BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life)

Read Across America Day at Harlem Park Elementary School in Baltimore!

Kindergartden scholars watched Horton Hears A Who and reflected on what the story with one another.

1st graders read The Cat in the Hat and made Cat Hats.

2nd graders read Wacky Wednesday and performed a collaborative dance with teachers.

3rd graders read The Lorax and worked together to demonstrate a chemical reaction using one of BELL’s core values: Collaboration.

In celebration of Read Across America Day, I read a new Dr. Seuss book today with my North Star reading buddy, Laila. North Star is Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' volunteer reading program - and BELL’s Charlotte office has partnered with school sites that hold BELL summer programs. Each week, we read with our reading buddy.

Laila & I chose to read a lesser-known Seuss book, Hooray for Diffendoofer Day.

The “neighborhood” school of “Diffendoofer”in the town of Dinkerville is one we all dream of. 

The teachers are remarkable – and Miss Bonkers keeps her students eating from the palm of her hand. In the book, they refer to the teachers being different, and Miss Bonkers being “different-er” than the rest.

Simply put, she and the other teachers at Diffendoofer make learning fun and engaging. They teach the students about critical thinking skills and how to learn. When the principal, Mr. Lowe, announces that the students all have to take a test that day and if they don’t pass they will be going to Flobbertown school. In Flobbertown, everyone does everything the same (dress in one style, sing one song, never dance, march in single file, don’t have a park, dogs are scared to bark).

Miss Bonkers cheers her students on because she knows she’s prepared them for success. And in the end, the do pass with flying colors. And they celebrate with a big Diffendoofer Day.

When I read this book, I thought about how every school should be a Diffendoofer School with excellent teachers, engaging learning, and critical thinking skills going on. Every school should be a school that everyone wants to go to – and Flobbertown Schools shouldn’t exist.

I’m praying for a Diffendoofer School for every child! And the will for all of us to work hard to make that happen!

Although Dr. Seuss was passionate about the character he created in “Miss Bonkers” in Hooray for Diffendoofer Day, he struggled with this book and actually never finished it.  Instead, he went on to complete “Oh, The Places You’ll Go.”  It’s certainly deserving of a read, and what better day that Read Across America Day!

Introducing our newest partner, The Big Lift! 

For more on how BELL fits into the collective impact initiative, we created this graphic:

Photo: Jossett Wright with a scholar during the BELL After-School program

Ms. Jossett Wright is currently working as an Academic Teacher for the BELL After School program at the Mattahunt Elementary School in Boston. Jossett has worked for BELL for the past 4 years.  When asked about what makes our program unique, she replies “the extended learning for kids. Although it is serious work, it is at a lower stress level and I am more engaged with the scholars because of the small class sizes. In addition, it is easier to see where kids are struggling and be able to bridge the academic gap”. 

Impact that BELL has on Ms. Wright’s career:

“The tools I’ve gotten from BELL have impacted my job during the day as a classroom instructor.  When I get coached during BELL, I am able to implement it right at that moment and that approach lets me immediately see the impact. This is a profound method and the skills are instantly part of my teacher tool box.”

John Nguyen (Director of Program Operations - Boston) noted that Ms. Wright always takes coaching to heart. Her growth mindset of taking the feedback and incorporating new skills is allowing her to reach a new level of teaching. John notes that “when I first walked in, Jossett was doing the majority of the talking and leading of scholars. Now when you walk into class, students are doing the majority of discussing, leading class, or working independently on their work which leads to scholars learning!”

I heard so much about the most recent contest of 2013. Being a newer team member, I did not witness it for myself. It must have been a galvanizing event for the organization, given the number of times I heard talk about who would be winning in 2015.

Of course, any event where adults step out of their norm in front of their peers and colleagues more than likely becomes imprinted on the brain.

I will never forget my go at this legendary production during the 2015 All-Staff Convening. Our team was “Geographically Challenged” having to represent BELL in New York, Massachusetts, and Ohio.  …Thank goodness for e-mail, mp3, and conference call lines. ;-)

We took a funny idea and transformed it into a bona fide tribute to both the Core Values at BELL (Respect, Courage, Learning, Excellence, Collaboration) and the 70s. Needless to say, it was one HUGE bonding fest! And it shouldn't be hard to recognize the hit that inspired us!

- Geovanti Steward

Readin' A Lot by Team Geographically Challenged 

Verse 1 Well you can tell, by the way I talk I’m a readin’ man, BELL model taught Book in hand, of stories old, you can’t stop me now I’m on a role And no challenge that, I can’t face All my peers on the same page BELL summer helps, me understand Having a great time with all my friends 

Chorus 1 Pearson Holt McDougal Scholastic everybody is Readin’ a lot, readin’ a lot Pearson Holt McDougal Scholastic everybody is Readin’ a lot, readin’ a lot Ah, ha, ha, ha, readin’ a lot, readin’ a lot Ah, ha, ha, ha, readin’ a lot 

Verse 2 Well now, it’s all BELL, it’s the way Makes my summer seem, like a piece of cake Everybody searchin’ for another way But it won’t work, BELL’s the way And no challenge that, I can’t face All my peers on the same page BELL summer helps, me understand Having a great time with all my friends 

Chorus 2 Whether you’re a scholar or whether you’re a teacher Readin’ a lot, readin’ a lot Flippin through the chapters searchin’ for some answers Readin’ a lot, readin’ a lot Ah, ha, ha, ha, readin’ a lot, readin’ a lot Ah, ha, ha, ha, readin’ a lot 

Vamp Respect and courage, somebody help me Somebody help me yeah Learning and excellence, collaboration yeah (I’m stayin’ alive) 

Verse 3 Well you can tell by the way my head’s held high I have confidence, no time to waste While I walk, through communities I know excellence, lives in me And now it’s alright, to collaborate Just watch us and you’ll learn today That you can lend, a helping hand To impact in a special way 

Chorus 2 Whether you’re a scholar or whether you’re a teacher Readin’ a lot, readin’ a lot Flippin through the chapters searchin’ for some answers Readin’ a lot, readin’ a lot Ah, ha, ha, ha, readin’ a lot, readin’ a lot Ah, ha, ha, ha, readin’ a lot 

BELL CEO Tiffany Gueye to participate in panel discussion about Telling the Story of What Works: Can a Focus on Solutions Help Bridge Political Divides in America? 

Friday, January 29, 4:30 p.m. Filmmaker Lodge We know more than ever about what works to improve the lives of children, families, and communities. Social entrepreneurs, researchers, forward-thinking mayors, and others are using evidence and data to change lives, and the growing movement for data-driven, evidence-based policy making is nearing a tipping point. So how do we help spread these solutions more widely and rapidly across the country and make elected leaders pay closer attention to these successes? Could film and storytelling play a role in spotlighting successful examples of what inspires government leaders to act differently, and could this focus help bridge our country’s political divide? This panel will highlight new and powerful approaches to getting better results, spotlight leaders who have the courage to use evidence and data to do what works, explore the ways that storytelling can help shift political thinking, and, ultimately, look at how this kind of solutions-oriented approach could move our nation beyond partisanship. Moderator: Pat Mitchell Panelists: David Bornstein (New York Times, Solutions Journalism), Daniel Stid (Hewlett Foundation), John Giles (mayor, Mesa, Arizona), Tony Yarber (mayor, Jackson, Mississippi), Tiffany Cooper Gueye (BELL)

Financial Literacy with Warburg Pincus

NEW YORK - BELL and volunteers from the New York office of Warburg Pincus spent an afternoon with 60 scholars, teaching 6th graders about financial literacy.  Volunteers helped scholars think about the importance of savings and money management – connecting education and profession with purchasing power.

“I had fun picking out my life. I want to save up to live in a nice place. Thank you, Warburg Pincus”

– BELL Scholar

Each scholar envisioned his or her career path, and worked in a small group with the volunteers to plan a budget for their life.  Scholars debated whether to forgo the nice penthouse apartment for extra vacation money, and how they could afford necessities like food while still being able to buy all their favorite video games.

Warburg Pincus volunteers generously gave their time, energy and skills to help scholars feel connected and informed.  They also donated resources for scholars to take home and practice financial literacy with their family.

These young men gathered around a map of the world.

At first, Mr. May’s lesson started off as simply identifying countries on the map that their families were from.

They were then asked to find were Barack Obama and Amy Tan’s family were from.

From this they drew a comparison between the two, both had to endure struggles in life in order to obtain a greater goal. Though Tan & Obama came from completely different walks of life, both had too face great adversity because of their heritage.

Mr. May then connected Tan & Barack’s life journeys to the ones these young men could experience in the upcoming years. He touched upon the importance of reputation and image in today's society.  He concluded with a discussion about the adversity faced by people of their age and descent.

Earlier this month, BELL’s full-time employees from across the country joined together in Connecticut for our second annual All-Staff Convening.

My role in the Convening was a big one. As the Executive Assistant, and a member of the Convening Committee, I was responsible for most of the behind-the-scenes stuff. Basically, I handled booking everyone’s travel, ordered the food, and many other tiny details that often go unnoticed until something goes wrong (like that moment when our CEO couldn’t check into her hotel room because of a glitch in the system…!!). It was, at times, a stressful project. But now that it’s over, I’m here to tell you why the 2015 All-Staff Convening was so incredibly rewarding for me, my fellow staff and our scholars.

I joined BELL in July 2015, and up until last week, I had not yet met many of my colleagues. Of course, I had spoken to my team over the phone or through email, but last week truly was the first time I was able to put names to faces.

Impressively, in the three days we were together, I got to know the BELL team even beyond just names. We shared best-practices, learned of peoples’ strengths and weaknesses, and thought creatively with others about how to tackle some of BELL’s biggest challenges. We even saw each other on stage, in 70’s disco costumes singing a rendition of “Stayin’ Alive” in which the lyrics were, of course, changed to “Readin’ a Lot”.

In short, when we arrived on Monday, I greeted everyone with a handshake; yet, by Wednesday, I was hugging my team goodbye as if we’d worked together for years. I cannot begin to explain how this connection will positively impact the work I do at BELL every single day, and ultimately, how our team’s strength will trickle down to positively affect our scholars.

The Convening also reinforced to me that BELL employees love the work we do. We are emotionally invested in changing the life trajectories of our scholars; it’s not just a sentence on our website. We cry, we laugh, we teach, we connect. We strive every day to make our programs the best they can be so that we can have the greatest impact on the lives of our scholars.

So although the event itself may be over, the lessons we learned from it are not. I believe that the Convening made BELL stronger and when BELL is stronger, so are our scholars; and that, to me, makes every single ‘stressful’ minute of planning and logistics worth it!

This August marked the third summer in which Jnaya participated and completed the BELL Summer program.

She first came to BELL as a Kindergartner, then returned the summer after 5th grade, after struggling in her math class. “When I first came to BELL, I felt stupid,” she remembers, “I felt so below everyone. But that summer really helped me academically.”

This year, she participated in BELL after reaching an agreement with her mom that she could dye her hair if she completed the six weeks of the program. “Originally, my goal was to get my hair bleached,” she comments, “But over the course of the last 6 weeks, I feel like that goal has changed. It changed to me wanting to do better in school. I am here because I want it. I want to get a head start on everyone going to high school. Scientifically proven, if you do school for 135 days of the year, on that summer break, you lose so much of the education you gained in those 135 days.”

During the school year, Jnaya had experienced some trouble in the classroom.

“I’d fight and talk back with the teachers. My old way of solving a problem was that I’d just walk out of the classroom. When I found out I had to go to summer school, I realized the way I was behaving was not me. I put up a wall, a front, when things got hard, and that really blocked my learning.”

Jnaya’s time at BELL was not without challenges, too. She recounts: “We had to do a test at the beginning of the program, and I ended up testing below where I should be. After I got the result, I realized: that’s not where I want to be. I felt so dumb, and I wanted to go home. But then I stopped myself and splashed some water on my face. I realized that’s what I used to do in school, and I didn’t like that. I went back in the room and asked the teacher giving out the tests what I could do, was there another test I could take?”

She uses metaphor to describe the experience. “Imagine you’re in a forest. You’re walking through the trees, and you want to cross a clearing. Only once you do, you realize what you’re walking on is quicksand, not dirt. The sinking feeling is terrible. You feel stuck. But then you turned myself around, in the quicksand. You find a vine, and you pull yourself out of that quicksand. I’m fighting myself if you think about it. The quicksand is me and the vine is my will.”

Jnaya has big plans, too: “If I use my words that I have now, I can just be as big as Martin Luther King, just as big as Nelson Mandela, or Malcolm X. Everybody has that inside of them. It’s just that they choose not to use it.”

“When I hear the word BELL, I think of second chances, but its more than a second chance. It’s a way kids can, basically, be themselves. When I hear BELL I feel like…I want to cry. It’s a place where I can be myself.”

“At the end of it all,” she continues, “I get two incredible rewards. I get my hair, but also the greatest feeling when I heard I’m passing into the 9th grade, knowing that I did the work, I put in my time and effort, and gave it 1000%.”     

Jnaya plans to attend high school at Charlestown or City on a Hill.

Hunter is preparing to start his freshman year of high school by participating in a new summer program designed to ease the transition from middle school to high school and prepare scholars for success.

What brought you to BELL?

I failed every class except for math. I felt like they were giving me too much work at once. In the end, I was just being lazy and didn’t do it.

From the first day of the program to now, in the fifth and final week, do you feel any difference with yourself?

I feel more confident in all my classes—especially math and language arts. I feel like I can excel if I can get on the right track in ELA (language arts). I like to write music and I want to have a good vocabulary so I can use my words to better express myself.

Do you play any instruments?

I can play saxophone, trumpet, guitar, piano, and drums. My cousin taught me.

What’s your favorite?

The saxophone.

It’s now your fifth and final week of the program. Do you feel like you’re going to take away anything from your time here?

Definitely. I feel like I learned something I wasn’t able to learn in my school: School is not for the teachers. It exists to help you. I just told my brother the other day that I couldn’t wait to start school. I’m going to his school [next year], the Burke [Jeremiah E. Burke High School].

Is there anything else about yourself that you want to share?

 Alaijah is preparing to enter his freshman year of high school at Boston School for the Arts.

What brought you to BELL?

My school level wasn’t really up to date. I needed some help with my English and Math. It was hard to write a sentence without it running on. I had bad grammar issues.

I also used to have way more anger issues that were hard to control. Before here [at BELL], I would start destroying stuff. Punch the walls. I’d cry and then I’d leave. My challenge has been to process my anger when I’m mad. I keep it all inside. I don’t let out my feelings. If I’m mad, I’m quiet.

Do you have anyone you can talk to about your anger?

My aunt is the only person who can actually calm me down. She went through literally everything I’m going through. She didn’t have a dad that was there, she had brothers and sisters that weren’t very supportive. She was 400 lbs. And now she’s down to 160. She’s now a very healthy person who was once a sick child. I’ve been inside the hospital for a while—I’ve spent nearly two years in there. Sometimes it’s hard for me to come into school and just be like a regular kid.

You’re going to the Boston School for the Arts. Do you have a form of artistic expression?

I got into dancing. I started dancing when I was two. The only type I can’t do is tap, because my feet can’t move that fast.

Did you have a favorite teacher at BELL?

Ms. Lubin. She was there, even when I was going through some personal stuff. I was able to talk to her as a person instead of a teacher. It was easy for me to open up to her. She told me I have to think as if I’m the person I’m mad at.

Do you feel a change in yourself since you’ve been at BELL?

I feel like my anger problem has gone down. It’s been easier for me. I found out my tests really improved. I jumped 4 grade levels for reading. I actually cried when I found out.

Do you have anything else you want to share?