HF OS dove into an afternoon full of team-building activities as they began preparing for their Snowflake and Snowflurry events. With over 70 students leaders, HF brought the energy and excitement as they stepped out of their comfort zones, learned more about the other leaders in their groups, and honed their communication skills. While it may have just been the start of their preparations, this group is ready to give their all, lead by example, and encourage others to participate in OS programming.

If your OS Team is looking for different team-building activities or is looking for someone to facilitate a team-building training, please reach out to Michaela Price, michaela@ilabh.org.

West Aurora OS hosted OS, Inc. for a Facilitation training ahead of their upcoming OS retreat. This Team learned new effective communication skills, were able to practice facilitating different conversations, and were encouraged to trust every member of their OS Team. West Aurora brought an infectious energy during their 3-hour training, that helped each activity resonate more with each member.

OS, Inc. is still available for Facilitation trainings for the 2025-2026 school year, if your OS Team wants to schedule your training, please contact Michaela (michaela@ilabh.org) for availability.

OS, Inc. invites you to nominate someone for our 2026 Annual Awards. These awards recognize outstanding leadership and contributions to the field of prevention over the last year. All accredited teams are encouraged to submit nominations!

Make sure to get those nominations in by February 20 at 5:00pm.

OS, Inc. invites you to mark your calendar now for the Spring Snowball Showcase and the 2025-2026 Annual Awards Banquet. This year both events will be held on the same day, with the Awards Banquet taking place right after lunch.



• DATE: Thursday, April 9
• TIME: 9:00am - 2:30pm
• LOCATION: Hilton Chicago/Oak Brook Hills Resort & Conference Center
• FEE: $30/person

Disclaimer: Registration is coming soon and is available to all OS Teams and individuals. This event is first come first serve on seats. If you have any questions please contact Michaela Price.

As a reminder, all accredited OS Teams have access other the Accredited OS Team's Only Portal. This portal contains many amazing resources; OS, Inc. toolkits and guides, OS energizer videos, upcoming awareness events, OS logos for Team use, sample social media posts, and so much more.

Steps to logging in...

• Go to the OS, Inc. website
• Click the button in the top right corner (Accredited Team Login)
• Type in the password (OperationSnowball2025)
• Enjoy all the amazing resources

This portal is available to ALL accredited OS Teams for the remainder of the 2025-2026 school year. If you have any issues or questions regarding the OS Team Portal, please reach out to Michaela Price, michaela@ilabh.org!

OS, Inc. wanted to remind OS Teams that Cvent offers a seamless registration process, allowing Teams to register for all webinars with a single form. The registration process also allows Teams to register as an entire unit to view the webinars together or Teams have the option to register individually for any of the pre-recorded webinars. Along with the webinar videos, OS Teams can also access speaker contact information, speaker bios, and worksheets that can help OS Teams process the session and begin implementing steps into their action plan.

OS, Inc. worked to provide OS Teams with a variety of new speakers and content that helped to fuel their action plans and promotes positive impacts in their communities. The 2025-2026 OS, Inc. Webinar Series has 11 pre-recorded webinars that covers content that empowers students to build stronger action plans, use their voices to create positive impact, and engage with more prevention education efforts. 

What will my OS Team get out of these webinars?

• S.M.A.R.T. goal setting
• Learning about boundaries and healthy relationship (of all kinds)
• Ditching the pressure and finding true purposes
• Underage gambling prevention
• Youth empowerment - using their voices for good
• So much more...

How long are the webinars available? All webinars are available until June 30 at 5:00pm (CST). At that time, registration will close and OS Teams will no longer be able to access any of the webinars.

Who can register? Any accredited OS Team or any student/adult from a currently accredited OS Team! 



Need a Certificate of Completion? After watching your selected webinar(s) you will be asked to fill out an evaluation of the session and overall experience. Once that is completed you will receive your certificate of completion!

Over January 17-18, the Cebrin Goodman Teen Institute (CGTI) hosted its annual Mid-Year camp at the Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in Normal, IL.

The CGTI Mid-Year brought together over 300 youth and adults from across Illinois and beyond, with the shared mission of making a positive impact at the local level. 26 Action Teams, including 20 Operation Snowball Teams, worked on evaluating, improving and creating action plans to target community issues, supported by data, with student-led solutions. Over the next semester, Action Teams will implement their plans, leading to long-lasting positive change! 

During the event, participants attended a keynote and workshops, ranging in topics including building resiliency and coping strategies, vaping prevention, the connections between substance use and mental illness, effective communication, and leadership development. Sessions provided tangible takeaways to be used in action planning and community betterment. Students also got to collaborate and network during discussion groups and during all-conference activities including the Saturday night celebration. 

Overall, the Mid-Year was a huge success and CGTI is proud to support the incredible work of Operation Snowball Teams across the state and around the world! Teams will be welcomed back to CGTI this summer, July 12-16 at Eastern Illinois University for the 53rd annual Cebrin Goodman Teen Institute. Applications open March 1 at www.cg-ti.org/cgti-summer-conference. Please email natalie@ilabh.org with any questions.

The Crete-Monee OS Team recently partnered with Generation Lead to kickstart the process of bringing the statewide campaign and resources into their school. They welcomed staff into the school to table during school lunch hours, which gave the opportunity to share interactive campaign materials with 1,500 students. Generation Lead also spent time meeting with the school’s College Career School Counselor and Principal to discuss the growth and partnership opportunities. 

Generation Lead has a robust inventory of free resources available to schools and communities and are always looking for innovative ways to bring the campaign into the hands of youth. If you are interested in this opportunity, please reach out at generationlead.org/contact. 

Problem Gambling Awareness Month (PGAM) 

Thinking of ways to expand your prevention efforts and add to your action plans? The month of March is Problem Gambling Awareness Month (PGAM) and during this month, the primary focus is to highlight the risks around gambling, prevention techniques, and raise overall awareness. Through trainings and workshops, we aim to empower our youth to understand gambling and to advocate against it to their peers. This month also utilizes the blue ribbon (like Red Ribbon Week) to show others that you care about awareness. If interested, please reach out to ryan@ilabh.org. 

Photovoice Opportunity

Photovoice empowers youth to share their perspective on gambling within their community. This project begins by educating youth about the gambling risks and prevention methods. Students explore their communities to identify and photograph real examples of gambling within their communities. Each photo is paired with a powerful caption created by the youth. There are four offerings for photovoice including: 1-session, 4-session, 8-session, and 16-session. Let Focus Youth Gambling come into one (or more) of your Snowball meetings and expand your prevention efforts. 

If you are interested in any of these programming opportunities or know someone who would be, please reach out to Ryan Aten at Ryan@ilabh.org ( 217-528-7335 ext. 30)