After-School Apprenticeships in Technology

Citizen Schools' mission is "Educating Children, Strengthening Communities." Our vision is to close the opportunity and achievement gap for middle school students from low-income communities and move students onto a successful track, heading toward high school graduation, college attainment, and positions of leadership in their careers and communities. Since its inception in Boston in 1995, Citizen Schools has partnered with middle schools and communities to reimagine the learning day and provide all students with rigorous and engaging experiences that connect students’ current learning to their future. We mobilize a second shift of afternoon educators, who provide academic support, leadership development, and apprenticeships - hands-on projects taught by volunteers from business and civic organizations. By focusing on middle school, Citizen Schools capitalizes on this critical developmental period and inflection point, effectively setting students' sights on graduation, college matriculation, and ultimately a successful career. Citizen Schools also seeks to build a strong and skilled pipeline of scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and technology professionals to fill the national gap in qualified STEM professions. Our Citizen Teachers continue to be a source of great support for Citizen Schools – not only through financial contributions but especially through their human capital, teaching our students in 10-week, hands-on apprenticeships.

"The experience has made us understand our domain better and what to focus on. The students taught us what discovery and empathy truly means in design thinking." - Citizen Teacher

During the past couple of months, we held our  BenefitEd and our WOW!NOW Breakfast in Massachusetts. Students, families, community leaders, volunteer Citizen Teachers, sponsors, and Citizen Schools’ staff all came together to highlight the success of students and allow them to present on the diverse topics they learned over the semester. In Massachusetts, 23 students presented on 9 apprenticeships, demonstrating their knowledge on a wide range of social issues and other subjects: from Robotics to Law to Finance. There were over 243 attendees that came to support students at the WOW!NOW Breakfast.  In California, 35 students presented on 5 apprenticeships like 3D Printing and Outdoor Exploration, while 5 more students participated in the formal program of the event, which was staged like a mock trial: The Opportunity Gap vs Citizen Schools. Student lawyers made argument and questioned witnesses (the event’s honorees) on the stand. Luckily the jury (an audience of about 200) ruled that Citizen Schools is closing the opportunity gap. Overall, the rooms in both events were filled with joy and there was a sense of community, pride, passion, excitement and a whole lot of “WOW!”.

“When 11-year-olds can advise when to invest in stocks instead of cash, prepare a budget, and
explain why compound interest grows faster than simple interest, it’s hard not to be impressed.” —Citizen Teacher

Citizen Schools is extremely grateful for all of our students who came out to showcase what they learned in their 10 week apprenticeships, as well as all the families and community members that made the celebration of students and their work possible.

Also this Spring, our program US2020 announced its 4th annual STEM Mentoring & Making Awards. The awards are a national platform to celebrate and encourage exceptional work inscience, technology, engineering and math (STEM) mentoring. This year, US2020 has incorporated making into the title to reflect the growing interest and excitement around the maker-centered learning across the country.

US2020, a division of Citizen Schools, partners with communities to dramatically scale the number of STEM professionals mentoring and teaching students through hands-on projects with a focus on serving underrepresented youth, especially girls, underrepresented minorities, and low-income children. US2020 is supported by national partners: Amgen, Arconic Foundation, Genentech, Schmidt Futures and Tata Consultancy Services (TSC). TCS has supported US2020 as a founding sponsor since 2013. Through partnerships at the national level and coalitions at the city level, US2020 has built a network of more than 1,000 organizations in 22 cities actively working to scale the STEM mentoring field, to align the field on common metrics, and to advance a focus on quality. US2020’s partner coalitions are projected to serve over 150,000 youth in 2018-19. To learn more, visitwww.us2020.org.

Since 2015, US2020 and Tata Consultancy Services have celebrated organizations for their achievements and innovations serving underrepresented youth in STEM mentoring. Winners have included some of the top STEM companies in the country including, Amgen, Genentech, and IBM as well as leaders in STEM education like, TechBridge Girls, Women Who Code, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

In the US, TCS' latest STEM education program, Ignite My Future in School, has engaged 5,050 educators and 300,000 students across 55 school districts to adopt a transdisciplinary approach and incorporate computational thinking into school curricula. Additionally, their flagship STEM initiative, goIT, has impacted nearly 19,000 students in 70 cities across North America through design thinking and app development modules.

The STEM Mentoring + Making Awards will be held in Cincinnati, Ohio at the University of Cincinnati’s newly built 1819 Innovation Hub on August 7, 2019. The award ceremony will be held in conjunction with US2020’s bi-annual network convening along with local co-host Greater Cincinnati STEM Collaborative. In addition to the award ceremony, the event will bring together leaders from US2020’s twenty-two partner communities from across the country.

"The beauty of [volunteering] is watching shy, introverted, very talented students blossom into confident, enthusiastic STEM ambassadors through the hands-on learning experience of building a robot; collaborating with each other; and working together as a team at the competitions.” - US2020 Mentor