disabilities, ensuring their successful transition from school to adult life. She possesses a deep understanding of secondary services and possesses the skills to develop tailored strategies that maximize individual potential.

For more information and resources on special education school-to-adulthood transition planning and independent living, visit www.mykeyplans.com. Join us on social media for updates, behind-the-scenes content, and discussions about special education, inclusion, and disability advocacy. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn and use #IEPLaunchpadPodcast to join the conversation. Thank you for tuning in to the IEP Launchpad Podcast! 🎧🎙️#IDD #teaching #specialed #specialneeds #InclusionMatters #DisabilityAdvocacy #EmpowerVoices #edtech, #education #edtech, #teachers

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to part two of our engaging conversation
with Estefania Holt, theinspiring founder of Shaka Soul
Surfers.
In this episode, we dive deeperinto Estefania's approach to
volunteer training, communitybuilding and the power of
surfing as a tool for socialskills development and community
integration.
Estefania shares her journeyfrom special education teacher

(00:24):
to a passionate advocate forindividuals with developmental
disabilities.
She offers insight into thechallenges she faced and the
innovative solutions sheimplemented to create a safe,
inclusive and empoweringenvironment for the community
she's serving and her volunteers.
Let's continue to exploreEstefania's impactful work and

(00:45):
discover the lessons we canlearn from her incredible
support of parents andparticipants.
I think any parent just simplywants their child to be safe, to
be known, to be understood, tobe loved or they cared for, and
if there is fear around thatthat they might want to pull
back, they might not want tocontinue to enter in and have

(01:06):
the experience.
But for you to understand wherethose things come from, that it
is grounded in communication,that there are barriers, that
the families in your community.
I love that so much.
I was wondering, when you'retalking about the volunteers,

(01:28):
how you recruit people, how youmake sure that they're trained
up properly.
Can you tell about just yourapproach to volunteers in that
aspect, just making sure thatthey're equipped and ready to
enter into the experience withyou.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
So for Shaka Soul Surfers, it's me and my dad who
primarily opened it, myco-workers I have two co-workers
that have been involved at thebeginning, so they're a lot of
help.
When it comes to what I like tosay, the special needs aspect,
we're all PCM trained, which isprofessional crisis management.
We are able to restrain kids ifneeded Doesn't happen, but we

(02:04):
are safely doing it.
We're able to restrain kids ifneeded, it doesn't happen, but
we are safely doing it.
We're all CPR certified.
We're all behavioral analysiscertified, all those things, and
that's what we do at our job.
So that's that.
So I was very good aboutopening Shaka up with them.
What I ran into, which was anissue that I wanted volunteers,
but with adult volunteers,because this again, this is a

(02:26):
very as much as this is a funsport.
It's you have the water and youI did my.
I do all kids divergent,neurodiverse, I do all of it but
my primary goal was my kidsthat I had at super school, so I
wanted to be able to haveadults handle it, but no adults
wanted to do it.

(02:48):
It was a weird thing where Iwould put it out there and
people wanted to get paid, whichI understand as an adult, you
have to live your life and youhave to get paid, but for a
volunteer out of the good ofyour heart.
But I got these high schoolvolunteers and they have been
like it has blown me away howamazing.
And that's want to touch backto the whole comfort thing.

(03:11):
I have had a huge group of highschool volunteers along with
the adult volunteers, but it hasbeen so consistent that what I
love about Shaka Soul Servers isthere is a relationship not
only like Saturday afterSaturday, but year after year.
So I had two volunteers therenow in college but they were
siblings and cousins of kidsthat were in my school.

(03:36):
These kids were very dedicated.
Summer after summer they'relike, yeah, I want this person
this time.
I love this person.
And it created thatcomfortability of these parents
knew that they were going to becared for by the same people and
that they were enthusiastic andthey're high schoolers yeah,
but there's no better place tobe with at the beach.

(03:58):
A lot of these parents like,ooh, volunteering for that, but
I'm like you're not in abuilding, you're not doing which
.
I'm not saying anything bad,but you're not picking garbage
on the side of the road.
It's not anything like that.
You're at the beach and youhave fun, and the kids, when
they're not volunteering, theysurf.
But not once have I ever beenlike no, I don't want this kid.
I don't want this kid.
Every single high schoolvolunteer because they want to

(04:21):
be molded you know what I meanthey want to step up.
They want to step up and yeah,they're, they step up.
They're like, hey, listen, wehave one.
So she is a biter and she hasseizures.
Is anyone uncomfortable?
Not one kid was ever, from 13to 18, being like no, I'm good,
I'll.
And we always have people, thatadults, that are on standby to

(04:44):
make sure that they're okay.
And when I do have a big groupof volunteer, they always make
sure I have a veteran volunteerwith newer volunteers and they,
they, and some of them were like, yeah, now because of this, I
want to be a special needsteacher, because that impact
that you can have on someone'slife, their trajectory, where

(05:06):
they're heading, what they wantto be doing.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
Just investing your time with high school students
and helping them to see you canreally create a career path that
continues this journey thatwe're on together.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
That's what I started .
It's so crazy because I startedShaka Soul Surfers primarily
for my kids, as I said before,but because of the support we've
gotten from high school surfersthat are in high school.
They literally volunteer andthey're like I really want to
start surfing.
Now I have them.
They're competing on a nationallevel.

(05:40):
I have people that I we have aprogram called Lend a Shaka
where if they volunteer andthey're really passionate about
it and I know boards are veryexpensive we'll donate a board
to them and they'll text me onthe weekends hey, I'm out here
ripping it with some other Shakapeople.
I think a couple of them havestarted dating.
It's like a whole thing.

(06:01):
I love it.
It's turned into a communityinstead of a special needs
nonprofit.

Speaker 3 (06:07):
That's amazing.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
I've had some of the Shaka volunteers start
babysitting some of the specialneeds kids because the parents
feel comfortable.
It's turned into a communityand I'm very happy, wonderful.

Speaker 1 (06:18):
Now, before we continue with our discussion, I
want to take a moment to talkabout something exciting
happening in the world ofeducation.
Have you heard of FunctionalAcademics by SDES?
Their collaborative effortswith educators and families are
paving the way for a moreinclusive and supportive
learning environment.
Stay tuned for more details inthis brief word from our

(06:40):
sponsors.

Speaker 3 (06:43):
Functional Academics by SDES's collaborative work
with educators and families,just like you, provides an
in-depth understanding of yourneeds in the community we serve.
You've asked, we listen, it'scoming.
Stay tuned with more to come atSDESworkscom.

Speaker 1 (07:02):
Thank you, SDES, for your continued commitment to
innovative approaches tobuilding functional academics in
our special educationclassrooms and for your support
of our FAS15 champions.
Now let's get back to thisepisode and our conversation.
Wonderful Is this a full yearthing?

(07:24):
Is it all year or just seasonal?
How often do you provide thoseopportunities for the community?

Speaker 2 (07:31):
Yeah, so the actual surfing program is seasonal
because once you get in thewintertime there's hurricane
season, because we do live inFlorida.
It gets cold but then notreally gets cold, but the cold
front that comes through it's aripping season.
It's the actual surfing season.
Summer is primarily flat, whichis great because for our kids

(07:54):
and the disabilities and justmost of the physical
disabilities and need a lot ofassistance, it's really good.
So we do offer that program butwe do have events.
You know we have competitionamongst the kids and we do have
fundraisers here and there.
So we keep it open from Marchuntil November doing events,
fundraisers.

(08:15):
But the actual surfing seasonis in June, july, a little bit
of August and we do communityevents where we have different.
We've had a therapy program,super school.
They come out and they do likea surf day that we provide for
them for free.
So that's it's seasonal, butit's from March to November.

Speaker 1 (08:34):
I gotcha, so tell us where.
To November I gotcha, so tellus where to find.
How can people find you?
Where are you located?
How do they reach out, Just ifthey want to learn more, if they
want to get connected, if theywant to sign up for surf school.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
Tell our listeners where they can find you and find
Shaka Soul Surfers?
Yeah, for sure.
So I worded it so Shaka SoulSurfer is basically who my dad
is, where they don't reallycompete, but they've gone all
over the world and my papa, mydad, his name is Carl Nichols.
He literally is like a symbolfor surfing.
So I put Shaka soul surfers andthat's where everyone can find

(09:20):
me.
If you just put it in Googlecause I put a much mesh of words
together we're located inDeerfield Beach, florida.
Okay, they can.
We have Shaka soul surfers onFacebook and Instagram.
We have our website.
Um, just push Shaka soulsurfers on Google and you can.
Definitely you'll see us.
We're everywhere.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
Fantastic, fantastic.
And you're wearing a very coolshirt and I actually want to get
one, so I'm going to try tofigure out a way I can buy one
of those, absolutely.
But yeah, let me ask you onelast question If you could go
back in time to your time in theclassroom, what word of advice
would you give yourself when youwere going through some of the

(09:58):
more difficult times?
Just something that we canencourage our listeners who are
just starting in the field.

Speaker 2 (10:05):
Yeah, I was actually thinking about this since I saw
this question and I reallydidn't know.
But after talking with you fora little bit, I think the advice
I would give my younger self orother people really think
outside the box.
I know in school they teach youthese are the steps for you to
do these things or anything whenit comes to teaching,

(10:27):
especially special needs.
When I was in school it was sorigid and I'm like, okay, cool,
this is how I have to do it.
Don't do that.
Think outside the box.
If something is not working,there is something out there for
everyone.
You just need to.
It's not always there, but youneed to come up with it.
Just think outside the box.

(10:48):
If it wasn't for my time atsuper school and if it wasn't
for my, I got my master's.
If it wasn't my time for that,I got it in criminal justice.
I'm not using it, but just to,I think, thinking outside the
box before we end.
I was going to school forspecial needs and because of
unforeseen circumstances, I didnot graduate with that degree.

(11:11):
Okay, and I was very lucky tofind I was very lucky to find
Caitlin, who I knew, and shebrought me back into this, but I
just didn't.
I thought outside the box andit just led me to here.
And it's not rigid and I knowthat's not how life is, but with
special needs there's alwayssomething for everybody.
You just need to think outsidethe box, that's true.

(11:32):
And that's what I didn't dowhile I was, when I was working
as a teacher.
I was just like okay, like whenis this going to end or change
or finish or start?
That's how I was thinking, andyou can't think that way.
You need to think okay, thisstarted, what can I do to help
myself or others, or justanother person, Because that

(11:54):
might end up leading yousomewhere you didn't expect it
to.

Speaker 1 (11:58):
Right and your journey is a beautiful journey.
You've taken your own passionto really incredible places to
impact a lot of people.
So I just want to tell youthank you so much for spending
time to share your story, shareabout the work that you're doing
out there with the surf school,and just I just want to applaud
you and tell you keep going andkeep thinking outside the box,

(12:21):
like you said.
So thank you so much.
We'll make sure that in theshow notes there's all the
information to get connected toChaka Soul Surfers and Estefania
Holt.
Thank you so much and I hope totalk to you soon.
Thank you so much.
Please come down to Florida.
We would love to have you.
Yes, I am planning on booking atrip soon.

(12:41):
All right, take care, all right, thanks.
A heartfelt thank you to ourgenerous sponsors, specially
Designed Education Services.
Publishers of the FunctionalAcademics Program, please take a
moment to learn more about theonly true, comprehensive
functional academics programthat enables students with

(13:01):
moderate to severe disabilitiesto improve their ability to live
independently and showmeaningful growth, both
academically and personally,while creating accountability
with data-driven, evidence-basedresults.
Visit SDESworkscom to learnmore.