Jessica Frith coaching drama club students at Freedom Academy High School.

It’s 4:30 pm on a sunny Brooklyn afternoon. As the warmth of spring and eventually summer begin to embrace the city, most teens would prefer to be anywhere but school. But they are here, at a struggling Brooklyn High School playfully engaging in activities with their drama coach, Jessica Frith. This, she says, is what more students need.

When 20/20 Vision Schools first partnered with Freedom Academy, Jessica was eager to get on board. “My first experience working with 20/20 Schools was helping to create an outdoor mural at a Brooklyn public school a few years ago. It was such a fun morning. That’s where I met Jeremy and was captivated by his mission. I knew I wanted to help somehow.”

Teaching the fundamentals of storytelling, and challenging students to live great stories.

Jessica volunteered to lead a drama club after school a few hours a week. The club is now in its second year and is a popular activity at the school. “Drama classes have allowed students to express themselves in a safe and supportive space.” Jessica says. “Students will benefit from taking time out to play and skills that will help them be better public speakers, storytellers and thinkers. These programs encourage divergent thinking, the kind of thinking that is born of creativity, not standardized testing.”

Indeed, for all of the testing being implemented in public schools, New York City students still aren’t making the grade. The push for standardized testing and endless benchmarks have created learning curricula that are nearly void of any subjects besides reading and math. Because of the focus on test scores, many school districts have students spending after school time in the classroom cramming for state exams. Kids are working harder but retaining less. Teachers are frustrated, students are stressed and the community as a whole suffers. This is why the work of 20/20 Schools is so important. By facilitating partnerships between schools and the community at large, 20/20 helps to create connections that lead to changed students, changed schools and a changed community. This is what 20/20 Vision schools strives for, and is what Jessica hopes to see.

“I feel it’s important during the formative years of youth that students understand they are not forgotten, that they are cared for and that they have tremendous potential. If I have had a positive impact on just one person’s life through volunteering, my life has had an immense amount of meaning.”

Related Slideshow: Jessica and guest Broadway star Rebecca Faulkenberry co-teach a drama workshop.

Principal Salema Marbury’s invitation for the PS 329 community to submit ideas for the mural based on the question: “How do you help a neighbor in need?”

I am very excited to announce that this fall PS 329 will celebrate the resilience of Coney Island and our school community since Superstorm Sandy with the installation of a public art mural in our schoolyard. Over the next couple of weeks before the current school year ends, you and your children will have opportunities to contribute to the mural’s design. Beginning in mid September and concluding before the one-year anniversary of Sandy, your family will be invited to help prepare and paint the walls under the direction of local artist, Sam Wisneski, with additional assistance from 20/20 Vision for Schools, our PTA, and the School Leadership Team. See an example of the process and a previously completed mural at PS 102 at 2020schools.org/ps102mural

Despite the effects of Super Storm Sandy, Coney Island families are recovering, bouncing back and have remained strong. In other words, Coney Island families are resilient. To maximize the contribution of our students, we are asking you to send in something that represents what “Resilience” means to you and your children no later than Friday, June 7. The item may reflect your culture, family traditions, place of birth, neighborhood customs, artistic preferences, or anything else of significance to your family. Examples include:

➢ Photos of family service projects
➢ Community Service ideas
➢ Personal stories from Sandy or other times of need
➢ Favorite hero and why
➢ An original drawing, sculpture, collage
➢ Favorite quote or family saying
➢ T-shirt slogans
➢ A poem or song lyrics
➢ A short story or essay
➢ Anything else that reflects how you would help your neighbor in need.

Please have your child include 3-5 sentences explaining the item’s significance and why it should be represented on the mural. Be sure the item is labeled with your child’s name and class so that it can be properly returned. Thank you for your participation! Don’t forget to check www.ps329.schoolwires.com or 2020schools.org/ps329mural for regular mural announcements and updates.

Sincerely,
Salema Marbury
Principal
[Download the PDF of the letter.]

DONATE

Support the Resilience mural project by mailing your tax-deductible donation to 20/20 Vision for Schools, 8225 5th Avenue #323, Brooklyn, NY 11209, or making an online donation below:

Jeremy Del Rio and his son Cyrus receiving #ConeyRecovers community grant with other grantees

20/20 Vision for Schools proudly received a #ConeyRecovers community grant on May 13 for the upcoming Resilience mural at “The Surfside School,” PS 329. Stay tuned for additional details on the upcoming mural. For now, preview the process and a sample outcome from PS 102 here.

DONATE

Join the Coney Island community in supporting the Resilience mural project by mailing your tax-deductible donation to 20/20 Vision for Schools, 8225 5th Avenue #323, Brooklyn, NY 11209, or making an online donation below:

Next up at Surfside:

• TOMS shoes and World Vision will provide new shoes for every student at the school on May 29.
• A “Resilience” themed mural coordinated by 20/20 and CIGA modeled on our “Welcome” mural experience at PS 102 in 2011. Students and families are currently submitting ideas for the mural based on the question: “How does your family help a neighbor in need” More on the mural to come.

Day Two: Din the Verb challenging 500 7th and 8th grade ELL students to find their voice and live great stories.

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 their voice and live great stories, central themes in 20/20′s “I Am Now” assemblies. Thank you, Ms. Amato and our friends at McKinley, for inviting us to celebrate with you.

Enjoy the assembly photos below. Videos to come.

20/20 questioning Mayoral Candidates Quinn, Thompson, Liu, and DiBlasio on education reform.

1,000 people filled Convent Avenue Baptist Church in Harlem

The NYCCR Mayoral Forum participants convene for a pre-event photo.

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 the questions, along with a video of their responses to the first.

1. Good evening. This first questions relates to mayoral control and the achievement gap. The tenth largest city in America populates our public schools everyday. No municipality in America, let alone one comprised of 1.1 million people, is run as an unaccountable oligarchy, where an all-powerful council does the bidding of one man. Yet that’s what mayoral control under Mayor Bloomberg and his Panel for Educational Policy has become, even as they have failed to close the achievement gap for four out of every five students who still finish their time in schools unprepared for college or careers. How will you reform mayoral control to include reasonable checks and balances, and real accountability to our students, parents, and their communities?




2. This second question relates to the culture of the DOE and how it engages stakeholders. The culture of the current DOE befits the legacy of the name on its headquarters, Boss Tweed. How will your administration change the culture of the DOE, from symbolic changes like the name on the building, to fundamental changes like engaging students, parents, teachers, and community stakeholders as partners, not adversaries, in educating our children?

Throughout the eight-week project, students interviewed elders in their own families as well as those at the nursing home, and crafted original poetry and creative writing based on those interviews. They shared the stories with the nursing home community in two celebrations on February 25. The student-led program included: a warm-up game; communal singing; the presentation of stories; and giving of thanks. Students also distributed hand-made “thank you” cards for their senior friends.

The program was led by 20/20 Vision partner Carolyn Giles of Young Life Greater New York in collaboration with Watch Academy’s Health Careers Teacher Brigid Ripley. Among the student impacts that resulted from this inter-generational exchange:

• 24 students received an introduction to possible careers in long-term geriatric care;
• 3 students  decided to continue community service by volunteering at Ruby Weston;
• Creative writing skills developed through the writing of monologues;
• Interview skills developed;
• Basic public speaking skills sharpened;
• Conversational skills developed between teens and seniors.

Download the FREE MP3 of “Overachievers” here.

“I Am Now” is a collaboration between Young Life New York, 20/20 Vision for Schools, I.S. 8, and local partners Greater Allen Cathedral, Bethel Gospel Tabernacle, Calvary Baptist Church, The Towles Group, and Y.O.U. Hair, Wellness, & Lifestyle Spa.

Video produced by Speek Lyfe / Young Life South Jamaica.