New Mexico
A Community of Supporters Saves Program in Santa Fe
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Sahra Saedi is a First Year Teaching Fellow at De Vargas Middle School in Santa Fe, NM.
Students' educational opportunities were expanded through Citizen Schools at De Vargas Middle School
On the night of Tuesday, April 17th the Santa Fe school board was convened to make a decision that would affect the future of hundreds of middle school students in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The Santa Fe Citizen Schools staff and I packed ourselves into the humid public forum room. Elbow to elbow, we patiently waited for our opportunity to advocate for the Citizen Schools expanded learning program at De Vargas Middle School. Finally, the school board representatives crackled over their microphones alerting our pack of staff and well-wishers that the opportunity to speak on behalf of our vital program had come.
A line formed behind the public forum podium starting with our school’s principal and ending with three of our most supportive parents. The line of champions twisted around the room.
Principal Diane Garcia Piro started off by painting a picture of our school at a tumultuous crossroads until Citizen Schools began to flourish. Garcia talked about how students now look forward to coming to school because they have been given the tools to succeed.
Students Ruby Lopez, Carlo Quinones, and Suzette Tiscarreno sang the praises of the Citizen Schools program and how it had changed their life. Carlo, fresh off a trip to Washington, D.C. where he, his mother and former Citizen Schools New Mexico Executive Director, Sue Goodwin, endorsed Citizen Schools at our nation’s capital, stepped fearlessly to the microphone with unmatched determination. Carlo described how Citizen Schools had opened his eyes to a world of possibility he would have never otherwise known.
Kathryn Bueller, a De Vargas science teacher, who in the same meeting had been awarded National Teaching Board Certification, proclaimed that “this program (Citizen Schools ELT) should be in every middle school in Santa Fe and across the country!”
Jesus Esparza, a Citizen Schools Teaching Fellow, described his own educational experience growing up in Santa Fe; and his added perspective as a new father has only strengthened his commitment to Citizen Schools and resolve to pursue a career in education.
Returning volunteer Citizen Teachers, Jason Jaacks, Julia Barns, and Alex Gancarz took to the podium espousing everything from hard facts of Citizen Schools’ positive effect on De Vargas’ students to heartwarming moments of triumph in the classroom, declaring the necessity of this program to which they are all so committed.
The public forum portion of the evening concluded with a tearful testimonial from Suzette’s mother, Mrs. Tescarones. Mrs. Tescarones wept as she described Suzette’s education prior to Citizen Schools, previous teachers and administrators had claimed Suzette simply wasn’t intelligent and that her shy behavior was a result of that handicap. When Suzette enrolled in Citizen Schools at De Vargas Middle School as a seventh grader her grades and social parlous began to blossom and grow. Now Suzette is in 8th Grade Academy with a 4.0 and has become an exemplary public speaker from semesters of practice as a translator at the De Vargas WOW showcase. Mrs. Tescarones pleaded with the board to keep Citizen Schools because it saved her daughter’s life and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
The procession of Citizen Schools ambassadors returned to their seats with heads held high, as they were enveloped with applause and congratulations. The evening was concluded by an rousing presentation from the now transitioned Sue Goodwin and De Vargas’ current CD Kendra Engels. Sue and Kendra employed charts, statistics and a sincere documentary made by CT Jason Jaacks to highlight the triumphs Citizen Schools has seen in Santa Fe and nationwide.
When the microphone was finally silent and the school board was given the opportunity to question and comment on the parade of proponents they had been witness to, they could only thank Citizen Schools for its commitment to excellence. Brief, pointed questions were poised to Sue regarding specific data the board would be interested in, but the over-all climate in the room was one of victory. An army of parents, community leaders, volunteers, and Citizen Schools staff had heralded the vital nature of the work we do and the room reverberated with understanding and awe. That evening I believe we all could have flown home on the wings of a community unified in the fight for education reform and a deep commitment to the future of students at De Vargas Middle School.
Check out the advocacy video below created by Volunteer Citizen Teacher, Jason Jaacks!
Ten Things I Learned as a Teaching Fellow
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Jessi Worde is a Second Year Teaching Fellow at Van Buren Middle School in Albuquerque, NM. She is a UT Austin Alum, Class of ’06.
1.) Just because something works once, or 10 times, does not mean it will continue to work.
2.) Students love it when you embarrass yourself—and it’s worth it.
3.) Being a middle schooler is very hard. The more people are kind to you, and care for you, the greater your chances of surviving adolescence with grace and success.
4.) Keep it, change it, flip it. That’s how you divide fractions. I relearned all the basic math skills I never understood, or had forgotten.
5.) Giving students power will make your job easier and your students more invested.
6.) COB stands for “close of business.”
7.) Education is changing in profound, exciting, and scary ways. We have a chance to bring out the former 2 adjectives and diminish the latter.
8.) You are weird. You are old. You are embarrassing. (In the eyes of those born after 2000). And it’s fun.
9.) Beware student snacks. One day you’re deriding how yuck Takis are and the next day you’re pulling a bag from the grocery store shelf, thinking, “Just this once…”
10.) Teambuilders and games can actually be fun. And I can have team pride (full disclosure: I never went to a single UT sporting event) when it’s something in which I’m directly involved.
Apply for the Citizen Schools Teaching Fellowship by the final deadline May 18th.
From the Coffee Shop to the Classroom: A Longhorn’s Journey
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Jessi Worde is a Second Year Teaching Fellow at Van Buren Middle School in Albuquerque, NM. She is a UT Austin Alum, Class of ’06.
Congratulations! You’ve earned your undergraduate diploma from an excellent institution of higher learning in the forever-young city of ATX! Now leave.
Coordinating outfits: one of the perks of being a barista.
No, seriously. Get out of there. There are no jobs. Especially if you’ve earned some sort of liberal-artsy major, which, be honest, you probably have.
Sound familiar?
I graduated from UT Austin in 2006 with 2 degrees, a minor, and 4.0.
Then I worked as a barista for 4 years thereafter.
I worked coffee with people who had Ph.D.s and Masters’ degrees. Granted, I got to coordinate zany outfits with my coworkers and when a new owner told us we could drink wine with our lunch, “Wine Time” was born. Yes, you can make good money and party endlessly in food service, but that soul-crushing feeling that you could do more? That you want to do more? Citizen Schools might be a good option…
Four years in food service gets old
I’m not going to lie. I joined Citizen Schools because I was desperate. At night I dreamt of forgetting to bring someone their soy sauce (the sushi job), giving a vegan whole milk (the barista job), rolling silverware (the hostess job). I wanted out. I decided to apply for any job not in food service. Yet this act of desperation has turned into an act of salvation. Working for Citizen Schools is far harder than food service in a lot of ways, but far more rewarding in even more ways. I still get to wear colorful outfits and I still have fun every day. For example, a couple of students have nicknamed me “Rio” after the colorful birds in the movie of the same name. Our office motto is “Can’t Be Tamed!” (Yes, a Miley Cyrus reference…).
I moved from Austin to Albuquerque on a whim, and found Citizen Schools somewhat randomly. My recently Anthropology degree-ed roommate and I spent hours after running food and hostessing on our laptops looking for jobs. When I saw Citizen Schools’ posting on Craigslist, I felt a glimmer of hope.
When I was accepted, I was thrilled.
In the classroom.
I spent my first year with Citizen Schools managing volunteers, leading a 7th grade team, teaching a college class to 6th graders, and teaching math to special needs students. This year I’ve managed teacher communication, our math lessons, and 2 different apprenticeships each semester. Each role (and indeed, each day), provides me with a variety of experience, challenges, and triumphs.
Last year, I would sometimes be making the trek from Albuquerque to Santa Fe for a training and find myself tearing up, thinking about how much I loved my students. This year, I get excited every day around 2:30, when there’s only half an hour left before we go meet our students. It’s difficult for me to imagine someone working with our students and not feeling deeply impacted by them.
Today when I ran to get coffee (oh how the tables have turned), I was chatting with the barista. “Your job sounds awesome!” he exclaimed. And I had to admit that it was.
It’s strange, at this point, to be applying for a variety of jobs (Investment firm? Tech camp for teens? In-take administrative assistant? Why not?) and find that my experience with Citizen Schools truly has prepared me for a vast variety of jobs.
Food service taught me everything I need to know about multi-tasking, respecting people, and dealing with emotionally unstable people and insane dietary demands.
Middle school education helped me develop as a professional, as a leader, as a team member, as an educator, and as a Jill of all trades. At the beginning of my time with Citizen Schools, I would stand in front of my team, ready to give an instruction, and feel a wave of anxiety that no one would listen. Now I stand before students and peers and knowing that I have the presence and the experience to make my voice heard.
Want an experience like Jessi’s? Apply for the Citizen Schools Teaching Fellowship by May 18th.
