Post from Email sent to EGHS Community on Wednesday 1/8/2014.
It is with great pleasure and enthusiasm that I am emailing you today to announce a very exciting learning experience called Choose2Matter that will be happening at EGHS on February 13th and 14th.
I will borrow from Mr. Chace’s blog, located at http://mrchaceeghs.blogspot.
One of the most frequent questions that schools ask is, how can we provide meaning to the work that our students do in school? How can we make the work engaging and personally meaningful? How do we tap into our student's passions and creativity? How can we have kids solving "real world" problems?
Students at East Greenwich High School will find out on February 13th and 14th when Angela Maiers will come to the school with her Choose2Matter team and we will change the world while simultaneously demonstrating all of the East Greenwich High School's Core Values of Teaching and Learning in this process:
Respect: Be considerate of others' ideas and opinions while maintaining personal integrity and self- confidence.
Creativity and Innovation: Embrace flexibility and individuality when explaining and demonstrating knowledge and skills.
Relevance: Link concepts across subjects and make connections to today's global society.
Enthusiasm: Generate excitement and curiosity about learning.
Achievement: Work vigorously to obtain knowledge and skills measured against the highest standards.
Choose2Matter is an educational opportunity that challenges and inspires students to work collaboratively to develop empathetic and innovative solutions to social problems. Students tackle real world problems and learn the skills needed in today’s world with a team of facilitators and leaders in an international social-entrepreneurship experience. For two days, the entire study body will work in tandem with national, state and local industry and civic leaders to develop innovative solutions to bring about social change--on a local, national and/or global level.
Choose2Matter demands and builds upon a set of 21st Century success skills that are stoked by what students are passionate about. Skills, habits, and traits that will be exercised and developed include:
Leadership
Critical Thinking
Problem Solving
Persistence
Team building and management
Time management
Entrepreneurial Know-how
Collaboration
Open Mindset
Local/Global Awareness
Media Literacy
Financial Literacy
Communication Skills
Students will also benefit from an online library of content resources and “live” experts as they solve problems individually and in working groups. Moreover, students will present their ideas to worldwide audiences, and will be recognized by international and business leaders, civic and industry partners.
As part of the goal to sustain this project venture, the Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship program of Brown University will mentor our students, an arrangement we expect to replicate with additional partners, including the nationally-renowned Business Innovation Factory.
Five-hundred-million young people, including our students, will enter the workforce over the next decade. We need to begin now to nurture this next generation of entrepreneurs and social-change agents through relevant work that is not typically integrated in traditional school experiences and curriculum.
When students believe that they matter, they see the world in a different light, and behave differently. They approach life and work in a manner that understands that their actions can have a positive impact on the world.
The first Choose2Matter experience began at Downingtown (PA) STEM Academy. A class of 300 sophomores participated, on the final days of school before summer break.The students created this video on their own after summer vacation began in which they spoke of how the event changed them, for good. (In the video the students refer to "Angela" repeatedly, because she was the one directly working with them. As mentioned above, and as you will read below, this is not the case for EGHS on February 13th & 14th.)
Obviously, an event of this magnitude will require a great deal of mentorship and facilitation, and as a community, we are asking for your assistance in making this as successful as possible. If you or someone you know has expertise or experience in the following areas and would like to volunteer, we would love to have more mentors to work alongside other national, state and local experts and facilitators who will be working with our students on their projects:
The areas of expertise include:
- Human Rights/Social Justice
- Laws and Politics
- Education
- Economics & Business
- Environmental/Animal/Ecosystem Concerns
- Medical & Scientific Issues
If you would like to volunteer for one or both days, please use this form to sign up and we will contact you with more details as the event is planned.
We recognize that this kind of life changing opportunity is “out of the box” learning for most schools and that you are sure to have questions. To help facilitate the answering of those questions, we have set up this Google Form that will allow you to ask any questions about the process. The most frequently asked/most compelling questions will be answered directly by Angela Maiers and/or Mr. Podraza/Mr. Chace in a live and recorded video chat that will be shared with you when completed.
In closing, I would like to express my gratitude to all members of the East Greenwich High School Community who have worked, and continue to work, so hard to build our school's culture to the point that this opportunity is now not only viable, but a reality. Thank you for your support of our students, our educators, and our community as we work to achieve and live up to the Mission and Core Values of East Greenwich High School.
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