Tag Archives: Volunteer Program

P.S. 243 Family Fun Field Day

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Mr. Justin from FAN4Kids, awesome CFK volunteers, & adorable P.S. 243 students!

Aside from the days the school cafeteria served chicken nuggets for lunch, there was nothing I looked forward to more in elementary school than Field Day. Each spring, the entire grade would gather together on the playground for some fun in the sun. The Egg Walk; Over, Under; Dizzy Bat; Water Balloon Toss (my favorite relay race); all culminating in the final showdown: Class Tug of War.

Last Saturday, May 19th, I took part in the excitement again; this time at Change for Kids‘ inaugural Family Fun Field Day at P.S. 243 in Brooklyn. Over 75 students, parents, and community members joined CFK and FAN4Kids, our healthy living partner, for a bit of friendly competition in kickball, bowling, basketball, and — of course — a water balloon toss!

My favorite little guy of the day!

In addition to fun games and races, we provided a nutritious lunch for the kids and their families. Gone were my beloved chicken nuggets, replaced with: cucumber salad, no-mayo tuna salad (yep…you read that right…NO MAYO!), and peanut butter & banana sandwiches.

All in all, it was an incredibly successful first-go at what CFK hopes will become a much-anticipated and highly-attended annual event at each of our partner schools. I’m already looking forward to next year’s Field Day, when I can lace up, line up, and set off down the relay race track!

Community Spotlight: Meet Jenny Portillo

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Currently finishing her senior year at Fordham University, Jenny Portillo is the founding member of our P.S. 73 literacy tutoring program and a brand new Teach for America recruit!

Jenny Portillo (center) with P.S. 73 students on a visit to the Fordham campus

When she graduates this spring she’ll have a double-major in English and history and a completed senior thesis on the shared constructs and themes of traditional poetry and hip-hop music. She counts Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree among her favorite books. “I think his message of selfless love is meaningful for any person at any age,” she says.

In this month’s Community Spotlight, Jenny updates us on the P.S. 73 tutoring program and provides a first-person account of teaching and learning from students.

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Scenes from Saturday Tutoring

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On Saturdays at 10am, our dedicated bunch of literacy tutors arrives in Bedford-Stuyvesant to work with the 3rd graders of P.S. 243. They fold themselves into undersized chairs and sit amid stacks of books and baskets of school supplies while their students work through the week’s curriculum of reading, writing and math exercises. It’s an inspiring thing to see nine-year-olds curled intently over their desks, and we like to think it’s the coolness factor of their tutors that can make arithmetic and language arts the preferred activities on a Saturday morning.

Saturday tutoring pairs pause for a quick group photo

These sessions are all about literacy—both in terms of reading comprehension and in terms of applying language to other concepts in school. If you hated math because of word problems, you know exactly the kind of paralysis some of our students experience when they read, “Two trains leave the station at the same time heading in different directions…”

It’s not all serious, though. In between Duck for President and multiplication, our tutoring pairs have found plenty of moments to look forward to from week to week. Whether they’re skipping down the halls or discussing the merits of apple juice over soda, they’re making light work of often heavy subjects.

Finally, big thanks to the contingent from Brooklyn Technical College, whose turnout has been hugely responsible for the success of this new venture. You guys are awesome.

And with that, meet a few of the folks who’ve settled into P.S. 243 for the semester:

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Community Spotlight: Meet Principal Mirvil from P.S. 73

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With just about two months left in the 2009-2010 school year, CFK has been catching up on some overdue homework. One of our big goals was to check in with the principals of our partner schools, evaluate the programs from the previous year, and set some priorities for the next several months. Board members Chris Denniston and Amanda Marshall caught up last week with Jean Mirvil, principal extraordinaire at P.S. 73 in the Bronx.

The students at P.S. 73 currently have access to our violin program with Mr. Majid, Story Pirates literacy programming, the Bronx Museum Partnership, and our new collaboration with Fordham student mentors. As might be expected, our wonderful program director, Mike Quinzio (“Mr. Mike” to our students) spends a big chunk of his time every week making sure our operations in P.S. 73 are running smoothly. Still, even we were surprised by some of Mr. Mirvil’s responses to our questions about the impact of CFK in his school. Below, he reflects on the importance of expanding students’ expectations of the world, building a thriving school community and keeping in touch.

Amanda Marshall and Chris Denniston: What has been the impact of Change for Kids in your school?
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