Scavenger Hunt

This Saturday was spent trolling around Lower Manhattan on a digital scavenger hunt. My photos can be found on my Flickr site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/howardyeh/sets/72057594135128539/

The New York Times: Morrisania Melody

There was a brilliant article in April 30, 2006's New York Times about the rich musical history emanating from the Morrisania neighborhood in days gone by. The title of the article is "Morrisania Melody" by NYT reporter Manny Fernandez. He talks about jazz greats Dizzy Gillespie ("Diz") and Thelonius Monk frequenting jazz bars and dance clubs that were located just blocks away from Morris High School. There is an effort today from Mark Naison, a professor of African American studies and history at Fordham University to chronicle this rich musical time period from the 1940's to the 1960's. Morris High School itself is mentioned twice in the article as the home of the doo-wop group "The Crickets" who are known for their song, "Your Mine" and for recording with Buddy Holly. In the end of the article, the writer leads into the current hip-hop age by writing about the meeting location of one Joseph Saddler, better known as Grandmaster Flash, and Kris Parker, better known as KRS-One.

http://http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/30/nyregion/thecity/30moro.html?n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fF%2fFernandez%2c%20Manny&pagewanted=all

Career Day

More to come

Making Tough Decisions

The topic of discussion today was "Making Tough Decisions". While the theme was obstensibly ambiguous, the conversations that the mentors leds with the students had to do primarily to peer pressure and the use of violence to solve disputes. There were a few incidents at the school that precipitated the discussions, not to mention the fact that students are required to go through metal detectors to walk onto the campus everyday. For this discussion, we divided up the group between boys and girls. While understanding that in a PC-era separating along gender lines is generally frowned upon, the thought here is that the pressures facing boys and girls, particularly in the high school age range are vastly different. Since I cannot speak for the discussions happening in the girls' room, I'll describe generally some of what we spoke about in our session. What causes boys to "start up" with other, in particular, are they doing it for them or for the perception of them. I think a lot of fights are started because of a perceived obligation to act. The biggest fear that runs through a lot of our students' minds is that it's more important not to be a "nobody" than to stay out of trouble. That itself is a troubling thought. It's probably more the result of want to forge an identity at an age when you are still trying to figure out for yourself who you are than any malicious intent. There's a lot more to cover on this, but I'll leave it for a separate time given the late hour of this posting. I'll promise to edit this post later on.

On a side note, News12 for the Bronx did a feature today on our mentoring program. Field reporter/correspondent Diana Perez filmed a bit of the session today and interviewed mentor Brian Wong and his mentee Columbus.

Morris Robotics Wins the FIRST Robotics New York City Regional 2006!

I'm just the messenger here, but today was a spectular win by Morris Robotics that I was honored to attend. I wanted to share with you, and anyone you wished to share with, some of the moments captured by my camera today.

For the second year in a row the Morris team won the NYC FIRST Robotics Competition by defeating the Stuyvesant team and their alliance partners. Over the past two years, Morris Robotics has won four straight regional competitions (two at Pittsburgh and two at NYC). Morris also received the 2006 Judges' Award which is given to a team whose unique efforts, performance, or dynamics merit recognition.

One of the most impressive scenes for me, aside from the technical feats achieved with their win, was the sportsmanship of the entire event. I saw Morris Robotics stand out from right from the awards tables to be the first ones to congratulate the other teams involved. It was a decidedly humanizing moment for me, oddly enough happening at a robotics competition. Who knew?

Congratulations to everyone involved, and I wanted to offer a special shout-out to Jon and Columbus, who were on the floor and in the driver's seat during the entire day.

Photo album of the entire day:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/howardyeh/sets/72057594090614942/

Video of the winning moments during the finals (not the best quality, but certainly the spirit was there):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XChSJwm65mE

Video of the intermission period (you'll get a sense of the magnitude of the event by viewing this video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgCt3RZSx-8

Bowling Event on 3/4

I was unfortunately away the weekend of the bowling event held on March 4, 2006. Fortunately, I was forwarded pictures of the event from our devoted mentor Mark Kiang. Here's a sampling of what I missed:

Recap of 3/18 Mentoring Event

The theme of today's session with Morris Academy was on etiquette and manners. This is a seemingly mundane topic, but mastery is generally the product of knowing one's environment. Greg and I led a session on etiquette and manners in a professional setting. Greg works at major ad agency on the creative side, while I work in the finance field. Call it Madison Avenue meets Wall Street. While both of us work in an office setting, it is clear that the presentation of oneself would differ between the two. The one point we wanted to get through to the students was to "know your audience". In getting a job, the goal for the applicant is to give him/herself every opportunity to get noticed. Reiterate that an interview is your opportunity to sell yourself.

The primary steps that we discussed in each session were:
1. Punctuality (you're early, you're on-time. You're on-time, you're late. You're late, see ya later)
2. Presentation (dress, greeting, language, confidence)
3. Follow-up (thank you notes and follow-up in general keeps you top-of-mind in an interview)

One interesting question that came up during our discussion group was the following: What proportion is presentation versus substance? Please comment if you have some opinions on the matter.

The discussion topics did yield some humorous accounts of past infractions when it came to interpersonal etiquette (so I hear from the other sessions). The story I liked best was one in which one of the mentors recalled getting peed on in a subway car.

The Lighter Side of Morris Academy Mentors

After going through my online picture album, I'm realizing that the mentoring team, both mentors and students alike, represent a wide and nutty assortment of characters. The following photo-montage is meant to be a random sampling of it. I hope that you enjoy the lighter side of Morris Academy Mentors.

STOMP!!!

We had a middle-of-the-week outing to see STOMP, the off-Broadway show in the Lower East Side. Photos from the event are posted on my Flickr account:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/howardyeh/sets/72057594078811825/

Thanks to Bradd Baskin and our generous financial donors for arranging the trip. Many good times were shared.

Recap of 2/4 Mentoring Event

The theme of yesterday's mentoring event was personal financial in a program titled "Control Your Money or It Will Control You". The focus was on financial responsibility and developing money management skills. The goal of the program was to help our students understand the difference between needs and wants, and to explain the basics of checking accounts, the dangers of credit cards and the benefits of saving.
The program was led by an exceptional guest speaker who developed this program especially for our kids and mentors. His is Stephen Sigmon, and he is a CPA with an accounting degree from the University of South Carolina. His current position is Manager of Corporate Financial Planning and Analysis at Weight Watchers International. His command of the subject matter and the audience was perfect for our program, and I cannot thank him enough for his participation and lending his expertise to our program.

Two topics in particular were the most relevant and impactful for the students: The Dangers of Credit Cards and The Benefits of Saving.

The Danger of Credit Cards
Stephen illustrated the dangers of incurring credit card debt with the following example (excerpted from his handout):

"Let’s pretend that you have just received a credit card, and you can borrow up to $2,000 and make a minimum payment of only $40 a month. The interest rate on your credit card is 18%. You've been wanting to buy a new big screen TV, and now you can have it all for only $40 a month if you use your credit card.

Let's look at the math and see how long it will take you to pay off this purchase at $40 per month, what you'll end up paying in interest, how long it will take to pay off the balance, and the total amount you'll end up paying for your $2,000 TV.

The minimum monthly payment on most credit cards is usually calculated as a certain percentage (i.e., 2%) of the total balance. This payment includes both interest and payments against the principal amount that you owe.

On the $2,000 TV, 2% of the balance is $40. At 18% interest, your $40 payment would include $30 in interest and only $10 towards the amount you borrowed (18% divided by 360 days = .05% per day times 30 days in a month times $2,000 outstanding balance equals $30 in interest).

If you pay the minimum balance each month (calculated as 2% of your outstanding balance), it will take you over 30 years to pay off your $2,000 TV. And you will have paid nearly $5,000 in interest. The $2,000 TV will have cost you nearly $7,000!

It is easy to get caught up in credit card offers that are "too good to pass up." But it is important to remember that buying on a credit card is never good for you if you do not have the money in your checking account to pay off your bill in full when you get it."

The Benefits of Saving
While financial math is not something that is not taught particularly at the secondary level (besides the section in Math class on simple vs. compound interest), Stephen illustrated the benefits of saving and interest in this excerpt from his handout:

"Now let’s consider what you could earn if you had put $20 a month ($5 a week) into your savings account earning 3% percent interest for the same number of years (30). Your $20 a month would be worth almost $12,000 and you would have earned over $4,000 in interest."

Here are some additional photos from the day's event:

36 More Small Schools Due in September

Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg, along with Chancellor Klein, issued a press release announcing an expansion of the small school program next fall.

Official Press Release
For coverage in the New York Times

Discipline can only go so far. Without the drive emanating from the participant's view, our educational system will continue to be (and I hate to use a cliche in this instance, so I'll use many) "pushing a rope", "going against the grain", "swimming upstream", you name it. Without self-drive, it's almost impossible to just, in the words of Chris Rock, "get your learn on".

The LA Times has published an in-depth series called "The Vanishing Class" that explores the reasons for high drop-out in the Los Angeles Unified School district, the second largest school district in the country (I believe second only to New York). The reasons are aplenty: Economic, family circumstances, disciplinary reasons, academic difficulties, disillusionment with the educational system. But the Times took the added step of speaking to those students who had dropped out, and getting their take on the underlying causes, their current day-to-day while out of school, and their prospects for the future. Here's the introduction to the series:

"On a September day 4 1/2 years ago, nearly 1,100 ninth-graders — a little giddy, a little scared — arrived at Birmingham High School in Van Nuys. They were fifth-generation Americans and new arrivals, straight arrows and gangbangers, scholars and class clowns. On a radiant evening last June, 521 billowing figures in royal blue robes and yellow-tasseled mortarboards walked proudly across Birmingham's football field, practically floating on a carpet of whoops and shouts and blaring air horns, to accept their diplomas. It doesn't take a valedictorian to do the math: Somewhere along the way, Birmingham High lost more than half of the students who should have graduated."

Here is the article in full:
http://www.latimes.com/news/education/la-me-dropout29jan29,0,6750397.story

Thoughts on the Education System in the South Bronx

I traveled up to Morris Academy this past Saturday to spend some time with the students as they were attending an extra prep/tutoring session in advance of the New York State Regents exams during the latter part of this coming week. First of all, it was a wonderful sight when I first walked into the school - one of our mentors, Ji Son, spending one-on-one time with a student in our program. Our jobs as mentors are not necessarily as academic tutors, but it is a role that we can assume in certain circumstances - preparing for the Regents being one of those. I think what's more important than the instruction is the level of focus that one-on-one attention can provide for the students.

My general observation, after sitting in on one such session, is that our students lack a certain structure in a classroom environment. They engage in sidebar conversations, they doodle, they take extended breaks from the action, they take turns trying to be the center of attention. Not to say that this doesn't happen in a professional setting (I've certainly been in board rooms when this behavior is more frequent than you might imaging), but it does hinder the teachers' ability to focus their students to the materials at hand. These thoughts were lingering in my head the entire time I sat in the classroom with the students. Fortunately, I was able to share some of this and gain some perspective with someone who knew and dealt first-hand with these issues.

After the tutoring session was complete, Ellice, Ji Son and I spent time talking generally to Mr. Daniel Norte, the Morris Academy history teacher who I profiled in an earlier posting, about his experiences at the school, updates and perspectives on certain students at the school, challenges of teaching in this environment, and the challenges the kids face growing up in the South Bronx. I'll keep some of the topical matter between us, but what we concluded are a few points:
(1) Discipline and focus is a life-long quality, stemming from focused attention at an early age. For reasons that may be related socio-economic concerns or non-traditional family structures, children in the inner cities do not enjoy the benefits of this focused attention. This cycle continues onward to the high school-level students.
(2) The expectation levels in the NYC schools has been gradually declining through the years. Part of this may be caused by the political pressures to show progress, but it's hurting the long-term development of the students, particularly at schools like Morris Academy. These kids need to be pushed to their highest potential, and not just to a point where third-party administrators can feel content.
(3) Students in the inner city seem to have an overzealous sense of immediacy about their futures, such that procuring part-time work is more important to some kids than gaining a life-long education. Also, students question the purpose of secondary education because it does not translate into . I recognize, but perhaps not fully understand, the implications of living paycheck-to-paycheck for a family under the poverty line. However, this inability to see beyond the current undermines their futures. This materializes in some of the students' views on the need for post-secondary education. My experience has been that high school is important not just for the material covered (honestly, calculus is not an everyday trade), but is a process of learning how to learn. I'm going to strive to instill this more broadly in our students as time goes on.

To me, there is nothing more important in developing character than consistency. In other words, it is just not enough to demonstrate a propensity to learn some of the time. To me, it is either ingrained in your system or it is not. Certainly, there are some areas of interest that we all gravitate towards. But the process is more important than the underlying tasks. It takes a whole lot of discipline to understand and enact this in ourselves. And it's not enough to do things over and over. You know that saying that "Practice makes perfect"? Well, I was taught long ago that this statement isn't exactly true. It should have read "Practice makes permanent". In other words, if you practice flawed methods on a consistent basis, the desired outcome will be missed everytime. It takes not only self-discipline, but help from our peers, family, community to form the kind of environment that predisposes individuals to think in this way from an early age.

Ok, enough preaching for now.

Random fact: I haven't heard the word "Meiosis" in about 10 years. As you might imagine, I was less than helpful in the Life Sciences session.

"Test Prep Help for Students Who Can't Afford Kaplan" - The New York Times

New York Times Education reporter Michael Winerip published an article appearing in the November 16 issue of the New York Times describing the efforts of Admission Possible, nonprofit program based in Minneapolis that provides SAT/ACT prep and college admissions resources to lower income students the in Minneapolis/St. Paul region.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/16/education/16education.html

I believe these types of programs are crucial to limit the disparity in means for promising high school students. The irony is that the students most in need of formal instruction on both standardized testing and in college essay writing are precisely the ones that cannot afford it.

Recap of 11/5 Mentoring Event (Guest Post)

Greetings readers! I unfortunately was not able to attend the most recent Morris Academy Mentoring event held on November 5, 2005. The description of the agenda for this Saturday's event (in quotes below as written by Brett Anderson) suggested that this would be one of the most relevant events to date, as it deals simulateneously with college planning, job-preparation, writing, and presentation skills.

"For next Saturday, we've decided to present some tangible materials involved in the processes by which our kids will move from high school to what they might want to do after high school. Other materials we intend to bring are an application to work at MTV Networks, and a trade school type application (NYFD, NYPD, etc.). The purpose is not that everyone wants/can go to college, work at MTV, or go to a trade school. Rather this is an introduction to what the first steps "look like" and the kind of questions, pre-requisites, and writing skills that are required to attain these post-high school positions. We encourage everyone to talk about specific goals again with their kids and follow up on a weekly basis to see what they've done; and above all, to encourage. Soon we will have everyone bring in a college essay writing sample and have the kids begin to work on their own based on that template."

In my absence, I've solicited guest postings on the 11/5 event from some of the mentors in attending. As such, the following posting comes to us from a guest contributor, Ms. Ji Son Choi. I want to thank her whole-heartedly for the written piece:

From Ji Son Choi:

The ebb and flow of fallen leaves gathering in the gutters of the Bronx streets could mean only one thing.

Autumn is here, and hence, class has begun.

Inside the school building, our Digital-Age students were abuzz about the new hit songs on the radio (curiously, playing from their cell phones) as some of their parents met in a classroom downstairs, bandying ideas for the bake sale fundraiser on December 2nd – 3rd and the upcoming Junior Ball dance.

The students hushed as Dori, one of the programming team members, rallied everyone together for the day’s mentoring session. Picking up from the SMART goal-setting exercises done two weeks prior, we were to delve deeper into the goals through the discussion of plans and the applications. The applications, that is, for college (known as the "Common Application"), MTV and the NYPD which were distributed as examples of the initial stage of the career process.

To make the grades in school in order to be educated, to graduate, and/or to move onto college -- is the common denominator of most students and one of my mentee's greatest concerns. We put pen to paper and broke down this all encompassing goal to more specific goals. Once the excess was cut out of these specific goals, the roadblocks became lucid as did the bulldozers to clear them.

After our one to two hour battle sessions were through, we all bantered with our students and fellow mentors. Between the laughter and fun, I paused to look around with a kind of admiration that is said be unwarranted for a group of the so-called lackadaisical, Generation Y, adolescent youth.

But then again, you don’t know our kids.

(Posting was kindly contributed by Ji Son Choi, a dedicated Morris Academy mentor.)

Recap of 10/22 Mentoring Event

We had today, in my opinion, one of our more memorable and rewarding mentoring events since the inception of the mentoring program in September 2004.

Guest-Speaker to Initiate College Planning Process
The highlight of the event today came most certainly from our guest speaker, Mr. Daniel Nartey, a teacher at Morris Academy. Daniel is an accomplished and polished speaker, and a fluent story-teller. Added to those qualities is that he has an amazing personal story to tell (even more amazing that he’s under 25). He spoke to the group about coming from a single-mother household, his two older brothers both serving long-term prison sentences, being himself a teenage father, growing up in the South Bronx, beating the odds and going to an Ivy League university, feeling like a cultural outsider once he got there, making the most out of his college experience, and ultimately returning to his roots to serve as a teacher at Morris.

From a functional standpoint, hearing his college planning process firsthand was hopefully a beneficial educational experience for the students. Daniel is an ideal role-model for these kids, having come up from similar beginnings and maintaining day-to-day contact with them. He told them that there were scholarship opportunities out there for them. He encouraged them to start thinking early about SATs, and taking it multiple times (he himself took it three times, and improved his score each time). He also recounted to them his college experience attending and graduating from Brown University. While an accomplishment in and of itself, it was not without its difficulties.

He pressed upon the students to expect a culture gap that exists for students matriculating into an institution like Brown. Daniel talked about the hardships endured in adjusting to an academic and cultural environment far different than that of his upbringing in the South Bronx. However, he urged them to fight through it, saying that (1) getting the acceptance letter from Brown was “one of the two happiest moments of my life, the other being witnessing the birth of my son” and (2) despite the numerous hardships of feeling like an outsider at Brown, he would never trade away his experience there.

From an academic standpoint, Daniel relayed that the most frustrating part experience at Brown was not knowing that what he was doing wrong was in fact wrong. I could relate to that point completely: It’s one thing when you understand the mistake you are making, and aim to fix it in future occurrences. It’s another when you can’t recognize where you’re at fault. He explained to the students that they were likely to go through similar experiences in the future, but encouraged them to continue working through it.

He told us that all of this changed once he rededicated himself to excel academically, and when he started to realize his ambition for teaching. The coursework then became more focused and relevant, and he could start to see the forest from the tree (my words, not his).

During his speech, he stressed the importance of writing, and put it in even starker terms for the students. As a result of one essay for a Taft High School scholarship, Daniel received $9k to cover tuition expenses over his four years at Brown. In other words, One Essay = $36k. He also submitted pieces of poetry to the NAACP as part of a separate scholarship program, and received additional financial support. All in, he was able to reduce what would have normally amounted to $35k of annual tuition plus living expenses at Brown to a few thousand dollars annually as a result of these scholarships.

Out of the Q&A, one characterization that was striking to me came as a result of a question I posed to him. I had asked him how his relationships with friends from high school changed as it became clear that he was headed to college. It was an issue for Curtis Jennings in “A Hope for the Unseen”, a non-fiction account of a student in a very similar circumstance written by former Wall Street Journal report Ron Suskind. Daniel’s response was somewhat surprising, considering the struggles he underwent to reach his academic achievements. He told us that his high school accomplishments were not extraordinary in the sense that it could have easily been one of his friends that made it to college and not him. He told us that not every one of his friends had an opportunity to attend SAT prep offered as part of a special program at Clinton High School. My take is that it was a mix of humility, given that he did graduate as salutorian (second-ranked student in graduating class) at Taft, and realism about his situation. For those qualities, I admire him even more.

The takeaway for the students: Don’t let your struggles define you. Instead, what matters more is how you approach those predicaments, and how you come out as a person.

Goal-Setting Exercise
The second half of the program was set on the practical exercise of goal-setting. We had originally done a session with the students during the 2004-2005 academic year, in which the students were asked to enumerate their goals in the context of short-term personal and academic, and long-term personal and academic goals. These goals were characterized based on the following:

SMART Goals
S=Specific
M=Measurable
A=Attainable
R=Realistic
T=Time-Sensitive

Recap of Breakout Session
Columbus, Jon, Brian, Glenn and I spent time together in a back conference room with the purpose of doing a goal-setting exercise. However, the natural progression of our conversation started with a question regarding Columbus’ and Jon’s college ambitions. We learned that both of them were intent on going, and as sophomores, they are gearing the remainder of their high school years with that goal in mind. We talked about the SATs, and their readiness to begin studying for the exams. We also talked about the job-search process, in particular, hearing their frustrations in trying to find part-time jobs. We encouraged them to be more proactive in call-backs and initiating meetings with hiring decision-makers. Lastly, we tried to get from them some perspective on what we’re hoping to do with the Morris Academy Internship Program, which I’ll discuss in a separate posting once we fill out the details.

Columbus then asked us whether we believed the military would be a viable option for them. My response was that I had seen friends of mine go through basic training and enlisted service, and they generally came out with a higher level of discipline, responsibility, respect for systems, and work ethic. Glenn had the most to say about it because he has a sister who is an Air Force reservist on the medical side. Columbus mentioned that he had in fact met with recruiting officers to get first-hand accounts for military life. We encouraged him to continue to do so, but to also keep non-military options open as well.

Next, we asked both Columbus and Jon to give honest answers about what they were looking to get out of the mentor program. They offered these reasons (in no particular order): (1) spending time with friends, (2) understanding an adult perspective for jobs, broader responsibilities, etc., and (3) support from mentors. We then returned the favor by giving our reasons for wanting to become mentors – gravitating outside our usual social bubble, giving back in a way that acknowledges how fortunate we are to be where we are, believing that the mentor/mentee relationship is a reciprocal learning experience, and wanting to contribute to our communities in a meaningful way.

Unfortunately, with all of this discussion, we only got to peel away the first layer of the goal-setting exercise before the 11:45am mark hit and the scent of pizza finally made its way to the back of the office. Despite not achieving the nominal goal of setting goals (I know, the irony is striking), I think Glenn, Brian and I all learned something and gained a larger perspective for the mentor program in general.

For those interested in getting a visual look at the event, please find the online photo album at the follow flickr link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75191100@N00/sets/1191062/

Tour of Columbia University
The final leg of the day was a physical tour of the Columbia University campus uptown. Due to some brilliant planning coordinated by our programming team and the team of Sheba Sethi/Ejike Uzoigme, the group was able to turn the discussion of college planning into concrete ways by showing the students life on an elite college campus. Ejike showed the poise of a true admissions officer as he took a group of 25 or so students and mentors around campus. He imparted knowledge of the university unseen from even current students there (slight exaggeration, but not too far away from the truth). It was factoid after factoid of hidden truths. It was also impressive the level of access we got from the campus considering that we were not a sanctioned tour. We were granted entry into all of the floors of the student center, the auditorium, and the library. Due to the rowdiness of the group, I had at times difficulty telling who was better behaved, the high-schoolers or the mentors. Nonetheless, it was quite an educational experience for the students, and an entertaining time for the mentors.

The highlight of the tour of Columbia came when a family from Cleveland, OH, who was making a college visit along with their son, a high school junior, joined us on the tour. At first, we didn’t have the heart to tell them that the impromptu tour was not an officially sanctioned one from the admissions department. However, it soon became clear that they, along with all of the students from Morris, were in very-good hands with our resident mentor/Columbia alumnus (for those viewing the photos of the event, Ejike is the black guy wearing the red/black North Face jacket). Once we explained what we were doing, and after they lamented the fact that there were no scheduled tours during the day, we asked them to continue to tag-along. A few of the mentors, myself included, even initiated conversation with the son to impart whatever knowledge we could about the college process. I think they were appreciative of it, and hope that we gave them a favorable view of our city.

Here is the flickr link for the Columbia tour:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75191100@N00/sets/1191149/

Recap of Organizational Meeting, October 19, 2005

As an update to those involved with the program, we held an organizational meeting for the mentor program last night. It was well-attended by mentors, one of the teachers at the school (Sunny) and by Charles Osewalt. We made some good progress, and so here is a summary of the discussion:

1. Update on Recruiting

• - HFNY Volunteer Fair this coming Sunday. For anyone who attends services at Redeemer, Ellice will be providing a testimony at the 9:15am and 10:30am services. Greg will be providing a testimony at the 7pm service. We are very-well represented in front of everyone, so this should be a big boost in our recruiting efforts
• - Screening of New Mentors – Recruiting team is working on a formal application that will be used to screen new applicants. This application can be included on the "How to Become a Mentor" portion of the website. In addition, they are working to formalize and document a process to convert initial interest to a shadow day and ultimately to full-on mentors
• - We are planning a follow-up info session to provide a more in-depth look at the mentor program targeted primarily towards prospective mentors met at the HFNY volunteer fair
• - Lastly, we are planning to have a mentor-only event on a weeknight to serve as a social gathering for mentors, especially those new to the program.

2. Update on Programming

• - Dori Gardner sent out an email update earlier today. To summarize, Saturday will begin the goal-setting/college planning portion of the program.
• - The programming team will target sending out emails detailing the coming week’s program a few days before events.
• - In an effort to foster continuity, mentors are encouraged to bring a notebook with them to each event to help document their interactions with their student.
• - In addition to Saturday’s event, a group of mentors (led by Sheba and Ejike) will take a sub-set of the mentees up to Columbia’s campus to give them a glimpse of college life. Any mentors interested in accompanying are more than welcome.
• - While the program is set for this semester, we’re encouraged to start thinking about events for next semester. Suggestions include a talent show (possible link with ArtsConnection), guest speakers surrounding a theme (i.e., diversity and race).
  

3. Update on WCBS Relationship

• - Sheba is working to broaden the mentor program’s role in WCBS AM’s Adopt-a-School program. The students will be involved (outside the mentor program) in several projects with WCBS AM. Charlie would like us to be involved as mentors. More to come.
  

4. Update on Mentor Relationships

• - An ongoing issue is the spontaneous (and sometimes chaotic) pairings and re-pairings of mentees/mentors when either does not attend (without advanced notice). The two solutions will be (1) back-up mentors and (2) more robust system for accounting for absentees
• - Charlie will send to Mark Kiang (our accountability guru) a mentor and mentee roster. We will be developing a system to notify of absences, which will involve notices to mentees, Mark and the back-up mentor to your student.
  

5. Update from Webmaster

• - We will aim to build greater functionality into the website, to include group discussion list and mentor/mentee profiles (on a voluntary basis).
  

6. Introduction to Morris Internship Proposal

• - We are in the very early planning process to develop a program to seek internships for students and provide the requisite support for students to apply and thrive in such roles. More information will be provided as progress is made.
  

7. Miscellaneous

Writing Skills
We need to encourage the students to write more. Many of the students’ writing skills are below average. While we are not expected necessarily to serve as tutors, it is within our charter to encourage them to write. Suggestions include public discussion groups on the website, an essay contest and creative writing projects. We should be encouraging them, as this will be a gating item for them in both employment and college applications. Some creative ways to implement include, at Charlie’s suggestion, using financial incentives (grant money to the school) to encourage students to write. Lindsy Carpenter, who has had prior experience in such a capacity, volunteered to lead a writing workshop with the Morris students.

New York Times Article
Charlie announced that he expects the New York Times education column in next Tuesday’s (10/25) edition will have a brief mention of Morris Academy and the mentor program.

Welcome to “Morris Academy Mentors – Bronx Collaborative”

Welcome to the inaugural posting of “Morris Academy Mentors – Bronx Collaborative”, a blog that shares some of my thoughts and experiences with the Morris Academy Mentor Program. Before I begin, I want to first give this disclaimer: The contents of this web site are mine personally and do not reflect any official position of the Morris Academy for Collaborative Studies or its teachers and administrators, nor does it reflect the position of the New York City Board of Education. I’m not an attorney, so the point of this is not a legal one. The reason I want to stipulate this point up front is because there are a number of hard-working, dedicated individuals and organizations that make the Morris Academy Mentor Program a reality. I would hate to ever unintentionally misconstrue any of those efforts in this blog in a way that would be detrimental to what they are doing and will be doing. So with that caveat, onward…

I want this blog to capture more the experiences of the mentors, including feedback after events, documenting the planning process, and personal reflections on the relationships and interactions with our students. I also anticipate that there will be occasional postings that address higher-level ruminations regarding the goals of the program, the many reasons for formal high mentor programs, the necessity for having one in the South Bronx, and what I believe about our shared responsibility for serving the community. If some of these views come off as overly didactic and self-righteous, please excuse them for what they are, which is merely my less-than-developed writing skills.

The reasons for becoming a mentor vary among the mentors themselves. For some, their personal beliefs compel them to serve others. For others, myself included, it was a desire to feel part of an integrated community that one felt some vested interest in progressing forward. Some mentors feel an innate connection with those younger than them, and want to use that gift for the benefit of others. Some mentors just want to do something productive and structured with their Saturday mornings. Some volunteer on the basis of the relationships they have with other mentors going into the program, and therefore they find value in the shared experience of volunteering their time. Some do it in part because they genuinely believe it is time well spent. And underlying all of this is a bond among mentors and between the mentor and his or her mentee. They do it for the same reason that friends help friends, they just do.

The other reason for doing this is the inspiration provided by Charles Osewalt, school director at Morris Academy and a truly dedicated, life-long educator. He possesses a view that brings learning outside of the classroom and makes it a collective calling of the community, including parents, teachers and seemingly disinterested constituents. He tries to involve as many people in the education of his students as need be, and in the New York City public school system, that need is aplenty. His dedication to his cause is truly inspiring. How many principals in life have you come across that knows the personal story of each of his students? As a general rule, I tried to avoid my high school principal, as there was typically little upside and a whole lot of downside. Charlie’s role as school director at Morris Academy could not be anything further from this view.

The fact is that many of these students need that kind of attention. Some are from single-family households and some are from households in which they are one of many children who have responsibility in not only raising themselves but also their siblings. Despite his best efforts, Charlie is only one person. It’s often said that “it takes a village” to raise the next generation. My only complaint with that statement is that it is oftentimes used in too high a level by politicians and social commentators lacking an overt desire to put their thoughts into action. However, the underlying premise is true. Charlie’s vision of a “collaborative community” partners teachers with administrators with parents with community groups with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with private enterprises and so on and so forth. That is where the Morris Academy Mentor Program comes into play. As a community-based mentor group, we seek to offer a perspective and resource to the students that they would not normally have in the school environment. We are adult figures that hope to serve as positive influences for and counselors to the students. We are peers in which they can feel comfortable in interacting. We are sometimes conduits to their parents who may sometimes feel a generational gap with their children. We are their friends and they are ours. In the end, I hope that our program can add something to the lives of our students in a way that is real and lasting.

With these introductory thoughts, I’ll conclude my inaugural posting. There is so much more to say about this program, but thankfully I will have many more postings to offer those up. I’ll also on occasion post photos from some of our events so you might get a flavor of what we’re doing. If anyone reading is interested in finding out more about the program, please visit our website at http://www.morrisacademymentors.org/. If anyone reading this blog has (1) ever considered becoming a mentor and is (2) interested in learning what it means to join the Morris Academy Mentor Program, please email us at recruiting@morrisacademymentors.org.

In the meantime, take care and have a wonderful fall weekend.

(Also, in the future, I’ll try to not sound so formal in my postings. I seem to have a bias towards formality when typing. It must be some subconscious view that printed or published words have some level of permanence. I generally don’t talk like this, so that must be it. Anyways, I’ll try.)

Best,
Howard