RARE Celebration

As the school year winds down, celebrations are being thrown for all aspects of students' lives.  This past Thursday, the efforts and accomplishments of middle schoolers in RARE were put on display at the end-of-the-year event.  RARE is one of the youth programs put on by the Concerned Citizens Network of Alexandria. The celebration took place at Francis C. Hammond Middle school, where middle schoolers met after school throughout the year to work on math and gain technology skills. 

 

The ceremony featured a number of speakers, from board members to the mayor to students themselves.  RARE students presented on subjects they had learned, such as bullying and financial literacy. 

 

At the end of the night, CCNA Executive Director Gwendolyn H. Lewis presented a Life Time Service Award to Bill Corbett, who has been the RARE contact for the Alexandria Mentoring Partnership.  On behalf of AMP, we congratulate Bill and thank him for all that he has done for the youth of Alexandria!

 

While the RARE year is wrapping up, CCNA volunteers are already getting ready for next year's program.  Any Hammond middle schoolers interested in joining RARE can fill out the application. 

Leah of RARE

From Bill Corbett of RARE:

The Concerned Citizens Network of Alexandria (CCNA) created the "Reach and Rise for Excellence" (RARE) after-school mentoring and tutoring program for Hammond Middle School students. The STEM focused program meets four days a week to help students with math, language arts, leadership and life skills which include introduction to entrepreneurship, computer coding, parent engagement and more. Leah Swanson is the RARE Mentor of the Month.

Leah is in her second year as a math tutor for RARE students, helping them do online math drills as a blended approach to improve their skills.

“Most of the math I do with the students is introductory algebra. We figure out integers, how number lines work, and positive and negative numbers. Some of the students are doing the math of triangles in geometry, too.

“I've been volunteering to work with kids since I was in high school. When I'm with RARE students, I enjoy talking with them about things they enjoy in life outside of math and outside of school. I think it's important that the kids have adults they can talk to who can relate to them who aren't authority figures, just people with some experience to offer.

“It's been interesting to see all the different ways students learn, and how they explain it all. Having them explain a problem, and how to solve it, has shown me there are a lot of ways to do math and think about it. Especially with kids for whom math is not a strong suit, when you talk to them and share enough that they can explain the problem back to you, it's very rewarding. It makes them very proud of themselves.”

One of Leah's students says, “Miss Leah is good at listening to whatever we want to talk about. And she asks us a lot of questions that make us think.”

This article was previously published in the Alexandria Gazette,  http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2017/jan/20/mentor-month-alexandria/

RARE Open House

Nearly every day after classes end at Francis Hammond Middle School, 6th grade students meet with volunteers to practice math problems, work on grammar, learn code, and more.  This is RARE: a tutoring/group mentoring program sponsored by The Campagna Center.

Yesterday AMP continued its celebration of National Mentoring Month with its another Open House.  Community members interested in volunteering or just curious about youth programs were invited to drop in on RARE and talk to the volunteers, students, and staff involved.

Above: a volunteer helps a student with her language arts worksheet. Right: RARE students wrote down what they love about coming to RARE.