City Year has built its annual, week-long Summer Academy as an opportunity to strengthen the work we do so that it is "built to last." Each summer, we bring together a team of idealists - made up of recently graduated Senior AmeriCorps Members and staff members from different sites for two months - to build and execute Summer Academy. This team builds on the foundation of previous Summer Academies, partners with leaders and facilitators from across the network and stands on the shoulders of the giants who have previously served on this team. The team this year is made up of 34 members (24 City Year Alumni), 24 sites represented and a cumulative 160 years of City Year experience. Eleven directors are leading the 2016 SAT. We asked each director what the Summer Academy theme - Idealism in Education: A Pathway to Social Justice - means to them.
​PITWs - they are useful in so many different situations!
To me, education creates equal access to pathways for people to pursue their goals and to become successful in life, whatever that means for them. By giving people the opportunity to achieve their goals, education makes way for a more equal and just society where one's trajectory is not pre-determined nor pre-ordained based on race, class, gender, sexual orientation, zip code, or membership in any other identity group.
​PITW #46: Be a Clock Builder, Not Just a Time Teller.
​Idealism suggests a sense of hope, a commitment towards progress, and faith in humanity at its best. The pathway to social justice calls for all these things -- and often times, it requires new pathways in our minds. It calls upon us to recognize and challenge our implicit biases, to question the status quo, to reach across to folks whom we may not naturally gravitate, and a resolve to continue on in the fight inspite of the seeming insurmountable obstacles. Social justice has always been a value of mine and I'm proud that City Year is addressing this full on in a space that engages the majority of our FY17 workforce.
​I lead the team members who create the spaces our paticipantes all experince. This includes General Assembelis, Unity Rally and Summer Academy's Look and Feel.
​The community of support that we create for the people doing our work.
​I am proud that we are exploring our direct connection to Social Justice. For me the theme is a question: How is Idealism in Education a Pathway to Social Justice?
​I work on the Culture and Community Team. My job is to bring to life the Summer Academy Experience through Photos and Video. I support in making all the videos for Academy!
A little creativity goes a long, long . . . l o o o o n g w a y. After you have planned something, step back and do a quick "creativity check" by asking, "where are the real creative parts to this?" If you can't find the creativity, go back and inject some.
​I get to work with an awesome team who support the OpEx, Devo, NELC, RAD & CE tracks, as well as the on-boarding experience manager and the PD manager for SA. Together we are working with track leads from all departments to help create a super engaging and inspiring SA experience for everyone.
​The people. The teamwork. The positive can-do attitudes. The kindness. The ubuntu. The MISSION.
​Education is a huge social justice issue and one that needs to be addressed NOW. EVERY child deserves access to a high quality school where they can learn and grow into the amazing people they were born to be.
​As Director of ProServe Experience, I have the privilege of convening content designers and facilitators to build out the learning in the ProServe track.
​The wheel of idealism (Imagine, Recruit, Transform and Inspire) is such a powerful framework to understand the process of effecting change and is applicable to so many situations from building community with students to broad-based social movements.
I understand the theme as a powerful challenge and source of inspiration - it demands we understand and reckon with the power of education as a critical component of social justice.
I help to ensure the most inspiring, empowering, and impactful Academy learning experience possible.
​Just one?! Double D Stomps.
Being in service to education as a key civil rights issue of our time.
As the Event Operations Director, I get to work with a fantastic team of 6 who work to create a seemless experience for participants and those planning sessions. My team collaborates closely with Northeastern and oversees housing, travel, dining, session logistics, materials and more!
Teamwork! I love collaborating, learning from others and seeing teams come togehter to achieve what they couldn't accomplish alone. I also appreciate the idealistic spirit and the fact that it is an explicit part of the culture to reject cynicism.
This year's theme speaks to the fact that we have a long way to go to achieve equity in our society. It's not a simple task, and the path may be obstructed, however, our belief in the power that AmeriCorps Members can have on students, schools and communities will help us forge forward to make progress in our education system and society as a whole. With all of the recent acts of violence, police brutality and racism that's been brought to the surface in the last few years, it can be difficult to stay idealistic; however, each success we have in our service can be a step forward on the path towards achieving a beloved community and more just society.
​As Director of Communications on the Summer Academy Team, I partner with Communications Coordinator, Christina Bowerman, on all things communication -- from the Summer Academy cyconnect public site and​ posted materials/resources to network-wide communications and social media coverage on @cylearning.
​Equal access to a quality education is a necessary piece of the puzzle to our work - critical to our goal of achieving social justice for all.