Meet the Citizen Teachers: Ben, David and Neal from "Save the Bulls"

Ben, David and Neil are consultants at Boston Consulting Group during the day, and  Citizen Teachers during the afternoon. Last semester they taught the “Save the Bulls” apprenticeship at Carter Elementary. Together, and with other BCG employees, they were able to work alongside students while solving an important problem for the Chicago Bulls.

Can you share with us why you decided to become Citizen Teachers?

Ben, David and Neil: We decided to become Citizen Teachers because we saw Citizen Schools as a unique forum for us to directly invest in the lives of youth in our community by using the skills we bring to our clients at work every day. To be honest, we weren't sure what to expect as first time Citizen Teachers, but we quickly found that our sessions with the students were extremely rewarding and fun. With the help of our Teaching Fellow, we were able to put together a well-structured curriculum that the students learned from and enjoyed. I notice that you all are sharing collectively about your experience. Is there a particular reason why?

Well yes. We are all friends at work and decided to sign up together when we first registered. David and Neil had similar perspectives so we decided to just share back as a unit.

That’s great to hear that you decided to volunteer together as friends and as colleagues! Can you describe your overall experience with the students?

The last few weeks of our apprenticeship were especially memorable for us because we got to see the culmination of what the students learned over the course of the program. The students came up with solutions for the problem they were asked to solve – the Chicago Bulls losing fans – and put together presentations about how they developed their ideas. Even students who didn't seem to always be attentive throughout the semester demonstrated clear mastery of the content. It was a pleasure watching them and seeing their smiles when they presented solutions to our colleagues in our office!

How exciting! Did the student WOW! presentations have any impact on your colleagues?

Well, in fact, this spring we have a new team of colleagues leading the charge, and everyone is excited to continue BCG's partnership with Citizen Schools!

Citizen Schools is also excited about our partnership and we thank you for your commitment to our students!