Final Day of Teach For Ferguson, but First Day of an Expanded Effort

So far I've written about my time working at the Ferguson library. On the last day of the teaching program, that's where I started.

By the 9 AM opening time, the line wasn't just out the door. It was wrapped around the sidewalk along North Florissant. I spent time talking with half-awake kids, excited parents and grandparents, and volunteers who were arriving all smiles.

Since I started on Wednesday, I organized a corps of high school kids in addition to other members of the community to work as volunteers. Together, we kept track of their volunteer hours, and this upcoming week I will either email or deliver an Education Exchange Corps certificate to each one of them documenting the hours they worked. Many high schools and scholarship opportunities require proof of community service. In that vein, we will also be offering these kids advice as they go through the college application process.

We have had so many kids show up that we needed an overflow site (200 kids on the last day!). The Ferguson First Baptist Church stepped up in a big way and provided the children with a wonderful and absolutely HUGE space.

Just one room at the Ferguson First Baptist Church

At about 9:30, I marched down to the church with some of my high school students and a couple other volunteers. We were greeted by Maxine Clark, Chief Executive Bear of Build-A-Bear, and Teach For America staff.

I tried to help however I could, but Teach For America had the church site running like a well-oiled machine. So I got to hang out with the kids! I worked alongside one of our many parent-volunteers for the first few hours.

As I was strolling around the church looking to help, I came upon volunteers from the National Parks Service Old Courthouse site who had been there just about every day. They wanted to run a scripted mock trial, Dred Scott v. Irene Emerson, with the middle and high school students. I was beyond excited! I spent the last two years on Wash U Law's trial team (I'm hanging out in the picture at the top left), three years coaching high school mock trial at Career Academy, and I'm a lawyer!

Our Courtroom at the church

In our trial (which was a bit of a combination of a few Dred and Harriet Scott legal actions for the historians out there), the jury returned an 11-1 verdict granting Dred Scott his freedom. I explained to the students that, in real life, a jury eventually returned the same verdict, but, after the decision was taken up on appeal, the Supreme Court refused to even recognize black people as citizens of America or to give Scott his freedom. The kids had a few questions. Some even wanted to know about becoming a lawyer.

I spent the rest of the day working with much younger kids. I identified one as having special needs, and I stayed with him until his mother picked him up. He had a lot of energy, and my neck is still sore, but we had a great time making up stories about Batman, working on spelling, and finishing a few art projects.

The outpouring of support we received was phenomenal. We had volunteers from far away - including two volunteer teachers I met from Chicago and Virginia - and from all over St. Louis donate their time and energy to giving these kids a great week.

In a last act of selflessness, the Ferguson-Florissant teacher who started this all, Carrie Pace, offered me a ride home. I learned that she is an art teacher, that she has an undying passion for her kids, and that she too hopes more comes of this. Carrie is certainly special, and there are many selfless teachers all over this country who are willing to go above and beyond to care for their kids. I got to meet many of them this week.

Right before she dropped me off, Carrie signed up to volunteer with us. We will be staying in contact over the course of the year to consider plans for next summer.

St. Louis, if this program showed anything, it's that together we can. We are committed to making sure that tomorrow we will. Stay tuned folks!


Elad Gross
President and CEO
Education Exchange Corps
www.EdExCo.org

Ferguson Library: A Summer Day Full of Chills

I keep thinking about the multiple moments I got the chills today while working at the Ferguson Library. The good kind of chills. The kind that precede progress.

200 kids.
100 volunteers.
A TON of donations.

Just another day at the Ferguson Library!

When I arrived early this morning, the library was closed to the public, but that didn't stop families from lining the sidewalk in anticipation of the 9:00 AM opening. After coordinating some of our volunteers and speaking with the other wonderful staff, I did my thing. I walked out the door, pen in hand, donning a time-tested maroon button-down, and started getting parents and kids fired up for the day. They still had ten minutes before they could go in, but I was compelled to make sure even the moments in the morning heat on the sidewalk would be fun and engaging.

The day started and the kids poured in. Parents remembering Mr. E from yesterday cheerily shouted "Hello" and "Gooooooood morning!" right back at me, some beating me to the punch. I had a few kids hug me or demand high fives as they entered. I'd only met them yesterday.

One child insisted that he knew me from somewhere other than the library. No matter how much I disagreed, he was convinced that I was a teaching assistant at his elementary school. This was my first time working with the Ferguson-Florissant School District.

The surge of students quickly filled the library. Once we were full, we sent kids to our overflow site at First Baptist Church just down the street. Thanks to the wonderfully well organized folks at Springboard, we had plenty of arts, music, dancing, and other activities for our kids to do. Because of the efforts of the church, Springboard, the library, and all of the volunteers, from our organization, Teach for America, and so many other places, we were able to accept every child who came to us to learn.

And we had visitors too: Governor Jay Nixon; Captain Ron Johnson and several officers from the Missouri State Highway Patrol; Judge Marvin Teer; St. Louis City Alderman Antonio French. I watched kids line up to talk with Captain Johnson, but only for a second. The Pre-K kids needed a story to read, and the Science Center staff came in to do my favorite experiment: SLIME!

I should also mention that Jack Dorsey of Twitter-fame was there yesterday. He volunteered for much of the day with a friend. He joined a legion of St. Louisans who have given so willingly of their time to make these children feel special.

Due respect to all of our visitors, but I was absolutely floored when I heard the familiar, low, radio-ready voice of high school football teammate and righteous dude Anthony Wise. He just got in from out of town and had to volunteer. I took him with me and he settled down with our Pre-K crowd.

Anthony is a tall man. He towered over these kids and spoke with a booming voice--the kids loved him! I came back a while later to see him pick out a book to read out loud. I sat down to watch as the kids interacted with him and asked him questions in the middle of the story about a boy and his alien friend. Other volunteers started watching too not just because he is engaging, but because he actually wasn't reading the story at all. He was making up a story, with the kids, based on the pictures in the book. I had to leave because I was tearing up laughing. He'll be back tomorrow.

The day wound down. Parents picked up their kids. I gave every kid and parent the old don't-eat-your-slime joke on their way out. The high school students I am coordinating as volunteers helped reunite kids and their parents. Two middle school brothers weren't picked up. Well after the program ended, after exhausting all resources, I walked with them to their grandmother's home.

We talked about a lot of things on our walk: jet planes, the neighborhood, the protests in Ferguson. We even passed through the protest being held in front of the Ferguson Police Department. Our conversation was natural, nothing pressed. The younger kid told me he felt like I was his cousin.

After getting them home, I walked back to the library alone. I passed through the protest again. I stopped to invite parents to bring their kids to the library tomorrow. One man said he volunteered there today. I thanked him, he smiled, and I left him standing on the street with a sign.

I skipped one piece of the day. As I was waiting for someone to pick up the two brothers, two young black men asked to do an interview with me. They traveled from Virginia to show the real story of Ferguson. The interview turned into a conversation about education in the whole region, about the importance of giving every child a chance, about what we can do when we decide to work together.

Toward the end of the interview, I got the chills, those good ones, not just because I am passionate about education and kids and our future, not just because of the outpouring of support this program has received, but because the men who were interviewing me, who were there just to document my words, were nodding in agreement.

I invite you to join us at the Ferguson library again tomorrow. Click here for the details.


Elad Gross
President and CEO
Education Exchange Corps
www.EdExCo.org

Call for Volunteers: Teach in Ferguson

Schools are closed. But kids want to learn!

The Education Exchange Corps is supporting the efforts of Ferguson-Florissant School District teachers, in partnership with the Ferguson Municipal Public Library, to hold classes for kids Pre-K-8th grade this week. We're calling on volunteers to work with kids for however much time they can.

Where: Ferguson Municipal Public Library, 35 N. Florissant Rd.

When: Anytime between 9:00 AM - 3:30 PM, Thursday and Friday 8/21-8/22

What: Lead and/or assist others leading group activities for students

Why: Just because the school district is closed doesn't mean they shouldn't learn!

Today, I spent most of the day at the welcome desk of the library to greet parents and kids, get them registered, answer phones, and dole out the EEC's soon-to-be-patented form of logical discipline. I also organized high school students to serve as volunteer assistants during the program. It was a long but wonderful day. The teachers of the district were out in force, and the kids were funny, open, and so happy to be there.

Tomorrow, the Ferguson-Florissant teachers will be gone for professional development. We'll have several retired teachers, Teach For America members, and other volunteers coming to help, but we can always use more motivated, active, engaging people who are willing to step up and work with kids with little instruction from others. We had 150 kids show up today, and the more active volunteers, the merrier.

If you come, I guarantee I'll be super supportive. I know I won't be the only one. Not only will you help a bunch of kids, but you'll also get to work with some very special people, like Mr. Washington.

I promise you will not regret it.

If you cannot volunteer, you can still donate supplies.

To get involved, contact me directly either by email at Elad.Gross@EdExCo.org or by phone at 314-753-9033.

Elad Gross

President and CEO

Education Exchange Corps

www.EdExCo.org

The Summer That Wasn't

Today, instead of being full of kids painting, making slime, rehearsing plays, and playing soccer, Clay Elementary will be empty.

For the first time since 2008, the Education Exchange Corps will not be spending the summer educating children in the city of St. Louis.

Until very recently, Clay Elementary was known as a Community Education Center. A handful of schools in St. Louis received this designation. The idea was for these schools to be community hubs, being open for extended hours most days of the year to provide needed services to kids and families. Members of the community could take GED classes, receive counseling and health care, and know their kids would be supervised before and after school. 

This summer, these Community Education Centers closed. They will still be schools, but the services they once provided to their communities will no longer be offered. At Clay, we were one of those services. 

Many of these schools' partners are left at a loss, needing to find new ways to serve the kids and families they've grown so close to. We will be taking this summer to figure out what our next steps will be. But, although we'll be back, many people who served the school district, its students, and their communities won't be. These are the people who served as the Community Education Coordinators and the Community Collaborative Specialists for the district.

Mr. Gardner, Clay's Community Collaborative Specialist, served the school district for two decades. He was a constant face at Clay Elementary. He knew the families--kids' siblings, parents, grandparents, cousins. He knew where the kids lived, what organizations were in the neighborhood, when the group of older boys would come to the school to play basketball, which families needed a little extra help.

When he first heard about our program, he called me immediately. He had to have us in his school working with his kids. Over these last three years, we have had the pleasure of working closely with him. He was a no-nonsense educator who served as a necessary authority figure for so many children at his school, and he cared deeply about the well-being of so many in the Hyde Park neighborhood. His departure will be a terrible loss for the community. I'm sure the same is true for so many of the others who will be leaving with him. It's a tragedy that these dedicated folks will no longer be involved in the education of their kids.

For our program, this will be the summer that wasn't. But the empty schools won't stay empty for long. Unfortunately, the empty Community Education offices will, even though the communities are still in need.

Elad Gross
President and CEO
Education Exchange Corps
www.EdExCo.org

Empires of Earth: This Summer, the Kids Rule

The United States of America no longer exists. At least, not the country we know as the United States. None of today's countries have survived. In their stead, four empires have divided the world between them. All control the same amount of resources. All can make any choice or perform any action they want. And all are run by children.

This summer, the Education Exchange Corps Summer Academy will house the greatest social experiment ever run at Clay Elementary that we have heard about. Our kids will be divided into four groups comprised of relatively equal numbers of elementary, middle, and high school students. Each of the four groups will manage an empire. They'll name their empires whatever they want, choose whatever government they think appropriate, and determine how national resources should be allocated.

Think a bunch of Kid Presidents.
http://kidpres.tumblr.com/image/77208611735

Each group will be assigned adult advisers, but every decision will be left to the kids, even decisions on how to make decisions. They'll choose whether to launch attacks on other countries, initiate international negotiations, or focus on domestic development. Their decisions will have consequences; an empire that focuses on the happiness of its citizens may be unprepared to defend against an attack by a militaristic empire. An empire that does not determine a process to make decisions may be paralyzed by governmental gridlock or civil war. An empire that supports a strong culture may appeal to the hearts and minds of the globe's citizens.

The empires will also have to deal with world events, some tied to the empires' characteristics as chosen by their managing children. Other events will be related to the interactions between the empires and the crises that inevitably crop up on the world stage. How will an empire that has chosen to govern by dictatorship respond to a rebellion? Will a democracy have an emergency powers doctrine to allow it to respond to an immediate security threat? What if the religious leadership disagrees with the political leaders of an empire--will dissent be tolerated? Will the empires cooperate on global environmental challenges, space exploration, or a variety of other monumental tasks?

Whoa now! These are kids attending a summer academy for four weeks. How are they going to be able to do any of this? Soon after we hatched this idea, we learned of the World Peace Game, which throws elementary school kids into a complex world and asks them to solve 50 interlocking crises. Kids regularly rise to the occasion and become immersed in the game.

Unlike the World Peace Game, our simulation will not ask kids to solve problems. Kids will face global challenges, but the choice to solve those problems or even to make long-term goals will be totally up to them. Our game will end after four weeks, by the end of which anything can happen. I like the concept of the World Peace Game, enough to have purchased John Hunter's book. But I'd like to see what happens in a world where world peace is possible but not valued over other options, where the specter of international competition haunts the hallways with multiple boards comparing the empires' strengths in the military, economy, arts, and sciences, among other measures. 

We won't be leaving the kids totally in the dark. During the program, we will teach the kids about different governments, economies, religions, traditions, and other national characteristics so the kids can make educated decisions about what will characterize their own empires. We will bring in guests to teach lessons and to consult with each empire about their plans. We will introduce kids to the historical empires that came before them and how they managed. We will read, write, do math, all for the sake of the empires' survival. We will give them responsibility and control over what happens this summer.

And then we will watch to see what happens when you put kids in charge of the world. 

Come join us: http://on.fb.me/1jXT3pt.

Elad Gross
President and CEO
Education Exchange Corps
www.EdExCo.org

Peace Rally at Northwest Academy of Law

On Thursday, I volunteered at Northwest Academy of Law's Peace Rally. Northwest is a high school located in North St. Louis City. Washington University School of Law has been developing a deep relationship with the high school, and I was asked to help out by a fellow law student. Thursday was my first day visiting the school.

When I walked into the building, I was immediately greeted by several smiling high school students who were eager to help me. I didn't stay inside for long. I was one of the safety volunteers, and I, along with several others, put up barricades in the streets to prevent cars from interfering with the high school march on Riverview.

The Peace Rally begins.

The march was delayed by five, fifteen, then thirty minutes. As we began to wonder if the rally would ever start, suddenly a slowly moving police car appeared on the horizon, with hundreds of kids and community members right behind.

The kids may have been late, but they were ready to march. They shouted slogans involving the buzzwords "responsible," "peace," "resolve," "respect," and, of course, their school name. As this mass of kids passed through the street, people came out of their homes to watch. Firefighters emerged from their station. Drivers who could have been frustrated that they were blocked from using the street smiled when they learned why they had to turn around.

These kids started a neighborhood conversation, one that was full of joy and hope. And one that is desperately needed.

I spoke with some neighbors as the children passed by. When I told them the kids were marching for peace, they were happy and proud, but one also spoke with an urgency subdued by a status quo that has lasted for too long. Just the night before, someone was shooting in the neighborhood, maybe a block or two away from where the kids were marching. Just a handful of days ago, a man was found murdered in a car not too far up the street. One of the children spoke about some of the kids she knew who have died because of teen violence.

This rally was meant to wake up a community--not just those who live around the school, but everyone in St. Louis--and give kids positive, safe options for this summer.

Everyone there was so proud of these kids and the school staff for putting on this event. There are few things more impressive than seeing a group of kids demonstrate leadership and poise in the face of adversity. But the sad truth about St. Louis and many other areas in this country is that so many children live in neighborhoods where their very lives are in jeopardy, where they may have lost a friend or a family member to violence.

It would be a shame for this effort to fade away as just another news piece. That's why our organization will work with the school to offer a few jobs to their high school students as teaching assistants with our summer program. We encourage anyone who can help out to reach out and make a difference for these and so many other kids in St. Louis.


Elad Gross
President and CEO
Education Exchange Corps
www.EdExCo.org

Our first grant! Thanks to the United Way

"Dear Elad,
I would like to congratulate you and your team on receiving a one-time $1,000 grant through Student United Way."

Today, we received our first grant! We will be using the money to run a summer academy for children at Clay Elementary. We are proud to have the United Way's support as we work to give all kids a chance to get a good education.

As we take time today to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., his efforts to make America a fairer place, and how far we have come in pursuit of that dream, we shouldn't forget that we still have a ways to go.

There's no question that we can do more to give all children in this country a fair chance. Every dollar, every commitment of time, every piece of advice and support that we get goes to doing just that.

We appreciate the support you have given us, and we will continue to work hard to keep your trust. 

Elad Gross
President and Chief Executive Officer
Education Exchange Corps