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AmeriCorps Montgomery

"locals serving locals for 20 years."

Project CHANGE serves to improve students’ Academic Engagement

September 16, 2016 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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scoresToday was an intense workshop on understanding the impact Project CHANGE aims to make in the lives of K-12 students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds in Montgomery County. We examined the official documentation and test trialed the evaluation instruments before we sat together to share experiences of our own education, and ask ourselves the keyquestion-

What were the influences that shaped our attitude to school, for better or for worse?” 

A lot of amazing stories came out- How a certain teacher or a coach took an interest, or how a student suddenly became competitive with their cousin or their classmates, or someone needed to get above a 2.0 grade average to be able to play on the school football team.

There were lots of different experiences but each of them in their own way demonstrated the lessons of the day, and how to help students develop a more positive and constructive attitude toward their education.  We used the research that says that students engage if they experience

SUCCESS,

develop CURIOSITY,

can express themselves with ORIGINALITY,

are allowed to foster RELATIONSHIPS,

are taught and mentored with ENTHUSIASM and

experience SAFETY.

The word is SCORES, as a way for the team to remember what the path to their goal is. There are there domains of academic engagement- cognitive, behavioral and emotional. CHANGE is about the third one, to help improve the attitude of students towards their school in all its dimensions.

We explored how AmeriCorps members, acting as mentors and tutors, can “infect” their kids with positivity and enthusiasm, and be a role model of learning.

If you want a story at the back end, design it at the front end

September 9, 2016 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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presentation-designIf you want a story to be told at the back end, the lesson the AmeriCorps Project CHANGE members learned today was that you have to design it from the front end.

Yes, you can wait for things to happen spontaneously but while you wait, most of your experience gets lost or is wasted because you created no story catching grid, or plotted no map of where you are to begin with and where you want to go. There are three stages of a story and three different energies:

We are at the BEGINNING where the energy is to CREATE.

We will progress to the MIDDLE where the energy is CORRECTIVE.

And we will come to the ENDING where the energy is to COMPLETE.

Each phase of the story is distinct, and offers a once-only opportunity. Hence it is vital to capture it. Change happens so imperceptibly that we end up forgetting what we once were.

Stealing from Aristotle’s idea that a story needs a Beginning, Middle and Ending for it to feel coherent, the members plotted their year of service across a 9 space template which turned BME on its side, to create  9 story phases of the year ahead:

Beginning of the Beginning,
Middle of the Beginning,
End of the Beginning,

Beginning of the Middle,
Middle of the Middle,
End of the Middle,

Beginning of the End,
Middle of the End,
End of the End.

 

At each stage of the journey, we will build a scaffold to ensure that we capture this phase of meaning as it emerges into fullness. Now we have a map, and we know how meaning will grow by layers, as we begin three times, come to a middle three times and end three times.  And if it all works, we will come to the end and know the beginning for the first time, and we will be ready to launch on a new story.

Tell me the story…. that got you here.

September 9, 2016 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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Today Project CHANGE began their story work with the simple prompt:

“Tell me a story that helps me understand how you came to be here.”

All the stories that came out were moving, incredible, inspiring.

“I am here because I refuse to give up on myself.” one storyteller boldly declared. In two stories, it was a mentor who saw what the member did not see and said, “This program would be ideal for you.”

An inspired teacher of psychology at Montgomery College turned two members on to the study of psychology, and one was inspired by her grandfather, a refugee from war and partition,who  lived out his life as a lawyer serving his people.

Another member was determined to get to college, despite none of her family ever getting the chance and has won four student scholarships. So far.

Three members got so totally messed up in their chosen courses at college- did the wrong subjects etc,  and had to change direction and in the process, discovered what they really loved, not teaching or broadcast journalism but public service.

Another was serving at Reading Partners AmeriCorps in Baltimore and decided now she wanted to give back to her home Montgomery County.  One was working in retail but missed the chance to serve so much that she quit.

Each of them witnessed to a desire for change and a desire to serve, to make a bigger difference in the world. The vital moment came to one member when her Mom invited her to a Vibe Concert. Good for Mom! Another was drifting from one job to another with no real sense of purpose or any sense of how effective he was with students. Someone took the time to speak, to encourage, to notice. “Hey, you can do better.”

My story was about my adopted son, who 26 years ago, was lost on the streets and in need of a father who would believe in him. One randon moment in life that endures because it shapes a lifetime.

When all was told, we reflected on the power of stories that brought them to this special place, and their exceptional choice to serve for a year. If a story brought you here, imagine the story that you will create, and the testimonies you have the chance to inspire in the lives of others who, perhaps in 20 years time, will be telling their stories of you.

Stories move us, literally as well as emotionally. We can so easily  get trapped in a story that disqualifies us from claiming our agency. They get us lost in the negativity of problems. AmeriCorps is an invitation into a new story of possibility, a story that empowers, instead of imprisons. Today, we heard the prologue. So Let the AmeriCorps story begin in earnest.

“Once upon a time, in Montgomery County, 16 intrepid adventurers on Project CHANGE set out on a journey to serve. “

Project CHANGE begins its 16th year with a great new team

September 2, 2016 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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Sept14212722_10154781270843352_6444523610545488932_nember is a time for new beginnings. School is back in business and so is Project Change, with five more member slots than before, and new partners to join the collaborative work that CHANGE has been doing in Montgomery County for the past 16 years. We want to thank our MD State and Federal funders for their vote of confidence in what we are doing.

These inspired volunteers met today as a team for the first time and got a sense of the power of shared service. Each member introduced the role they would be playing and the need that they would be seeking to meet-from kids who are grieving the loss of a parent and in danger of dropping out of school, to 17 year olds who have only had 5 years of formal schooling due to family disruption or separation; from inspiring smart high-schoolers  to imagine what their parents never could, a future in college, to teaching advocacy to talented teens through the media of video and graphic arts. The diversity of the partners makes the program so rich in stories, stories that every training day, we want to capture.

The length and breadth of the service the CHANGE team is offering also gives the program a privileged insight into the deeper needs of students in Montgomery County. Our members are eager to use their training times to share what they are learning, as well as share what they are teaching. Every day, their service is taking the pulse of the county.

What makes CHANGE even more important and unique is that 10 out of the 16 members are all graduates of Montgomery County Public Schools. CHANGE affords them a special way to give back. As the only Montgomery County/ MCPS inspired and supported AmeriCorp program serving Montgomery County students and one that actively recruits MCPS graduates among its members, Project CHANGE is proud to continue to serve the county that gave it birth.logo