Welcome to the Citizen Teacher experience!

Volunteers are at the heart of our program and we greatly appreciate the time you invest in sharing your knowledge and skills with the children at our campuses throughout Massachusetts.  Apprenticeships are a defining element of the Citizen Schools program and are consistanetly what students call their "favorite part of Citizen Schools". In apprenticeships across the country, Citizen Schools students have designed solar cars, created public health websites, taught fellow students about the effects of drugs on the brain, studied aerodynamics, argued mock trials, published newspapers, programmed video games, and a lot more.

If you haven't registered yet, you can get started now. If you want more information or want to spread the word to your friends and colleagues, learn more from our volunteer page.  

We are committed to making your volunteer experience a great and positive one for you, from training and curriculum development to on-site, in-classroom support. I will be here to address any questions or challenges you encounter along the way.

Please feel free to contact me for questions or concerns that you may have.

We hope that you get as much out of volunteering as you are giving to our students!

Warm regards,

Melissa Rouette
Director of Civic Engagement
Citizen Schools Massachusetts

melissarouette@citizenschools.org
tel. 617.695.2300 ext.309

Bob Mersereau teaches astronomy apprenticeships where kids have tracked stars in space using online telescopes at the University Park Campus School in Worcester and Edwards Middle School in Charlestown.

Tell us about how you became a Citizen Teacher. I heard about it though the Aldrich Astronomical Society. This opportunity was so unique I wouldn't have missed it for the world. I love Citizen Schools' philosophy of hands-on learning. The astronomy curriculum that MIT and Harvard created fits well with the Citizen Schools philosophy.

Why do you work with middle school aged students? I had two aunts. One who bought me books and one who read me the books. They got me into science. I fell in love with it when I was six years old. At age ten or eleven I still loved science and I got my first telescope. At age six, you can fall in love with anything, but you can't do much about it. Middle school is the magic age where youngsters can actually do something that they fall in love with. This is the age of empowerment and exercising your passion.

What do you find rewarding about being a Citizen Teacher? I get to see students experience what they normally wouldn't have an opportunity to. They are learning how to use very complicated equipment - a telescope they can control over the internet. They also have access to different adults. For example, people from MIT will be coming to speak with them and they will present their WOW! to the Aldrich Astronomical Society. Also, they get to be teachers, reversing the role. I think this is empowering.

Lance Gunberg taught the "It's My Business" Apprenticeship at Keith Middle School in New Bedford. Lance came to Citizen Schools through his work as a volunteer with Junior Achievement of Southern Massachusetts and has a passion for teaching students about the world of business. His "It's My Business" apprenticeship taught students how to develop an entrepreneurial concept for an ethnic restaurant.

What is important about the topic you chose to teach? I think learning about business entrpreneurship is important for students in middle school because they are at a point in their lives when they are discovering who they are and what they want to do. It's not unusual for kids to have their own business, like babysitting. They are on the verge of becoming adults. It's important to expose them to possibilities that are available to them.

What do you find rewarding about being a Citizen Teacher? If you've made a difference, if you have exposed them to something new or have started someone on a path, it's satisfying. It's great when you get that moment of focus from the students or understanding from them - or even engaging them in a discussion. It can be a challenge, but I love the challenge. The satisfaction comes when you see that you are making at least a small difference to them.