Welcome to the Aim High Reach, the newsletter of Aim High! Stay connected with Aim High throughout the year with highlights from the program, news and happenings from our headquarters, and information on the many ingredients that make the Aim High recipe work for 23 years and counting.
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Support Aim High - Eat Your Vegetables!
"Summer Changes Everything” Luncheon Features Oakland School District Top Official
Campus Spotlight: Bishop O'Dowd's Guest Performers Inspire Oakland Kids
Touring Broadway Cast and Crew Donates $3K to Aim High
Change a Life this Summer – Teach at Aim High
Aim High Around the Web
Support Aim High - Eat Your Vegetables!
This year, you can support Aim High by signing up for a farm box from Farm Fresh to You! FF2Y will donate $15 to Aim High for every Aim High supporter who signs up using promotional code 4749.
Farm Fresh to You delivers fruits, vegetables and nuts to your home or office anywhere in the San Francisco Bay Area, east to Sacramento, or south to the Monterey peninsula. They offer a wide selection of farm boxes including mixed, fruit-only, veggie-only, local-only, office snack packs, and more; and they offer flexible options for the size of your box and the frequency of your delivery.
To find out more about Farm Fresh to You’s farms and services, visit www.farmfreshtoyou.com or call (800) 796-6009.
To support Aim High when you order a farm box, use promotion code 4749 when you order.
Aim High wishes you a very healthy new year!
“Summer Changes Everything” Luncheon Features Oakland School District Top Official
More than 80 Aim High fans turned out for lunch on Friday, January 23rd for Summer Changes Everything: Aim High’s Impact on Middle School Youth.
Warren Hellman and Doug Shorenstein hosted the lunch at the Bankers Club for representatives from Bay Area foundations, corporate partners, school districts, education organizations, and others interested to know more about Aim High. In difficult financial times, the support of these new and old friends is critical as Aim High works toward a funding goal that will maintain the size and scope of the program .
Vince Matthews, State Administrator for Oakland Unified School District, spoke to guests about his years teaching with Aim High and how the experience shaped his perspectives as an educator.
Brought in by the state to oversee education reform in Oakland, Matthews says that he tries to bring to Oakland public schools the strategies that make “magic” at Aim High: close contact with families and communities, strong site-based leadership, smaller classes and collaboration among teachers and administrators.
Matthews joined Aim High as a teacher in 1987, Aim High’s second year, before becoming co-director with Alec Lee.
Of Aim High’s supportive learning community, Matthews says, “Students vote with their feet, especially in the summer, so for them to come back to Aim High summer after summer is a real mark of Aim High’s success.”
Guests at the lunch also heard from Pally Cottonham, the aunt of Aim High graduate Demarcus Cottonham. Pally spoke of the transformative power of Aim High and its immediate and remarkable impact on her nephew.
Though Demarcus hated school when he came to live with his aunt and uncle at the age of 10, he discovered at Aim High that he was excited about math and could be a leader in the classroom.
Demarcus now maintains a B average and plays on the basketball team at Wallenberg High School.
“We’re grateful to Doug and Warren, Vince and Pally, and to the many people who turned out to hear about Aim High,” says Aim High Executive Director Alec Lee of the event. “To see so much community support for Aim High in these difficult times is inspiring.”
Campus Spotlight: Bishop O'Dowd's Guest Performers Inspire Oakland Kids
At Bishop O’Dowd High School in East Oakland, the Aim High CORE values – Community, Opportunity, Respect, and high Expectations – gained a creative flair this summer as eight guest artists and performers shared their passion with students.
Over the course of two Cultural Days and several morning assemblies, O’Dowd’s 105 students were introduced to capoeira, slam poetry, underground hip-hop, African drumming and dance, writing, and filmmaking.
African Diaspora Day, one of the Culture Day celebrations, is a yearly tradition at Bishop O’Dowd and features food, music, dance and cultures of Africa, the Caribbean, and the US. Among the performers, many considered Rashidi Omari, an Oakland-based hip-hop dancer and performer, to be a highlight.
“Everyone danced along with Rashidi,” says site director Aimee Suzara, “trying to master the choreography, doing these moves, sometimes fumbling and messing up and laughing, teachers mixing with the students.”
“It’s one of those amazing moments when you see everyone just enjoying themselves.”
Spoken-word artist and rapper Virtuous was also a popular guest performer. Students sought Virtuous’s autograph and clamored to find out where to buy his album.
Aimee says that she really wanted to use guest speakers and performers to show how artistic forms, particularly hip-hop, could be put to positive use, spreading constructive messages and exploring history and identity.
Virtuous rapped about gender issues and the negative, hurtful language that pervades popular music and culture. Aimee was particularly moved to see the boys of her campus singing along as Virtuous implored them to respect women, a message not frequently heard on hip-hop radio.
Students also connected to artists as they shared their backgrounds. Many of the performers are originally from Oakland, and most grew up in communities similar to the East Oakland neighborhoods where Aim High/Bishop O’Dowd students live.
“They were speaking to their own history and experiences,” Aimee says of the writers and musicians who came for Culture and Identity Day. “It really helped kids think about their own personal histories.” Meeting people with backgrounds similar to their own who have become successful artists and community leaders, Aimee says, made a great impact.
Students were inspired, too, to give great performances. Though Aim High has always made use of the theater at the Bishop O’Dowd campus, students seized the opportunity to make it their own.
“Students really felt comfortable on stage this year, and put so much preparation into their performances,” Aimee says. “The arts are my realm, and I’ve seen my share of Celebration Nights at Aim High, but I have to say – this year’s dance and theater groups really blew me away.”
Touring Broadway Cast and Crew Donates $3K to Aim High
When the Phantom of the Opera Broadway Tour came through in late 2008, the company left behind more than just satisfied theater-goers. They raised more than $3,000 to support Bay Area youth at Aim High.
Dawna Ellis, a costumer with the tour, spearheaded the effort to raise funds for a local charity in lieu of her department’s annual holiday gift exchange.
In choosing a recipient for the gift, Ms. Ellis considered several local organizations, but ultimately decided that the group could do the most good through Aim High. “We liked that so many kids return to the program year after year, and that many come back as teachers and go on to be educators.”
Aim High’s high rating on Charity Navigator and focus on community service helped Ms. Ellis confirm that the group’s donation to Aim High would make a deep and lasting impact.
The Phantom tour, which just celebrated its record-setting 16th anniversary, consists of more than a hundred actors, musicians, and crew members. Though the charitable gift idea originated in the wardrobe department, Ms. Ellis spread the word and received contributions from almost a third of the company.
“We are on the road 365 days a year, so we can’t do community service at home. This is one way we can give back.”
Change a Life this Summer – Teach at Aim High
Application information is now available online for teaching positions at Aim High for the summer of 2009. Visit www.aimhigh.org/teach to find out how to apply.
This year, Aim High will hire nearly 300 professional educators, college students, and high school students to serve as faculty at our campuses in San Francisco, Oakland, East Palo Alto and Redwood City.
In most Aim High classrooms, a Lead Teacher will pair with a college-aged Teaching Intern or high school-age Teaching Assistant, creating a favorable 1:8 teacher-student ratio and a supportive classroom community for both teachers and students.
Job descriptions for Lead Teachers, Teaching Interns and Teaching Assistants are available at http://www.aimhigh.org/teach. All positions are paid at a competitive rate and will run from June 22 to July 31, 2009.
For more information or to submit your resume and letter of interest, contact Matt Reno (mreno@aimhigh.org).
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- Support, Learn More, or Apply to Teach on our website: aimhigh.org
- New! Follow Executive Director Alec Lee on Twitter: AlecLeeAimHigh on Twitter
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View more editions of the Aim High Reach: Sept 08 , Nov 08 , Dec 08, Feb 09, May 09
Aim High is gearing up for another strong year serving Bay Area students and families - but we need your help to serve a thousand kids in a year when they need us most. Please forward this newsletter to friends and colleagues. To find out about other ways to support Aim High, visit Aim High's Support Page.
For more information on any of these topics, contact Kat White, Communications Coordinator, by email or phone: 415-551-2333.