Top WOW! Moments from Spring 2015

As we celebrate the end of another school year, we also celebrate a semester of student achievement, creativity, and innovation. Staff members, volunteers, families, and guests were inspired at WOW! presentations across the Bay Area, as students shared what they learned this past semester in art, bridge building, robotics, poetry, business, rocket science, and more. Here are our top 3 WOW! moments from Citizen Schools apprenticeships this spring! William Sheppard Middle School's Hip Hop Dance Apprenticeship

After a semester of hard work, practice, and commitment, a group of students from William Sheppard Middle School’s Hip Hop Dance apprenticeship performed a choreographed dance in front of friends, family members, and community supporters. Students worked tirelessly throughout the semester to master their steps and build up confidence; when performance day came, the students lit up the stage and the crowd was blown away! Not only did the students become Broadway-bound dancers, but they were also educated on the benefits of physical activity and healthy eating, and on the importance of being “media-savvy” consumers. Students also joined the “Let’s Move!” campaign, an initiative launched by First Lady Michelle Obama dedicated to solving childhood obesity and helping children grow up healthier. Check out this teaser video from Hip Hop Dance.

Greenleaf Academy's Next Top Designer Apprenticeship

Students at Greenleaf K-12 school in Oakland had the opportunity to learn fashion design principles in a Next Top Designer apprenticeship this spring. Over the course of ten weeks, Design apprentices were tasked with creating a style book and collaborating to design a bow-tie, fascinator, and other accessories. Greenleaf Design apprentices were not content to simply design their clothes though; they rolled up their sleeves and started cutting, sewing, and gluing. Guests entering the Greenleaf auditorium were stunned to see apprentices wearing dresses, skirts, and shirts they had designed and made themselves! The students modeled their designs while showing guests their sketches and design processes. Among the apprentices vying for the Next Top Designer title were three sixth-grade girls; in the end, it was the apprentice donning a cap-sleeved tulle dress who took home the grand prize!

Joseph George Middle School's Tech Challenge Apprenticeship 

Every year, Citizen Schools students have the opportunity to participate in The Tech Museum of Innovation’s annual Tech Challenge event. Joseph George Middle School’s Tech Challenge apprenticeship was taught by Citizen Teachers from EMC, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Cisco, and prepared students to compete against students from across the Bay Area in the Tech Challenge. Tech Challenge competitors were asked to build a structure that could withstand a simulated earthquake -- and they were given only cardboard, aluminum, pipe cleaners, and PBC pipe. During the WOW!, students shared what they had learned about design thinking, outlined their engineering process, and articulated the rationale behind the materials they chose. Most impressive of all? Their structures were successful and withstood the magnitude of an earthquake!

One of the apprentices shared his favorite moment of the apprenticeship: "I liked this apprenticeship because we learned about collaboration. Our class liked to work together and collaborate. My favorite moment was when we had finished building one of our structures. We took a step back, smiled at each other, and said, ‘That looks really cool!’"