Good News from Generation Schools Network!

GSN Staff Gather for 2018 Summer Retreat!

In late July, GSN team members from across the state and country gathered in Denver for a three-day retreat. Time was focused on re-calibrating for the 2018-2019 school year, discovering each other's strengths with the Indigo assessment results, as well as practicing design thinking. The team also spent time in Colorado's great outdoors with a hike in Golden, and some ping pong fun at a downtown Denver restaurant. We look forward to continuing to serve schools this year!

GSN Presents at Innovate @BVSD!

In July, GSN presented for a second year at Boulder Valley School District's Innovate @BVSD Conference. GSN's Ellen Sarkisian and Ashleigh Valentine coached a group of BVSD teachers and school faculty on how to develop Growth Mindset and Grit in their classrooms and foster those skills in their students. BVSD staff worked in teams to solve riddles and complex problems, experiencing many of the same frustrations their students do when confronted with new and challenging content. After participants' abilities to apply the principals of Growth Mindset and Grit were tested, they regrouped to reflect and discuss what they gained and learned from the activities. BVSD staff left energized and eager to bring what they learned into the new school year, and they received a GSN Social and Emotional Learning Unit on Growth Mindset to get them started on teaching these skills to their students.

GSN's Ellen Sarkisian works with a group of teachers at BVSD on Growth Mindset principles. Are you interested in hosting similar workshops at your school? Connect with Andee Ham: [email protected]

Is your school staff wondering how poverty impacts student achievement?

In the school system, student poverty rates are calculated using a National School Lunch Program formula that qualifies students for free or reduced-price lunch (also known as the FRL rate). Numerous studies show that living in poverty often negatively impacts students' health and well-being, literacy and language development, access to physical and material resources and level of mobility. However, schools can intentionally counter the effects of poverty by utilizing a community schools model, as recently discussed in EdSource. Community agencies can embrace a similar philosophy. Please visit the artifacts below to better understand how to mitigate the negative effects of poverty on learning: Student Success Journey .

GSN Welcomes New Staff and AmeriCorps

Olivia Bachicha, Senior Director of School Support and Implementation

Olivia has been in education for 26 years, and has served in the capacity of teacher, coach, principal, coordinator, and mentor. She sits on the Colorado Association of Elementary School Principals Board as president elect and recently was named a finalist for the 2018 National Distinguished Principal of Colorado Award. Olivia is a graduate of Trinidad State Junior College and Adams State University where she earned a B.A. in Elementary Education, an M.A. in Elementary Education, and an M.A. in Educational Leadership. She recently completed the Superintendent Certification from Adams State University. The past several years, Olivia has served as Principal of Eckhart Elementary School in Trinidad, a Pre-K and K program. Due to her efforts, Eckhart Elementary School was recently certified and named as one of six Leader in Me Lighthouse School internationally by Franklin Covey Education.

Meredith Foulke, Grants Specialist AmeriCorps VISTA

Meredith is a recent graduate of Davidson College in North Carolina with a degree in English. She has worked as a research fellow on multiple academic projects, including the NEH-winning Digital Mina Loy . Her interest in educational equity led her to serve as a tutor for years with the Ada Jenkins after school program in Davidson; she also spen t a summer as an intern at a mid-turnaround elementary school in Charlotte, NC with Davidson's Education Scholars program. She hopes to use her training in English to support GSN's grants team in seeking resources to carry out GSN's mission!

Jessica Green, Operations & Grants Specialist VISTA

Jessica Green is a Texas native and is thrilled to serve rural communities in Colorado that are similar to her hometown of Montgomery, Texas. She is a graduate of Baylor University where she received a bachelor's degree in Economics and a minor in Poverty Studies and Social Justice. While in college, she spent her free time community organizing in Waco, Texas where she helped use local resources to meet local needs and encourage political and community involvement. Jessica is looking forward to contributing to the community at GSN as an AmeriCorps VISTA working as an Operations and Grants Specialist, and she is excited to get to know more about Colorado and all that make its communities unique.

GSN Thanks Outgoing AmeriCorps VISTAs!

Thanks to Brianna Gaines for her VISTA service to Generation Schools Network. We wish her well as she heads to her home state of California to prepare for law school. Brianna was instrumental in securing dozens of grants for rural Colorado school districts as part of the work of the Colorado Rural Education Collaborative.

Thanks to Yael Holzman Castellands for her VISTA service to Generation

Schools Network in the area of communications. Yael was instrumental in preparing to re-brand GSN and support communications for the rural collaborative. Congratulations to Yael on her new job as Programs Coordinator, Workforce and Communications at CHAMPS (Community Health Association of Mountain/Plains States).