Celebrating National Poetry Month
20/20′s resident linebacker poet, Din “The Verb” Tolbert, mesmerized 1,000 McKinley Junior High School 7th and 8th graders at two assemblies celebrating National Poetry Month on April 10 and 11. While weaving together classics like Edgar Allan Poe’s “Raven,” “Summer” by Walter Dean Myers, and his own original work, Din challenged the students to find...
Questioning Mayoral Candidates on Education Reform
The NYC Clergy Roundtable invited 20/20 Vision for Schools executive director Jeremy Del Rio to question NYC Mayoral candidates Christine Quinn, William Thompson, Bill DiBlasio, and John Liu on how their prospective administrations will reform the Department of Education, at a forum hosted by the historic Convent Avenue Baptist Church on April 8. Below are...
Poets Soar at Eagle Academy
The Young Life Poetry Club at Eagle Academy in the Bronx proudly announces an upcoming Poetry Slam on April 25 featuring students from the club. Young Life New York sponsors academic enrichment and cultural programs at schools in Bronx, Jamaica, East New York and Harlem in partnership with 20/20 Vision for Schools.
Freshmen Volunteer at East New York Nursing Home
The “Inter-Generational Storytelling Project” at Watch Academy concluded last week with a final visit to Ruby Weston Manor Nursing Home, when twenty-four freshmen and their Ruby Weston counterparts celebrated new friendships cultivated through the sharing of life stories. Throughout the eight-week project, students interviewed elders in their own families as well as those at the...
Overachievers: The “I Am Now” Video Experience
In February 2012, the “I Am Now” performing arts program launched at IS 8 in South Jamaica, Queens. The first music class wrote, recorded, and performed an original song called “Overachievers.” This is their story. Download the FREE MP3 of “Overachievers” here. “I Am Now” is a collaboration between Young Life New York, 20/20 Vision...
Prepping for Broadway
Middle School students in East New York receive theater coaching and audition prep for performing arts high schools through an innovative 20/20 Vision for School partnership between Young Life East New York and the CAMBA East New York Beacon Program at Gershwin Junior High School. Certified theater teacher and Young Life Area Director Carolyn Giles...
Students Lead Change in East New York
20/20 Partner Young Life Metro NY leads theater arts workshops and service learning opportunities for students at WATCH Academy at the Thomas Jefferson Campus in East New York. These photos show WATCH Academy students volunteering as inter-generational story tellers at the Ruby Weston Manor Nursing Home in their neighborhood. This service learning collaboration with Ruby...
Mission Possible: The UFT and DOE agree!
The United Federation of Teachers celebrates the PS 102 mural in a recent issue of New York Teacher, joining the NYC Department of Education which featured the mural in October 2011, shortly after its completion.
A sixth grader at IS 8 in Queens described the impact of the "I Am Now" program on him: "I became a better man. ... When I was gonna fight somebody over something, we settled it like young men." The photo shows him performing the original song "Overachievers" at a school assembly. 
Download
