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As everyone at Shanthi Project eases into a new year, we continue to reflect with gratitude on what 2024 brought us. Over the course of twelve months, a lot can happen — which is why, at the end of each year, we compile an impact report that highlights our achievements, consolidates the data we collect annually, and lays out our plans for the new year.
While creating this report in 2024, we were thrilled to discover that, for the first time ever, our organization reached over 5,500 children and adults with our mindfulness education, representing an unprecedented expansion for Shanthi Project. This number includes individuals from a wide range of our programming and initiatives, including:
3,322 students in 109 classrooms
215 children at 4 summer camps
71 children at 4 afterschool programs
964 professionals served by Shanthi @Work, our workplace wellness program
1,100 individuals at presentations, training sessions, yoga classes, and more
To everyone who helped us reach this extraordinary number in 2024, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And while this statistic is perhaps our biggest achievement from the past year, the accomplishments don’t stop there. Keep reading for a glimpse at our impact from the past year, taken from our full annual report (which you can read here!).
Healing Trauma through Mindfulness
Our exciting 5,500+ figure includes 29 high school students who participated in our trauma-informed pilot program for victims of abuse. Called Healing Trauma through Mindfulness, this brand-new eight-week series served high schoolers in the Easton Area School District who have been referred for severe past and current trauma.
To our delight, the program proved as affecting and beneficial as we had hoped. Participants asked us to return in 2025, and feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with one student telling us, “Talking with the other students who have gone through similar hard times helps me feel like I’m not alone in life.”
On the administrative level, the program was also received positively:
“I can’t say enough great things about the impact of this much-needed group! It is by far one of the favorite groups we have at EAHS. I can’t thank the team enough for all the peace they bring to the tumultuous lives these kids endure!”- Elise Symia, MS - CIS Site Coordinator, Easton Area High School
On the back of this feedback, we’re so happy to share that we’ll be expanding this program in the new year!
Calm+Kind+Focused Updates
At the elementary school level, we collect data each year about the efficacy of our signature program, Calm+Kind+Focused: a research-backed, in-class curriculum that spans eight weeks. In 2024, we surveyed classroom teachers from 21 different classrooms in 4 separate schools, among 3 different Lehigh Valley school districts. Post-program, we learned that:
Still, outcomes like these can only tell us so much — so each year, we also collect testimonials from all those involved in Calm+Kind+Focused. We’ve included one of our favorites here, but for a larger selection, make sure to read our full annual impact report.
“As a teacher, the weekly mindfulness sessions help me to stop and take a breath when handling situations with students. I also find that taking a mindful moment as a class helps to calm and center everyone in the room to refocus and allow learning to occur.” - Stacy Confer, Jefferson Elementary
On the student side of things, we’ve compiled many pages of feedback from the children who participated in C+K+F — you can see those expressions here!
The 2024 report also goes into depth about our brand-new strategic programming plan for C+K+F. This plan, which will continue to impact our in-class program into 2025 and beyond, aims to expand access to mindfulness education and economically serve every grade level.
Serving Our Community
Community-based outcomes from our programs are more than just numbers, too. For instance, our full impact report highlights the overwhelmingly positive feedback we received regarding Shanthi @Work. Throughout the twenty-one workplace mindfulness sessions we conducted in 2024, we heard responses like:
“I was really impressed and enjoyed the engaging content that goes beyond the everyday mindful jargon. It was presented in an easy-to-absorb way.”
2024 was also the year we reimagined our offerings, presentations, and individualized approach to Shanthi @Work. This meant creating a revised, research-backed Shanthi @Work curriculum; training our mindfulness instructors with a thorough, workplace-specific program; and developing new offerings for organizations looking for team-building or retreat-style opportunities, including yoga, meditation, and art.
Keep an eye out in the early part of 2025 for a full launch of these new, customizable workplace wellness offerings!
Research Partnership with Muhlenberg College
Our report also details the ongoing research we’re conducting with Muhlenberg College, exploring last year’s primary research question: What factors (such as school climate or teacher background) may predict outcomes of mindfulness-based initiatives (like Calm+Kind+Focused) and teacher engagement in mindfulness?
In short, we found that school climate is particularly important when it comes to classroom teacher interest and engagement with mindfulness. This means that when faculty and staff consider their school climate to be favorable and ready for change, we observed higher teacher engagement with C+K+F.
These research findings have larger implications for our programming in the years ahead, particularly because existing peer-reviewed research further shows that higher teacher engagement leads to better behavioral outcomes for students. Now, with this knowledge, we can explore firsthand the link between a school’s larger climate and the effectiveness of our own programming. In other words, mindful classrooms are supported by mindful school communities.
Check out the full impact report to dive into the numbers and graphs behind these conclusions.
What’s in Store for 2025?
After a remarkable 2024, we’re entering the new year energized and excited; we’re rolling up our sleeves to work on our 2025 goals. The impact report captures just a handful of the many big plans we’ll execute this year, including:
Launching our Transition to Kindergarten Initiative in the Easton and Bethlehem Area School Districts
Expanding our Healing Trauma through Mindfulness program
Creating increased mindfulness resources for educators and families
Renewing our focus on enhanced community engagement
Officially kicking off our 15th Anniversary year-long celebration!
If, like us, these plans excite you, we encourage you to support us and our work in the new year. Contributions from people like you allow us to realize our goals for 2025, reach even further than 5,500 individuals, and deepen our mission of mindfulness education in the greater Lehigh Valley.
Our full impact report dives even deeper than this summary has covered. There’s still lots more to unpack – so if you’re interested in reading more about our past year, be sure to check out the full report here.
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