california

Googler, Citizen Teacher, Survivor

Eric Schwarz is the Co-Founder and CEO of Citizen Schools. 

Kristen Thiede

Everyone who teaches middle school is amazing. Those who volunteer to do it are particularly courageous. Those who inspire their companies to support education are remarkable. And then, there’s Yul.

Last week at the annual Clark Foundation gathering for leading youth development organizations, I had the chance to meet and introduce Kristen Thiede, a principal at Google and one of their leading innovators. She is employee number two-hundred-and-something (started in 2001) and has worked all over the world for Google, currently on a project to make home internet service 100 times faster. And she’s worked hard on their social enterprise collaborations with the Harlem Children’s Zone and others. She’s a rock star!

I was gratified to hear that lots of her friends have volunteered at Citizen Schools, and that we have been held up at Google as a best practice for employee engagement. Meeting Kristen prompted me to refresh my memory about how our organizations came to work together so closely. A refreshing, sexy story of youthful innovation and leadership.

Jane Choi - Campus Director (Photo Credit: Ralph Alswang)

I knew the Google relationship started with Citizen Schools Campus Director and later Program Director, the fabulous Jane Choi, who led our then after-school program at McKinley Institute of Technology in Redwood City from 2004-2006. I remembered that the first volunteers from Google were friends of Jane’s, but that’s as much as I knew; so I emailed Jane the night before my introduction of Kristen to get the full scoop. Read more…

5 Lessons I Learned from Networking with 8th Graders

Guest Post from Rob at ONGIG.com who attended our Citizen Schools California 6 Degrees Bay Area event in January.

I was privileged to participate in a Citizen Schools event in which 8th graders from Oakland, California got to practice their networking skills with a handful of “adults” with jobs, like me.

The whole idea was to get these kids to practice networking skills: handing out their resumes, talking about their career aspirations. Awesome!

1) Kids Like To Smile More Than Adults

Read more…

Lia Shepherd, Teaching Fellow, Citizen Schools

Lia Shepherd explains why she became a Teaching Fellow, what our students need to succeed and why she is passionate about the Citizen Schools mission.

 

Citizen Schools Co-Sponsors the Bay Area Leadership and Social Justice Conference

UC Berkley Campus Coordinator Intern Jalessa Bryant , California Campus Recruitment Manager Holly Przybyla, and Regional Talent Fellow Darielle Davis. Recruiting college leaders at the Bay Area Social Justice and Leadership Conference co-sponsored by Citizen Schools.

Citizen Schools California Talent Team

On Sunday, October 16th, Citizen Schools proudly co-sponsored the Bay Area Leadership and SocialJustice Conference for the second year in a row. The event took place on the campus of University of California Berkeley and sought to empower Bay Area College students, by giving them an opportunity to network and build the skills necessary to make positive changes on their campuses. Students from more than six different colleges and universities, including Stanford University, Sonoma State University, and Santa Clara University, come together to network with leaders in the Bay Area.

The keynote speakers Braham Ahmad, the founder of Peoples Grocery and Oakland’s mayor Jean Quan, a Berkeley Alumni and the first Asian American female mayor of a major city in the US. The speakers addressed this year’s theme of “Moving from Passion to Action”. The keynotes spoke to the young leaders about the importance of standing firm in their beliefs and maintaining a strong support system.

Citizen Schools California Campus Recruitment Manager Holly Przybyla, Sean Diaz (a TF2 at Lionel Wilson Prep), and Carrie Donavan (K-12 Program Manager at Cal Corps Public Service Center)

This conference provided Citizen Schools with the opportunity to reach out to students who are unfamiliar with our program and engage those who were excited in the opportunity to teach middle school students their passion. A nursing student at Holy Names University, Megan Allen, was excited when she learned that she could teach a healthy living nursing class to our sixth graders in Oakland. As was Komal Ahmad, a senior at UC Berkeley, who founded a student groups that aims to educate students about healthy eating and cooking. He quickly signed up to become a Citizen Teacher and asked when to expect an email about volunteer opportunities.

As an organization Citizen Schools aims to give our students access to some of the brightest and most dedicated volunteers and educators.  This conference allowed college students access to an organization that works every day turning passion into action. Holly Przybyla, the Campus Recruitment Manager for California, sat on an educational pathways panel to discuss the opportunities and benefits Citizen Schools provides to middle school students all over the nation. She also introduced the new certification program through REACH Institute, that gives Teaching Fellows the opportunity to earn a teaching credentials. Simultaneously, Sean Diaz, a second year Teaching Fellow in Oakland, CA attended an alumni panel and discussed his experience and how Citizen Schools has helped him develop as a leader and educator.