Citizen Schools Students Take Top Prizes at Change the Future Hackathon
Over 30 students from Renaissance Academy participated in the Wells Fargo Change the Future hackathon on Friday May 31st at PwC offices in San Jose, the culminating event of Citizen Schools’ semester-long Change the Future coding clubs. Teaching Fellows at both Renaissance campuses implemented rigorous weekly sessions where student groups designed application prototypes to solve an issue in their community. In preparation for the hackathon, students spent hours researching, designing, and creating business plans for their apps
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Biogen Foundation partners with Citizen Schools to expand STEM apprenticeships in Somerville and Cambridge
In June of 2018, Citizen Schools was awarded a $2M grant from the Biogen Foundation as part of the foundation's recently announced STAR Initiative. As one of six recipients of the STAR (Science, Teacher Support, Access and Readiness) Initiative, funding will allow Citizen Schools to expand work in Somerville and Cambridge. One of the goals of this initiative is to show the impact that can be made when corporations partner with nonprofits, districts and communities so that other major corporations. Through this work, they hope to encourage other corporations to develop more of a partnership with their educational communities to provide more sustainable programs for children. The grantees from Star Network participated in an end-of-the-year STAR Initiative Showcase and Celebration on May 23rd at Lesley University to share the amazing work that was done over the past year.
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Celebrating Our Students: May 2019 WOW! Week Recap
At the end of each semester, we look forward to WOW! Week, a celebration of our students’ hard work from their apprenticeships. During this celebration, communities of family, friends, and volunteers gathered to view our students’ talents and skills through interactive presentations. Each of our four New York campuses held themed showcases to celebrate these accomplishments.
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A Celebration of Youth, Community & Culture
A celebration, of youth, community, and culture, brought together educators and volunteers on Thursday, May 23, to applaud students who had completed 10-week apprenticeships, all thanks to Citizen Schools, a non-profit that partners with middle schools across the United States to expand the learning day for children in low-income communities.
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Somerville Middle Schoolers Present to City Council on Affordable Housing
When five young women stepped up to present to the City Council on affordable housing, they demonstrated kids really are the future.
At the Somerville City Council’s May 23 full council meeting, five middle school students from the East Somerville Community School (ESCS) stepped up to share their research and thoughts on affordability in Somerville.
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Jennifer Eliezer AmeriCorps Teaching Fellow Wins Fulbright Award, Will Teach in Costa Rica
Many of our AmeriCorps members go on to achieve many accomplishments but the news of Jennifer Eliezer, AmeriCorps Teaching Fellow at Young Achievers in Mattapan, receiving the Fullbright Foreign Scholarship Award to teach abroad in Costa Rica, was beyond exciting. In her time here with Citizen Schools, Jennifer has built great connections with her students and we couldn’t be any more excited follow her journey.
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Partnership Guest Week at Citizen Schools New York
At Citizen Schools, we envision a world in which schools, companies, and families partner to provide students with real-world learning experiences that put them on a path to college and career success. We are thankful for our growing group of service-minded volunteer partners who are passionate about closing the opportunity gap. Fostering relationships with non-profits and universities allows Citizen Schools to provide our students with a diverse group of caring and supportive mentors. This year for the first time, Citizen Schools New York hosted a Partnership Guest Week in late April.
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The Verdict is in & the Jury has Voted in Citizen Schools Favor
This year, benefitEd was disguised as a mini mock trial. It was the Opportunity Gap vs. Citizen Schools. We honored the commitment of our long-time law partners, McDermott Will & Emery, Ropes & Gray, and Wilmer Hale. From start to finish, with close to 250 people in the room, once again, our students not only ran the show but stole it as well.
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How Students are Using a Consulting Mindset to Enact Sustainable Environmental Change
In the Citizen Schools apprenticeship, Carbon Footprint, students learn to research and analyze the carbon footprint of their school over the course of a 10-week period. Students develop skills around how to collect data, communicate with teammates, and eventually create an action plan for their school based on their findings.
This Spring is the second semester this class is offered at McKinley Institute of Technology (MIT) in Redwood City. Lead by a Citizen Teacher in her third semester, the current apprenticeship is taking experiential learning one step further, by engaging students in a process-oriented approach to increase effective recycling on campus.
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AmeriCorps Member Spotlight: Kenya Brown
At Citizen Schools, no role is more essential to the success of our students than that of the AmeriCorps Teaching Fellow. Citizen Schools National Teaching Fellows create extraordinary enrichment and academic support experiences for the students we serve the nation. On a daily basis, Fellows deepen connections between schools and parents, help to develop social-emotional skills through mentoring and coaching students, and facilitate hands-on learning opportunities through our apprenticeships
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Igniting Moments of Discovery at Citizen Schools’ WOW!NOW Breakfast
On Friday, April, 26th, Citizen Schools staff & students, families, AmeriCorps Teaching Fellows, corporate and community partners came together to celebrate the inspiring and hard work of middle school students, volunteer Citizen Teachers and AmeriCorps Teaching Fellows for our annual WOW!NOW Breakfast fundraising event.
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Capital One Coding Academy: Unlocking One's Potential
In the United States, there has been growing attention drawn to the staggering diversity gap that exists in the technology industry— as of 2018, less than 20% of the the tech workforce identifies as Black or Latino. While many agree that education is key to combating this trend, in 2016, only 15% of computer science degrees awarded in the United States were to students identifying as Black or Latino. Furthermore, less than 40% of K-12 schools in the United States offer computer programming courses. The continual lack of computer programming courses to children at an early age only serves to further the underrepresentation of people of color in the technology industry.
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Waiting for Spring Break to End
David Jacobson is a first time Citizen Teacher at McKinley Institute in Redwood City, but a lifelong coach and teacher. He teaches creative writing and has the experience to back it up in journalism, content counseling and marketing/communications! Now, he owns and runs Inkflow Communications, marketing and communications consulting. Click below to learn more about his experience volunteering with Citizen School.
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Citizen Schools hires Kyle Conley as Vice President, Impact
Kyle Conley joins Citizen Schools as Vice President, Impact on April 23, 2019. In her role, she will focus on driving impact in direct service with Expanded Learning Time and with Catalyst, Citizen Schools’ new teacher support initiative. Kyle will also oversee a national center of excellence around the core input and support for Citizen Schools program models, including talent, curriculum, training and Research and Evaluation. She joins a dynamic and committed team of leaders at both the regional and national level.
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SPLATs: A Revolutionary Encounter Between Education, Technology, Fitness and Fun
As each SPLATs lit up with different colors, so did the faces of our students who beamed with pride, joy, and curiosity as they began their unique SPLATs journey. SPLATs is a remarkable tool that exposed students to various STEM careers and academic pathways as they sharpened their skills in critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity. SPLATs didn’t just keep the students moving intellectually, they also were able to exercise physically. Some games focused on trivia, and others were speed-based competitions or obstacle courses. “Giraffes and Leaves” a game created by Mahdiat and Makayla allowed students to imagine they were in a safari, crawling over and around SPLATs as they ‘gathered leaves’ with their heads.
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3rd Annual Get CycED for Citizen Schools
On the morning of Saturday, March 30th, in an effort to fight the growing opportunity gap in New York, a group of our dedicated supporters came together to attend a high-energy spin class at SWERVE Fitness. A huge shout-out to our 8 teams that were geared up for a morning of calorie-burning, endorphins-boosting fun. Thanks to their passionate efforts, we were able to raise $46,597!
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US2020 Launches 4th Annual STEM Mentoring + Making Awards
CINCINNATI, OH – Today, with continued support from founding sponsor, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), US2020 announced the 4th annual STEM Mentoring + Making Awards. The awards are a national platform to celebrate and encourage exceptional work in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) mentoring. This year, US2020 has incorporated making into the title to reflect the growing interest and excitement around the maker-centered learning across the country. Learn more about this year’s awards and how to apply here.
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Meeting High Standards with goIT Curriculum
During winter intersession, the six weeks between the fall and spring semester, approximately 350 students in the Citizen Schools’ California region completed an academically rigorous STEM curriculum challenge. The curriculum created and licensed by Tata Consultancy Services, allows students to design paper and electronic prototypes of an app that will help solve a community problem. During their challenge, they get the chance to practice their design thinking skills through a lens of empathy while learning about different STEM careers.
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Celebrating our members for AmeriCorps Week
AmeriCorps Week is a time to salute our AmeriCorps members and alumni for their service!
It is a time to say ‘Thank You’ to our AmeriCorps community partners, and communicate AmeriCorps’ impact on communities and on the lives of those we serve. Each year during AmeriCorps Week, Citizen Schools and the Corporation for National and Community Service recognizes the commitment of AmeriCorps members and alumni by highlighting the remarkable impact AmeriCorps makes across our nation, every day.
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Citizen Schools Appoints Four New Board Members to National Board of Directors
Boston, MA – On February 26th, Citizen Schools welcomed four new members to their National Board of Directors. Tony Barnes, Joyce Coleman, Bing Howell and Vincent Letteri, bringing nearly 80 years of combined professional experience to the four seats who are all excited to share their expertise to help drive Citizen Schools forward.
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