Dear Friends and Family,
Upon
returning to St. Louis one year ago, I got involved with the Education Exchange
Corps – a locally-based, non-profit service organization dedicated to offering
educational opportunities to at-risk children.
As a volunteer teacher during the organization’s Summer Academy, I enjoyed
the spectacular opportunity to lead lesson plans that encouraged holistic
learning of math, science and language arts in a more interactive environment.
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| Sam at our 2013 Summer Academy |
Currently, the program aims to serve children primarily from the St. Louis Public School District. For those of you unfamiliar with the state of the SLPS, the Missouri State Board of Education ended its accreditation of the district in March 2007. The district is now provisionally accredited as of October 2012, but that accreditation status may not last long. This represents only one of the most recent blows to the district – a district that once achieved peak enrollment of 115,543 students in 1967. Enrollment during the 2010-11 school year was 23,576, a significant decrease from the 35,361 students enrolled as recently as 2006-07. These metrics paint a sad portrait of a struggling district that finds it increasingly difficult to provide quality educational opportunities to its most important stakeholders: the children.
Comparatively, I
was fortunate to attend, and later work with, the School District of Clayton,
which serves a municipality just a few miles from St. Louis city. At first I was admittedly surprised (and even
confused) by the notable achievement gap in the children’s academic performance
across school districts. Even within the
Summer Academy, the disparity between children in the same grade levels was
discouraging and profound.
Since last
summer I’ve assumed both the Director of the Summer Academy and Chief Financial
Officer roles. This is why I write you
today. Our organization offers the
aforementioned Summer Academy, as well as a Teaching Assistant Program during
the regular school year. The Summer
Academy aims to provide children with additional educational opportunities they
do not normally receive during the school year.
The Teaching Assistant Program allows college students and other volunteers to select one of
our available classrooms during the regular school year in which assistants
may work with the class as a whole, small groups of students, or one-on-one
with children in need of the attention. The teacher and teaching assistant work
together to develop the strategy and scheduling of the placement based on the
abilities of the volunteer and students and the availability of the volunteer
and teacher. These programs are
equally important and require significant time, effort and resources from all
involved parties (e.g. volunteers, program administrators, teachers, SLPS
administration, etc.).
While the EEC is
still in relative infancy, we aim to expand the size, scope and abilities of
our organization and the opportunities/programs we provide our children. However, to do so requires us to raise funds,
hopefully with your support. Currently
our primary source of fundraising is accessible through our website at www.edexco.org. If monetary donations may prove too
expensive, we would appreciate any “in-kind” donations, such as your time,
services, children’s books or other classroom materials. Likewise, we understand if you choose not to
participate with our organization and thank you for your time and consideration.
To learn more
about the Education Exchange Corps, please feel free to visit our website at www.edexco.org. Further, please feel free to contact me
directly at Sam.Golembieski@edexco.org
to discuss this request for donations or other questions further.
The EEC is a
public charity exempt from tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue
Code, and therefore cannot provide you with any goods or services in exchange
for your non-refundable contribution. Accordingly, your contribution is tax
deductible to the full extent allowed by law. We recommend that you consult
your tax advisor for questions unique to your own circumstances.
Sincerely,
Sam Golembieski
Chief Financial Officer
Education Exchange Corps
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