Empowering More Students to Be Makers is an Investment in Our Future

Last year, US2020 launched the STEM Coalition Challenge, with support from Schmidt Futures and the Arconic Foundation. The Challenge was a competition for communities across the country to develop cross-sector partnerships to bring quality hands-on maker-centered learning to underrepresented students at scale through STEM mentorship. More than 90 communities participated, signalling a significant need and demand for the tools, resources, programs and support that will help schools, libraries, museums and other youth-serving organizations engage students in maker centered learning with mentors.

Business Leaders Value Broader Range of Skills for Career Success

The importance of social and emotional skills in the workplace has been well-documented, but a virtual focus group of business leaders hosted by the Commission and Citizen Schools on July 25 revealed the broader array of skills that today’s employers value such as intellectual curiosity, willingness to give and receive feedback, personal ownership of problems and challenges, and recognition of unconscious bias.

Paul Reville: Resegregated Schools Are A Reflection Of A Divided City

Paul Reville on Boston Public Radio discusses recent findings by the Boston Globe that allege Boston Public Schools are “intensely segregated.” Reville points to investing in after-school education programs, like Citizen Schools, as “one way to level the playing field.”

Media CoverageWhitney BuckleyAugust 20, 2018paul reville, boston globe, boston public schools

Norwell resident receives President’s Volunteer Service Award

Each year, the President of the United States recognizes volunteers around the country who have done outstanding service. This year, Norwell resident Michael Bevilacqua was one of the recipients of the President’s Volunteer Service Award. Bevilacqua is a Citizen Teacher, part of Citizen Schools, an organization that partners with low-income communities to provide students with enriching experiences outside of the classroom in hands-on artistic, scientific and legal apprenticeships. Some of these apprenticeships include rocket science, 3D printing, mock trial, documentary filmmaking, social justice and photography.

Mohamad Ali, CEO & President, Carbonite Delivers Keynote Address at WOW!NOW Breakfast

At our annual WOW!NOW celebration in Boston, Mohamad Ali spoke about the importance of hiring employees with diverse perspectives and skillsets, how Citizen Schools is helping to close the 'IT skills gap,' and called on our cities, states and country to come together to provide opportunities for all students to have an equal opportunity for high-quality education.

Massachusetts, NationalWhitney BuckleyJuly 27, 2018mohamad ali, carbonite, IT Skills Gap, Equal Opportunity

Somerville Citizen teachers honored with President’s Volunteer Service Award

Each year, the President of the United States recognizes volunteers throughout the country with the President’s Volunteer Service Awards (PVSA). Somerville residents Alexandra Armstrong, Gabriel Begun and Xinyue Lu are among this year’s recipients. They shared their professional “know-how” with middle school students in low-income communities during after school hours. The mentorship and support they provide is helping close the opportunity gap which exists between students in underserved communities and their peers from more affluent communities.

CA Technologies Releases Latest Sustainability Report

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CA Technologies (NASDAQ:CA) today announced the release of its latest Sustainability Report, as further evidence of the company’s long-term commitment to operational efficiency. The company has reduced its carbon footprint by approximately 50 percent since first taking part in the initiative in 2006.

Valuing Diversity in The World of Tech

Guest Post By: Teresa Fan, Software Engineer, Google and Coding Academy Coach

These opinions are my own and not meant to officially represent Google.

This past year, I had the opportunity to serve as a coach for the first Citizen Schools Coding Academy program, and I had the very special experience of working with one particular student that made a lasting impression on me.

New YorkRebecca GentschJuly 2, 2018google, coding academy

Celebration of Service

At a special gathering on Friday, June 15 Citizen Schools New York’s team celebrated the incredible work of our 2nd-year AmeriCorps Teaching Fellows who have successfully completed their 2 years of service with Citizen Schools.

Celebrating Students: WOW! Showcase Events

Each year, we excitedly look forward to WOW! student showcases, which celebrate the culmination of our students’ hard work throughout their apprenticeships. At these events, students get to show off all that they have accomplished and families, friends, and volunteers get to enjoy interactive presentations and other festive activities. Every campus in New York had a chance to shine with their very own campus celebration--complete with a pun-inspired theme.

New YorkRebecca GentschJune 29, 2018WOW!, citizen schools new york, Harry Potter

NYC Mayoral Service Awards

At Citizen Schools, we envision a world in which schools, companies and families partner to provide students with a set of real-world learning experiences that put them on a path to college and career success. Here at CSNY, we are lucky to have volunteers representing so many different fields each semester. From an introduction to neuroscience with Columbia University, to a public speaking master class with a Googler, we couldn’t do what we do without our amazing CTs! CSNY recognizes the hard work and dedicated service of our volunteers through the NYC Mayoral Service Awards.

Spring WOW! Season Highlights

This spring, we were proud to host another successful WOW! season in California. From yoga and tai chi to backpacking, web design and more, our students had no shortage of amazing apprenticeships to chose from this semester. We're so proud of all that our students have learned - and so thankful to all our amazing volunteer Citizen Teachers!

CaliforniaWhitney BuckleyJune 25, 2018WOW!, backpacking, tai chi, web design

Citizen Schools Celebrates, Connects and Transforms at Annual BenefitED Gala

On Tuesday May 1, the Citizen Schools community gathered at the Computer History Museum to celebrate our community at our annual BenefitEd 2018 Gala. So many of our amazing partners had the opportunity to connect with our students, volunteers, school partners and each other, to celebrate yet another successful semester of hard work and apprenticeships at our WOW! Gallery, and to help transform the lives of our Bay Area students.

CaliforniaWhitney BuckleyJune 25, 2018benefitEd

Entrepreneurship Apprenticeship Inspires Students to Raise Money for Charity

Yearlong apprenticeships come with a unique set of challenges; the challenge of keeping students engaged for a full year, the challenge of creating an extensive curriculum to incorporate a years’ worth of learning, and the challenge of finding volunteer Citizen Teachers willing to make twice the usual time commitment for an apprenticeship (it’s usually just one semester!). This spring, the Entrepreneurship Apprenticeship at Renaissance Academy at Fischer in San Jose, CA, a first of its kind, certainly had its share of challenges - but the outcome was more than Stephanie Lin, the AmeriCorps Teaching Fellow overseeing the class could have imagined.

Biogen Foundation Awards Citizen Schools $2M Grant in Support of STEM Education

Citizen Schools has been awarded a $2M grant from the Biogen Foundation as part of the foundation's recently announced STAR Initiative. As 1 of 6 recipients of the STAR (Science, Teacher Support, Access and Readiness) Initiative, Citizen Schools will expand its signature apprenticeship program to provide hands-on STEM courses, taught by experts, to thousands of middle school students in the Somerville district, and to support classroom teacher instruction during the school day.

Biogen Foundation Selects Grantees to Receive $10 Million Investment for STEM Education

The Biogen Foundation today announced the six nonprofits that will share a previously-announced four-year, $10 million grant to drive the development of local STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education ecosystems in Cambridge and Somerville.

Media Coverage, MassachusettsWhitney BuckleyJune 19, 2018biogen, Biogen Foundation, STEM education, STEM

Citizen Schools Celebrates Community, Partnership and Student Success with WOW!NOW Breakfast at JFK Library

On Friday June 1, Citizen Schools’ diverse community of volunteer Citizen Teachers, corporate and community partners, AmeriCorps Teaching Fellows, Citizen Schools staff, students, family and friends gathered at the John F Kennedy Presidential Library in celebration of the impressive work of our students, Teaching Fellows and volunteer Citizen Teachers over the last year.

Citizen Schools Massachusetts Students and Alumni Receive Awards in Honor of Andrew Balson and Sherif Nada

Every year, Citizen Schools honors the impact that Andrew Balson and Sherif Nada have had on Citizen Schools in their former roles as National Board chairs and in their current roles as Directors Emeriti with the presentation of two awards - The Andrew Balson Leadership Award and Sherif Nada Legacy Award. These awards are presented to two current and two former Citizen Schools Massachusetts students, respectively. This year, the award ceremony was held on May 22, 2018 and members of the community, staff, family and friends joined our National Board to celebrate at Citizen Schools headquarters in Boston.

Project Exploration Wins 2018 STEM Coalition Challenge

Project Exploration was selected from 92 applications from 82 communities across 35 states, representing more than 1,800 nonprofits, companies, school districts, and local government partners. Project Exploration (PE) is honored to have been selected as a finalist in the US2020 Challenge. As a finalist, Project Exploration sent representatives, Natasha Smith-Walker and Kelsey Galante, to attend the US2020 Collaboratory in Pittsburgh in February 2018.

Farrell runs clinic, donates school supplies in Somerville

New England Revolution right back Andrew Farrell recently visited the East Somerville Community School as the Revs wrapped up their apprenticeship program through Citizen Schools with a clinic and a donation of school supplies.

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Guest Post By: Teresa Fan, Software Engineer, Google and Coding Academy Coach