Congratulations the the rising freshman class of West Generation Academy!

• Gaining a basic understanding of rethinking time and human capital.
• Beginning to analyze how implementation of each of these components could fill gaps or meet needs in their local context.
• Identifying first steps they could take to lead their school/district/organization in this direction.

Click here to view this presentation.

For far too long, far too many kids in this very prosperous country have lacked the opportunity to realize their potential. They have been ill-served by an education system that is ill-equipped to meet their evolving needs. Explicitly or implicitly, their lives and futures have been treated as if they were disposable.
When Generation Schools was little more than a vision, the Robert and Ardis James Foundation offered support. Five years later, Generation Schools has opened two schools, each serving more than 350 students, and its ideas are spreading and being implemented by other schools. Brooklyn Generation has graduated two classes, and almost a hundred kids who — if judged by statistics — would not have graduated high school, and are now in college. None of this would have been possible without the steadfast support of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation.
This quilt is a stand against disposability. The images are clear statements of identity — by kids articulating who they are, what matters to them, and where they are going. Because of your support, they will go on to do great things.

“It’s clear that they [the students] feel connected to the adults, heard, understood, and supported.  They’re clear about how Brooklyn Generation is different.  They were touching when they talked about their college plans.  John said, ‘You know how when you go to buy a video game, you can download a demo for free?  You can try it out and decide if you like it?  That’s what the Intensives are like.’  Raysa said, ‘I wanted to be an actress. So I picked a theater arts intensive.  But I was bad at it.  Then I learned that I can’t cook.  Then I took an intensive with Ms. Hill, careers in medicine.  I’ve been part of the Arthur Ashe Institute’s Science Academy.  Now I am going to SUNY Geneseo where I’ll major in biology.”

HESC is an essential partner in making the College & Career Intensives program possible at Brooklyn Generation School. For more information about HESC and their work, click here.

“Under cloudy skies on a recent Friday morning, 13-year-old B’Azsae Gale concentrated on burying a feisty irrigation hose in the soil of a white modular planter that is part of a new “learning garden” on Denver’s West Campus.

As Gale pushed the hose down, calling for more soil from wheelbarrow-toting classmates, he mused about the vegetables he hopes to plant…” Read Article

L to R: Luisa Hernandez (Student Advisor, West Generation Academy), Travis Robinson (Managing Director, The Kitchen Community),
Michael Alcazar (C&C Intensives Teacher, West Generation Academy), Lee Morgan (Assistant Principal, West Generation Academy),
Michael Bennet (US Senator), Dr. Robert Villarreal (Principal, West Generation Academy),
Teresa Klava (Principal, West Leadership Academy), Kimbal Musk (Founder, The Kitchen Community)

On April 12, the schools of the West High School campus welcomed US Senator Michael Bennet to visit our new student learning garden. With a grant from the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, the Kitchen Community installed a student-learning garden on the West Campus at the request of our Intensive teachers and Senior Associate for Health & Wellness, Mary Cipollone. Earlier this month,  West students worked together assembling planters, filling them with dirt, and mixing concrete for the decorative poles. The Learning Garden will provide an interactive outdoor classroom.  By teaching students about food cultivation and nutrition, the learning garden will provide a space for delivering engaging curriculum while aiming to decrease childhood obesity. At the end of his time on campus, the Senator hopped on a school bus to continue the conversation with some of our students as they headed home!

As an intermediate step, TASC is proposing that New York require every student earn at least one credit toward graduation through an accredited out-of-school learning experience.  TASC is collaborating with numerous high schools and community organizations to implement ExpandED Options, an initiative that places high school students in credit-bearing, real-world apprenticeships that connect to meaningful summer employment.