18 Minute Networking

Tick, tick, tick... table, table, table.. switch, talk, answer. Thank you.

Look forward to seeing you there, alumni. 18 Minute Networking for 2012. Thursday, February 2 from 5:00 - 6:45PM, Houston Hall, 3417 Spruce St., Philadelphia, PA

The CYGP Alumni Board will host a "networking" event for the corps as a way for them to practice job networking and making connections when they graduate from the corps in June.  The event is led by facilitators who are alumni, staff members, colleagues of alumni or community leaders who can share their leadership path with the corps.  This event is one of many conversations to provide resources and support to corps members who will either return to school or are looking for jobs.  Two or three alumni who specialize in a field will anchor a table and lead a small group discussion about the steps they haven taken since graduating City Year that has led them to their current work.  We are seeking discussion leaders from the following fields/organizations:

AmeriCorps
Career Counseling
Corporate
City Year careers
College/undergraduate students
Education: k-8 & high school
Entrepreneurship
Faith/Ministry
Foundations/Philanthropy
Government, Politics & Public Servants
Graduate School
Higher Education Administration
Law & Law School
Medicine & Medical School
Military
Musicians
Nonprofit
Community Organizing
Peace Corps
Public Health
Social Work
Sports
Technology
Youth Development

For more information, or to sign up to participate in 18 Minute Networking as an alumni facilitator, please contact Brendan Morrissey at bmorrissey@cityyear.org or 215-988-2118 ext. 7056.

Register for MLK Day today!

MLK Day is less than a week away! Don't forget to register to serve with City Year to secure your volunteer spot at Germantown Hight School or Pastorius School.

 

Due to limited volunteer slots, please go to www.regonline.com/cymlkdaychampions to register.

 

Leadership After City Year (LACY) Partners

LACY Partners are organizations who provide benefits to City Year corps members and alumni or who explicitly value the City Year experience as part of their application / hiring process and want to recruit corps members and alumni after completing a year of service with City Year.

• Aspire
• Boston Teacher Residency
• Los Angeles Urban Teacher Residency
• New Teacher Project
• Peace Corps
• Philadelphia Teacher Residency
• StudentsFirst
• Shady Hill School
• Urban Teacher Center
• Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Foundation
• World Teach

City Year's featured LACY Partner is currently the Peace Corps, read more here about this partnership. Then choose from the drop down menu to browse other partnerships.

Applying to Law School?

The Alumni Department strives to keep corps members and alumni aware of opportunities to help reduce the cost of higher education. Here is a list of law schools that waive the application fee for AmeriCorps alumni and/or schools that offer scholarships to City Year graduates.

• Illinois Institute of Technology - Chicago-Kent College of Law (offers $10,000 first-year grant to City Year alumni)
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law
• William and Mary Law School

Click here to read more about these opportunities in the Career Center.

New "give a year" Partnerships

Through give a year Partnerships, colleges and universities highlight their commitment to service by providing financial scholarships and recognition to students who give a year or more of service to their communities through City Year.

Visit the give a year Partnership website to see the growing list of new partners for alumni.

give a year Partners

• Provide scholarships – at least 25% of tuition - to qualified students who have served at least one year as a corps member
• Waive the application fee for City Year corps members, alumni and current/former staff
• Recognize participants as National Service Scholars in university publications and/or special events such as graduation

Helpful Websites for Educators

Leadership Tips for the New Year

From Edutopia:

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/leadership-lessons-lori-cullen

Ten ideas to take into 2012 from Lori Cullen, an elementary school principal. 

Top 100 sites of 2011

From Tech & Learning Top Stories:

http://www.techlearning.com/Default.aspx?tabid=67&EntryId=3467

How do people find the time to try all these programs? Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Design Thinking: Lessons for the Classroom:

From Edutopia:

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/design-thinking-betty-ray

“Much has been written about changing role of the teacher from ‘sage on the stage’ to ‘guide on the side.’ Design thinking, which is a dynamic, creative and collaborative approach to problem solving, presents a unique model for educators who wish to facilitate from within the class, rather than impart knowledge to it.”

10 Takeaway Tips for Project-Based Learning

From Edutopia:

http://www.edutopia.org/stw-maine-project-based-learning-ten-key-lessons

“At King Middle School and Casco Bay High School, in Portland, Maine, every student works in a widely hailed project-learning method called expeditionary learning. Discover what your school can learn.”

 

Via The Atlantic: What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success

"The Scandinavian country is an education superpower because it values equality more than excellence...

Excerpt from the article: Everyone agrees the United States needs to improve its education system dramatically, but how? One of the hottest trends in education reform lately is looking at the stunning success of the West's reigning education superpower, Finland. Trouble is, when it comes to the lessons that Finnish schools have to offer, most of the discussion seems to be missing the point.


The small Nordic country of Finland used to be known -- if it was known for anything at all -- as the home of Nokia, the mobile phone giant. But lately Finland has been attracting attention on global surveys of quality of life -- Newsweek ranked it number one last year -- and Finland's national education system has been receiving particular praise, because in recent years Finnish students have been turning in some of the highest test scores in the world.

Finland's schools owe their newfound fame primarily to one study: the PISA survey, conducted every three years by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The survey compares 15-year-olds in different countries in reading, math, and science. Finland has ranked at or near the top in all three competencies on every survey since 2000, neck and neck with superachievers such as South Korea and Singapore. In the most recent survey in 2009 Finland slipped slightly, with students in Shanghai, China, taking the best scores, but the Finns are still near the very top. Throughout the same period, the PISA performance of the United States has been middling, at best.

To read the full article, check out What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success through The Atlantic.

"May 2012 be a year of courage for philanthropy and the nonprofit sector. We face an extraordinary assault on programs serving the most vulnerable in our society, voting rights we long took for granted, and harsh anti-immigrant policies that undermine our values. Now is the time for our sector to find its voice and support advocacy, organizing, and civic engagement."

— Deepak Bhargava, executive director, Center for Community Change

Read more comments about 2012 Resolutions for the Nonprofit World fromThe Chronicle of Philathrophy.

"One of the most powerful ways for younger managers to understand and experience the type of leadership needed for the C-Suite is to do volunteer work early in their careers. This is because the type of leadership at the top is akin to being a leader of volunteers, it is not about carrots and sticks but about persuasion and getting people to grasp and follow your vision."
- Richard Pound.

Read the full story: Volunteering - A Great Way To Learn Real Executive Leadership