Dear St. Louis: Why Kids Need Us and How You Can Help

Dear St. Louis,

What happens when we put kids in charge of the world?

We're going to find out this summer!

I started a nonprofit organization seven years ago when I was in college called the Education Exchange Corps, and we've been working ever since to give underserved kids better educational opportunities. 

Each summer, we run a free summer program for kids and families. We put kids in leadership roles and give them opportunities to work on reading, writing, math, science, art, history, and communication skills, all while making sure they're having a great time doing it. We chose to get involved with kids during the summer because it is such an important time for kids' academic development. If we can prevent kids from losing so much knowledge over the summer, we will go a very long way to better preparing them for school and, eventually, running the world.

The outpouring of support St. Louis gave to kids this year was beautiful and heartwarming at a time when St. Louis really needed it. St. Louis still needs your passion. Tens of thousands of kids in St. Louis are growing up without enough opportunity, without being empowered to make their lives what they want them to be, without feeling like they matter. We really can change that. I've seen what happens when kids get the educational attention they need. They do great!

We can make this a moment we look back upon as the time when we chose not to let kids fall through the cracks, when we chose to make St. Louis a fair home for everyone. The process won't be easy, but it is surely the right and necessary thing to do. We must care more about our children than our comfort. You all have done that, and you have my eternal thanks.

But the work is not done. Our kids need more than a one-year quick-fix plan. They need a society that always values them. They need our sustained love and attention for years and years. The results are well worth the time. There are few experiences more worthwhile than helping a kid succeed.

To help folks get involved, we've designed our program to be flexible. The person who can give an hour a week has a role to play, just like the college student or retiree who wants to spend five days a week helping in a classroom. This long-term effort will take all of us, and we want to give every passionate person an opportunity to help kids.

So this summer, we're putting kids in charge of the world. Our summer academy will be an immersive simulation in the ways of global management, teaching valuable academic and life lessons along the way. One of the best ways to help kids learn is to trust them to lead. We'll be working with a group of kids in the Hyde Park neighborhood of St. Louis City, an area that has been abandoned by a lot of folks over the years. Our kids are still standing, and they need mentors to stand with them.

There may also be opportunities to help again at the Ferguson Library this summer. We're hard at work on that now.We’re also working with other technology companies to hold coding workshops and a “hackathon” for kids this summer. The program is called “Hack4Hope.”And for next year, we’re planning to help kids, families, and teachers through our regular school year program.

We would be honored to have your help.

If you have love in your heart and patience of spirit, you can be a great mentor for kids. You don’t need prior training. You just need to care. We’ll help you with the rest.

I hope you are willing to stay involved, even if it's not with us. We're happy to help you find ways to make St. Louis a better home for all. 
And if you'd like to give your time to help the kids we're working with, please let me know. You can email me directly at Elad@EdExCo.org or call me at 314-753-9033. Here's the description for our summer program: http://www.edexco.org/summer-academy.html.
Even if we're not the right fit for you, we'll try to guide you somewhere that would be great.

Together, we can build a better future. I hope to see you out there again, and for many days to come. Please do not hesitate to call on me.

Sincerely Yours,

Elad

Elad Gross

President and CEO

Education Exchange Corps

www.EdExCo.org

Announcing the Education Exchange Corps 2015 Summer Leadership Academy

The Education Exchange Corps 2015 Summer Leadership Academy is on!

Last year was the first time since 2008 we did not run a summer program. St. Louis City's public school district could not keep our partner school open last summer. Instead, we put our resources into working with the Ferguson Library to help teach kids when their school district was closed in August, and then again in November.

We took this last year to further develop our summer program. We researched a lot, we met a lot of people, we even tested our ideas on a group of very welcoming teachers willing to give us feedback. 

We found a new partner this summer that has been incredibly welcoming in the same neighborhood we were working in. We're excited to work with Most Holy Trinity Catholic School and Academy, who will be hosting our Summer Leadership Academy!

As it has always been, our academy is free for kids and families. Kids need high quality, stimulating, and fun summer programs, and we are happy to provide our covertly academic/overtly game-like summer program to our kids.

And we'd like your help too! If you're interested in volunteering as a long-term teacher, visiting as a one-time presenter, or providing other support, please visit our website to learn how you can, or send me an email at Elad@EdExCo.org.

When: July 6-24; 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM, Monday - Friday
Where: Most Holy Trinity School and Academy
              1435 Mallinckrodt Street
              St. Louis, MO 63107
What: EEC 2015 Summer Leadership Academy

Elad Gross

President and CEO

Education Exchange Corps

www.EdExCo.org

Elad@EdExCo.org

Call for Volunteers: EEC Instructors for Summer 2015 Leadership Academy

We will be holding our free Summer Leadership Academy in St. Louis City this July, and we invite members of the community to apply to be EEC Instructors. Our summer academy is designed to give underserved kids an excellent summer educational opportunity during which they will work on the core academic subjects while developing their own leadership skills. This is also a great opportunity for volunteers interested in working with kids as an instructor and mentor. EEC Instructors will receive ongoing training in classroom management, lesson planning, and differentiated instruction.

This year, our kids will play a global leadership game over three weeks during which they will have to make their countries’ decisions as they face multiple crises. We will also be inviting experts to help answer our kids’ questions. Volunteers will serve as national advisors, helping kids guide their own learning. Volunteers will also serve in more traditional classroom teaching roles for our youngest students. We work with kids from kindergarten through high school.

EEC Instructors include college students of diverse majors and backgrounds, teachers-in-training, retired teachers, highly-dedicated high school students, and many others. We can accommodate part-time volunteers.

Our program is scheduled for July 2015, tentatively from 7/6-7/24, weekdays from 9:00AM - 2:00PM. The exact timing will depend on site availability.

To learn more or get involved, please visit our website at www.EdExCo.org, or email or call Elad Gross at Elad@EdExCo.org or 314-753-9033. All applications to volunteer should be sent to Elad@EdExCo.org. 

A Senseless System

This past week, there was another shooting in St. Louis. 

Many media outlets focused on the shooting at the Ferguson Police Department, but there was another shooting that occurred only a few miles away.

Initially, news sources do what they normally do for such incidents: 

A boy was shot and killed near O'Fallon Park around 7:30 PM today. Two others were injured in the shooting. No further details were released.

Usually, that would be the end of the story. Another victim lost in the violence of our city.

The police who responded to the scene found a mass of people overcome with anger, not sure whom to direct it toward. This anger crowded out any human inclination to help the child whose soul was slipping out of his body. A police officer put the dying child on his shoulder and hurried him into his car. With the help of several other officers, this kid was rushed to the hospital. He died. He had lived for 6 years.

This violence occurs far too often in our city, and so, unfortunately, I can imagine how terrible this child's family feels. But for the wider St. Louis community, it seems that we have become so desensitized to such news of terror that another headline about a shooting death does not move us out of our seats. Maybe that's because of where the shooting occurred, in an area we too easily categorize as "dangerous." That's how violence becomes an expectation, not a shock.

One of the officers who tried to save this child happens to be an extremely moving writer, and he documented what happened that night in his own blog. In his moment of remarkable openness, this officer reflects on the child's life, the pain the family must feel, the strain violence places on first responders, and the precarious state of our city. I think his post ought to be required reading for everyone in St. Louis. It would help us all understand how this senseless system hurts us all.

Just yesterday, I visited a school not far from where this shooting occurred. I spoke with staff about the neighborhood, which is still reeling from the economic downturn of 2008. I heard how funding cuts have eliminated important connections between families and schools. I listened to how teachers are expected to get kids to forget about the outside world for a few hours until the last bell rings. I nodded as staff told me they just wanted to give their kids opportunity, that they wanted their kids to have a chance to be kids.

And while I sat and listened and nodded, I thought about that little boy falling asleep on that officer's shoulder. I thought about his classmates being in the middle of some spelling assignment when one of them raises her hand and asks the teacher where the little boy is. I thought about the teacher pausing and looking at these other children working so diligently with their little hands and their crayons before giving an answer. I thought about how these kids probably would just go on doing their work, no matter what the teacher said, this death being another drop in the bucket for lives fated to be lived under the specter of violence. 

For one moment, when an officer put down his stoic shield to reveal his beating heart, we were able to see through our system and view our shared humanity.

The next evening, a 17-year-old was shot in the abdomen on the other side of the city. The teenager was taken to a hospital. No further details were released.

Elad Gross

President and CEO

Education Exchange Corps

Elad.Gross@EdExCo.org

www.EdExCo.org

Global Leadership Game Debut

It was 10:05 AM. We couldn't wait any longer.

"Folks, welcome to this professional development session." The necessary introduction. We cut it to maybe 40 seconds. A whole world awaited the teachers sitting in front of us, and they didn't even know it!

In the middle of the room, sitting up on a table, was a 4 foot by 2 foot map of a strange land with some mini plastic boats of different colors in different positions.

That same map was projected on a screen in the back of the room, but with names near certain land masses and waterways.

"Recent events threaten global stability." I described the current world situation. One country, Samistonia, was rich in oil. They shared hostilities with their southern neighbor, Yadistan, a country with an economy focused on alternative energy. Hyrule, a country with tremendous agricultural output, wanted to be totally self-sufficient. Greybourg, a manufacturing hub, sought energy-source diversity.

Kittissippi, a country located in the northwest corner of a traditional map, lurked in the shadows and sold intelligence to other major powers. No participants would control Kittissippi.

Off to the east of a traditional map were three countries, all linked together. The Rock, a country on a small island, served as the trade and government center for the region. Skeerem was a land of warriors. Brocoland to the south was home to the world's greatest nutritionists.

And then crisis struck.

A small, unmanned plane, equipped with what appear to be high-altitude cameras, crashed in central Brocoland. Brocoland’s Council of Scientists notified The Rock’s government. The Rock, in line with its historical policy of maintaining global neutrality, and in an effort to protect itself from accusation, notified the world about the plane crash. The Queen of Kittissippi claimed ownership of the plane and demanded its immediate return. Kittissippi said that they were using the plane to track a group of fugitive mice and to observe local bird migratory patterns.

Shortly before these events, a group of exiled Samistonian oil scientists working in The Rock released a report indicating that central Brocoland is home to large oil reserves.

We divvied up the participants into the four most powerful countries: Yadistan, Samistonia, Greybourg, and Hyrule. Our own Sam Golembieski played the President of The Rock. 

We gave little instruction to our participants. Instead, we handed each country an envelope. Inside the envelope was a world map and several copies of a confidential memorandum revealing secret information about the superpowers. 

At first, the participants had little idea about what to do. Some went immediately into discussions with other countries. Others did little, perhaps waiting for something to happen. 

After several minutes, I called the attention of every country to the large map in the middle of the room. "This is where we will see your countries' decisions play out."

I told each country that they had two major tools on their desks: military units and a pen. They could choose to deploy the military as they saw fit. They could also use the pen to write out agreements made with other countries. Everything was up to them.

I strongly suggested that each country discuss how they were going to make decisions over the course of the game. 

Several more minutes passed. I asked for any announcements. The countries, now all moving about busily, asked for more time. After a couple of minutes, Samistonia and Hyrule announced an alliance. They started to make all of their decisions together.

President Sam of The Rock then made an announcement of his own: All countries were invited to a summit at The Rock to discuss the effects of rising sea levels and climate change. Greybourg asked if the summit would also include discussion of the spy plane incident. President Sam said it would.

The summit demonstrated the different governing styles that had emerged. Hyrule and Samistonia sent one delegate together. Greybourg sent most of their participants. Yadistan sent everyone.

As talks proceeded, each country received a hurriedly-written memo. Hyrule learned that a separatist group was attempting to wrest control of the westernmost portion of the country. Samistonia learned that their domestic oil conglomerates had organized and demanded increased oil trade with Hyrule as a result of the newly-formed alliance. Greybourg learned that their domestic labor unions, worried about that same alliance, requested security assurances.

Yadistan received a note that one of their nuclear power plants was in jeopardy of melting down. However, because all of Yadistan's delegates were at the summit, this memo sat unread for several minutes of gameplay.

The summit proceeded, at first tentatively. But within maybe three minutes, it picked up steam. Country representatives were having serious negotiations about global resource use, military deployment, trade, and intrigue. At one point, a representative from Yadistan asked Greybourg if they would be willing to take military action against Kittissippi if it was found Kittissippi was trying to get oil for itself from Brocoland.

But time was flying by. I told the countries that their decisions were due to me in just minutes. President Sam thanked everyone for coming to the summit. A representative from Greybourg asked, "So we're leaving the summit without any kind of resolution?" If only we had more time!

The countries rushed to submit maps with their decisions on them. Yadistan stationed almost all of its troops at home in case the potential nuclear meltdown was the result of foreign sabotage. They also stationed some troops at The Rock to watch over Brocoland and to make sure no one tapped it for oil. Greybourg moved its ships and troops to protect the Strait of Queequeg and keep trade with The Rock open. Hyrule moved troops into its western lands to suppress the uprising. Samistonia appeared to be in a perilous position, with Yadistanian troops deployed at crucial sectors of the Middle Sea.

The story was not over, but the game had to end. We had a brief discussion about what the future might have held for this make-believe world. 

I told the teachers that even if they could not take a similar game with them into their classrooms, they could take away three ideas to make their lessons even more engaging for kids: Create an immersive narrative, give kids responsibility, and cede control of the process to students. 

And I told them who launched the spy plane, who had brought the world to the brink of international conflict. It was Kittissippi after all, researching migratory bird patterns.



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

BLSA Young Alumni Award: St. Louis Divided by Inequity of Opportunity

Last night, I was honored to receive the Wash U Law BLSA Young Alumni Award because of the work the Education Exchange Corps does with kids in St. Louis. I was asked to say a few words, words which were less eloquent than what I will share with you below. 


The first time I started working with kids in public education was in October 2007. Almost seven years later, in August, the world gazed upon a St. Louis municipality called Ferguson.

Over those seven years, many young people in St. Louis lost their lives.
Over those seven years, many more young people lost opportunity. For many of those young people, it seemed as if opportunity was taken from them from the moment they were born.

It is not an exaggeration to say that St. Louis is a city divided by inequity of opportunity. This division runs deep, and there are many mechanisms that maintain it.

For example, those folks who are not originally from St. Louis are separated out because they can't answer the local question: What high school did you go to?
Those who are from here are separated based on the answer to that question: What high school did you go to?
The answer to the question tells a lot about the person answering, because our divisions are often geographic, and they are based on class, based on race, based on opportunity.

The city is even designed in a way to keep people separated. The highway system we have here is great for getting folks from one place to another really quickly, but it also helps us avoid certain parts of the city. This avoidance is easy, and so the divisions are easier to maintain.

This story is not unique to St. Louis. We see it all over America.
This is our home. It will be our children's home and our grandchildren's home. For every generation that grows up in a divided America, we will see a further degeneration of what America is supposed to be about: Opportunity for everyone.

But it doesn't have to be that way. There is a way forward, and that way forward starts with us caring more about our children than our comfort.

I have seen what happens when kids have real opportunity. I have seen what happens when kids from one community meet kids from another. I have seen what happens when adults care about kids - kids start to care about themselves. And I have seen what happens when no one cares.

I invite you to care. I invite you to help organizations like BLSA support kids with scholarships so that kids will have greater opportunity when they are applying for college. And for those who want to engage further, even for those who are very busy, the few minutes you have to give to a kid can make a world of difference.

We can't sit around anymore, or those seven years will again turn into another seven, and there will surely be seven more to follow.


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

Fundraiser Sunday, December 14 at Molly's in Soulard

The Human Rights Campaign St. Louis Steering Committee is hosting a fundraiser for us this Sunday, December 14, from 2 - 5 PM, at Molly's in Soulard.

The event is open to everyone - the more the merrier! 

If you donate $5 or something on our wishlist, you get a drink ticket and appetizers. No brainer, folks!

We really hope you can come. When you support us, either through a donation or by volunteering, you are helping to give children in St. Louis better opportunity.

We would love to talk to you more about what we do, so stop on by, introduce yourself, and bring some questions. We'll be happy to answer!

What: Human Rights Campaign St. Louis Second Sunday for Charity: Education Exchange Corps

Where: Molly's in Soulard, 816 Geyer Rd.

When: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM, Sunday, December 14

Why: To support a local nonprofit organization and find ways for us to work together and make St. Louis a better home for all

If you have any questions, you can post them on the Facebook event page or you can send me an email at Elad.Gross@EdExCo.org.

Hope to see you there!

Elad Gross

President and CEO

Education Exchange Corps

www.EdExCo.org