Coach's Corner
Fit for Success Story
Raymond Boateng — Site Coordinator, Belmont High School
Ever since childhood, Raymond has demonstrated a strong commitment to giving back to his community. A native of Ghana, he immigrated to the Rampart/Echo Park district of Los Angeles, California, with his family at age 7. Raymond first discovered A World Fit For Kids! (WFIT) in high school, and began volunteering to work with WFIT’s physical activity-based afterschool program at Plasencia Elementary School—one of WFIT’s many school sites within the underserved community where Raymond grew up. Soon after graduating from Belmont High School, he began working part-time as a Site Supervisor for WFIT’s afterschool program at Virgil Middle School, which he himself had attended.
Even while pursuing his Bachelor’s degree in Cinema & Television Arts at Cal State Northridge, Raymond continued playing a vital role on the WFIT team out of his commitment to empowering youth from his own neighborhood to lead healthy lives. “I didn’t want to leave such a rewarding and fun job where I was helping make a difference in these kids’ lives,” Raymond said.
Raymond worked diligently to align Virgil Middle School’s afterschool physical activity programming with the physical education students were receiving during the day. He also established a MySpace page through which Virgil students could easily connect with WFIT staff and receive instant updates about upcoming afterschool tournaments and events.
Raymond’s leadership skills, energy and creative approaches to youth development led to a full-time position in the WFIT office as the Middle School Program Coordinator. Now working as the Site Coordinator for his alma mater, Belmont High School, Raymond has contributed to the growing success of WFIT’s life-changing programs for young people in Los Angeles at every level—elementary through high school.