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On June 19, we wrapped up the second WCC training held at Richmond High School. We are thrilled to have such community-minded and committed volunteers ready to coach at Richmond High School in the fall. We can't wait to be a part of the RHS Oilers family!
Karen Larson
Now's the time to become a volunteer for WCC at Richmond High School — or any of our locations!
In the today's article from Richmond Confidential, UC Berkeley's online news service for the people of Richmond, California, Tyler Orsburn helps his Richmond readers understand the WriterCoach Connection program and the benefits it will bring to the students of Richmond High School this fall.
To quote from the article:
"Fernando Ramirez is a rookie writing coach and 2004 Richmond High graduate. The bilingual aid and community outreach worker at Pinole Middle School said completing homework assignments is hard for students whose parents don’t speak English. “When I got home, my parents only spoke Spanish to me,” he said of his own time in high school. “That’s why I struggled a lot in school. I would have questions for my parents to answer and they couldn’t answer them.”"
We can't wait for the Richmond program to open its doors. In the meantime, take this opportunity to volunteer at this new WCC site!
Christine McGuinness
As I write this on Saturday morning, June 16, the parade at Richmond's Juneteenth Festival is about to make its way down MacDonald Avenue and our Richmond volunteer coordinator Shelli Fried, our Latino community liaison Fernando Ramirez, and I have long since set up the WriterCoach Connection booth at Nicholl Park, sharing space with our friends and colleagues at the West Contra Costa Unified School District.
Shelli reports that we're well on our way to our goal of 60 coaches to begin working with students at Richmond High in September. She, Fernando, and a flock of other WCC volunteers have been everywhere in Richmond all spring, and we'll be all over town throughout the summer!
Here are Shelli and Fernando (left, in blue WCC t-shirts) with the crew from WCCUSD, set up and ready for action:
Below, a common sight in Richmond these days, Shelli preparing to sign up community volunteers as writer coaches:
And here are Shelli and Fernando, a potent volunteer recruiting team. Since joining our family in May, Fernando has been an enormous help with our Richmond recruiting. We're delighted to have found him!
Bob Menzimer
For the second straight semester, teachers at El Cerrito High School have hosted a party to honor the writer coaches who worked with their students. After school in the ECHS library on June 7, Principal David Luongo, English Dept. Chairperson Curt Douglas, and teachers Godhuli Bose, Jennifer Dreyfus, Kym Kuzmik, and Molly McGrath stood to offer heartfelt comments about what having the coaches meant to them and to their students this year. Other ECHS teacher colleagues looked on, bathed in the glow of a slideshow that displayed photos of the coaches in action and written expressions of appreciation from the teachers. Meantime, the coaches seated in the midst of the teachers glowed from within.
Below, teacher Jennifer Dreyfus (standing, center) is making this memorable comment: "Students that don't turn anything else in will turn in their writer-coach assignments."
Here is Principal David Luongo, expressing the hope that WCC returns to ECHS next year, as CAFL Board Chairperson Kathy Kahn (center) looks on with the same thought:
Below, English Dept. Chairperson Curt Douglas leads off the celebration, saying, "At the end of the year when we think about the challenges in the classroom, it's so uplifting to see the data of my students who worked with writer coaches, compared to my students last year who didn't have coaching."
Added Mr. Douglas, "This year, students handed in the largest, most ambitious and complex narrative essays I've ever seen. I got some 20-page submissions, and one 30-page paper. It was because they had three writer-coach sessions on this assignment."
We often hear heartfelt expressions of appreciation from teachers, but the two parties hosted for our coaches by teachers at El Cerrito High this year were a first. Needless to say, the thanks we heard from them were returned in kind!
Bob Menzimer
When we see students we have coached wearing their caps and gowns at graduation, we are reminded why we are writer coaches. These photos from the graduation ceremony this week at Media Academy in Oakland say it all.
Media Academy celebrated its final graduation as a small school on Wednesday afternoon, June 6, 2012 at Holy Names University. The program says it all: "Save the best for last!"
The Media Academy Class of 2012. We coached many of these students when they were in sophomore English.
Former Media Principal Ben Schmookler, who left last year to become principal of Claremont Middle School, addresses the graduates.
Two of the three mothers in the class of 2012 wait to receive their diplomas with their children.
Graduates celebrate with friends and family.
WriterCoach Connection connections that have lasted for three years! Twins Kim and Jack Meija-Cuellar, who are headed to Yale in the fall, are flanked by their WCC coaches from two years ago: WCC Board Chair Kathy Kahn (l.) and former WCC Media Academy Site Coordinator and current coach Lisa Awrey.
Hats off to the Media grads!
Karen Larson
There's more to writer coaching than poring over essays! The relationships that develop between coaches and students are reflected in the year-end classroom celebrations that often cap our coaching year. Here is the El Cerrito High Block 3 team, throwing a party for their students and their teacher, Jennifer Dreyfus, at El Cerrito High on May 31.
Coach Donna DeCamp holds the thank-you note written to her by student Juan Mejia.
And more thanks to Coach Donna, from student Luisa Bezerra.
And here's the entire Block 3 coaching team (l. to r.): Sara Nolan, teacher Jennifer Dreyfus, Marisol Cantu, Todd Groves, Donna DeCamp, Scott Parkay, WCC Site Coordinator Maureen Dixon, Virginia Lim, Christine Mann, and Susan Ruiz. You can see the satisfaction of a coaching job well done this year reflected in their faces!
Bob Menzimer