AmeriCorps Member Spotlight: Kenya Brown
At Citizen Schools, no role is more essential to the success of our students than that of the AmeriCorps Teaching Fellow. Citizen Schools National Teaching Fellows create extraordinary enrichment and academic support experiences for the students we serve the nation. On a daily basis, Fellows deepen connections between schools and parents, help to develop social-emotional skills through mentoring and coaching students, and facilitate hands-on learning opportunities through our apprenticeships
Read More
Igniting Moments of Discovery at Citizen Schools’ WOW!NOW Breakfast
On Friday, April, 26th, Citizen Schools staff & students, families, AmeriCorps Teaching Fellows, corporate and community partners came together to celebrate the inspiring and hard work of middle school students, volunteer Citizen Teachers and AmeriCorps Teaching Fellows for our annual WOW!NOW Breakfast fundraising event.
Read More
Capital One Coding Academy: Unlocking One's Potential
In the United States, there has been growing attention drawn to the staggering diversity gap that exists in the technology industry— as of 2018, less than 20% of the the tech workforce identifies as Black or Latino. While many agree that education is key to combating this trend, in 2016, only 15% of computer science degrees awarded in the United States were to students identifying as Black or Latino. Furthermore, less than 40% of K-12 schools in the United States offer computer programming courses. The continual lack of computer programming courses to children at an early age only serves to further the underrepresentation of people of color in the technology industry.
Read More
Waiting for Spring Break to End
David Jacobson is a first time Citizen Teacher at McKinley Institute in Redwood City, but a lifelong coach and teacher. He teaches creative writing and has the experience to back it up in journalism, content counseling and marketing/communications! Now, he owns and runs Inkflow Communications, marketing and communications consulting. Click below to learn more about his experience volunteering with Citizen School.
Read More
Citizen Schools hires Kyle Conley as Vice President, Impact
Kyle Conley joins Citizen Schools as Vice President, Impact on April 23, 2019. In her role, she will focus on driving impact in direct service with Expanded Learning Time and with Catalyst, Citizen Schools’ new teacher support initiative. Kyle will also oversee a national center of excellence around the core input and support for Citizen Schools program models, including talent, curriculum, training and Research and Evaluation. She joins a dynamic and committed team of leaders at both the regional and national level.
Read More
SPLATs: A Revolutionary Encounter Between Education, Technology, Fitness and Fun
As each SPLATs lit up with different colors, so did the faces of our students who beamed with pride, joy, and curiosity as they began their unique SPLATs journey. SPLATs is a remarkable tool that exposed students to various STEM careers and academic pathways as they sharpened their skills in critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity. SPLATs didn’t just keep the students moving intellectually, they also were able to exercise physically. Some games focused on trivia, and others were speed-based competitions or obstacle courses. “Giraffes and Leaves” a game created by Mahdiat and Makayla allowed students to imagine they were in a safari, crawling over and around SPLATs as they ‘gathered leaves’ with their heads.
Read More
3rd Annual Get CycED for Citizen Schools
On the morning of Saturday, March 30th, in an effort to fight the growing opportunity gap in New York, a group of our dedicated supporters came together to attend a high-energy spin class at SWERVE Fitness. A huge shout-out to our 8 teams that were geared up for a morning of calorie-burning, endorphins-boosting fun. Thanks to their passionate efforts, we were able to raise $46,597!
Read More
US2020 Launches 4th Annual STEM Mentoring + Making Awards
CINCINNATI, OH – Today, with continued support from founding sponsor, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), US2020 announced the 4th annual STEM Mentoring + Making Awards. The awards are a national platform to celebrate and encourage exceptional work in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) mentoring. This year, US2020 has incorporated making into the title to reflect the growing interest and excitement around the maker-centered learning across the country. Learn more about this year’s awards and how to apply here.
Read More
Meeting High Standards with goIT Curriculum
During winter intersession, the six weeks between the fall and spring semester, approximately 350 students in the Citizen Schools’ California region completed an academically rigorous STEM curriculum challenge. The curriculum created and licensed by Tata Consultancy Services, allows students to design paper and electronic prototypes of an app that will help solve a community problem. During their challenge, they get the chance to practice their design thinking skills through a lens of empathy while learning about different STEM careers.
Read More
Celebrating our members for AmeriCorps Week
AmeriCorps Week is a time to salute our AmeriCorps members and alumni for their service!
It is a time to say ‘Thank You’ to our AmeriCorps community partners, and communicate AmeriCorps’ impact on communities and on the lives of those we serve. Each year during AmeriCorps Week, Citizen Schools and the Corporation for National and Community Service recognizes the commitment of AmeriCorps members and alumni by highlighting the remarkable impact AmeriCorps makes across our nation, every day.
Read More
Citizen Schools Appoints Four New Board Members to National Board of Directors
Boston, MA – On February 26th, Citizen Schools welcomed four new members to their National Board of Directors. Tony Barnes, Joyce Coleman, Bing Howell and Vincent Letteri, bringing nearly 80 years of combined professional experience to the four seats who are all excited to share their expertise to help drive Citizen Schools forward.
Read More
“Do You Need to Talk?” Simple ways to tap into the mental health of our students
I am an educator. I am not a psychiatrist nor a trained mental health professional, but in my role as a Citizen Schools Teaching Fellow it’s my job to show students I care. The students I work with are between 13 and 15 years old. They have complex feelings and emotions and I seek to treat them as such, as opposed to “just kids” that don’t know any better. When I am supporting students in their classes, I often ask “how are you?” and mean it genuinely.
Read More
OK Go is holding a contest to send student art projects into space!
Rock band OK Go is inviting elementary, middle and high school students to use their creative art and science minds to dream up cool experiments that can be sent into actual space onboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft.
Read More
'Cracking The Case' with PwC
In our ‘Crack the Case” apprenticeship, students learn to become insightful marketers through careful research and analysis. Last fall, students at Isaac Newton Middle School in New York, played the role of business consultant to Ben and Jerry’s, working to determine the best choice for their newest flavor.
Led by partners and staff at PwC, the global professional services firm, students research the popularity and profitability of different flavors, and ultimately worked to build a case for their ice cream flavor - and why it should be chosen.
Read More
Bringing a ‘maker mindset’ to the future of work
Maker-centered learning teaches life skills — critical thinking, collaboration, and communication. Other aspects of education encourage and cultivate these skills in students, but one of the unique things about maker-centered learning is that it teaches students these particular skills in an interdisciplinary way.
Read More
AmeriCorps Member Spotlight: Erica Yoon
Erica Yoon, joined Citizen Schools after graduating from UC Berkeley with a Bachelors majoring in Cognitive Science Education minor. Serving as a AmeriCorps Teaching Fellow at Greenleaf K-8 Elementary School family in Oakland, California, she says “I love this job! It is definitely a position that comes with various challenges, but the relationships I make and the improvements I see on a daily basis keep me going.” Outside of work, she enjoys going for swims, playing Monopoly Deal, and singing karaoke.
Read More
Bridging Two Worlds - DACA Recipient Admitted Early to Harvard
An avid soccer player, Santy explained that the only reason he even heard about Menlo School, a private school in Atherton, was because of an after-school program, Citizen Schools, where he would wait out the gap of time between the end of school and the start of soccer practice and took an extracurricular course about local private school opportunities.
Read More
Citizen Schools Employee Spotlight: Vanessa Bishop
This month our employee spotlight goes to Vanessa Bishop, Regional Director of the Massachusetts region. When asked where she gets her inspiration from she had this to say, “My faith and students. When I think about both of them, they give me a purpose to keep going when things are challenging. My faith reminds me that there is a bigger purpose in everything that I do. On the same note, our students our the center of all the work and they deserve the best we can give. “
Read More
Our Schools, Our City - Learning, Growing and Exploring Beyond the School Day
On Thursday, February 7th, AmeriCorps Teaching Fellow, Iris Restrepo and two students from East Somerville Community School got the chance to chat with Educational TV: Somerville about their experience in Citizen Schools.
Read More
Makerspace Ecosystem Summit for College Educators April 24-26 in Irvine, CA
The California Community College Makerspace initiative (CCC Maker) has partnered with the National Association of Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE) to present make/SHIFT -- the Makerspace Ecosystem Summit in Irvine, CA on April 24-26. Registration is open for make/SHIFT and early bird discounts are available through February 28.
Read More
