Antioch Books a Hit with PC!

This past Friday, May 4th, PC elementary students from Gerena Elementary had the unique opportunity of interacting with non-fiction children’s books that were crafted specifically with PC students in mind.  These incredibly thoughtful and original texts came courtesy of Smith College faculty member Carol Berner’s graduate class from Antioch University in nearby Keene, New Hampshire.



The books from the students at Antioch were wildly diverse, with some hands-on books that taught the art of paper cranes and friendship bracelets, and other books outlining the steps to cleverly and cunningly getting away with passing gas around others.  Whichever book our students picked up on Friday, they had a great time and learned something new- the ultimate combination!

Project Coach would like to extend our most sincere thanks to all of the graduate students who put such an incredible amount of thought and effort into their work.  Their ideas and creativity were stimulating for students, coaches, and teachers alike and they should all be proud of how their books sparked an elementary classroom.

PC visits Eric Carle Museum exhibition

Paris, New York, Boston...Smith College, Harvard, and Columbia. All points on the map that our intrepid cohort of high school youth coaches have paid visits to in recent years as they explore new countries, colleges, and cultures. And yet Wednesday's visit to the Eric Carle Museum marked the first time that we have embarked upon a field trip designed specifically for our younger program participants - 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students from Gerena School.

In keeping with this year's focus on pivotal role-models in sports - such as Jackie Robinson, Althea Gibson, and Roberto Clemente - students were given the opportunity to learn more about the impact that the Negro Leagues had on the American sport landscape, and society as a whole. After viewing a presentation of Ken Burns' seminal Baseball series, students explored a dynamic exhibit of vibrant oil paintings that brought the stars of this often-forgotten generation of ball players to life. Legends such as Satchel Paige and the enigmatic catcher Josh Gibson - widely considered among the greater players of their generation, regardless of color, fascinated students, who were particularly captivated by Studs Turkel's analysis that "Gibson wasn't the black Babe Ruth...Ruth was the white Josh Gibson", and stories of Paige's fastball (famously referred to as "The Midnight Rider")!

As students took in the artwork, they were asked to consider which paintings best illustrated important themes such as "dignity", "prejudice" and "pride", and then even got the chance to make their own sketches of the artwork.

Our sincere thanks go to Billy McBride from the board of directors of the museum, Greg Rosnick, and Principal Diane Gagnon for providing this wonderful opportunity for our students, as well as the Gerena PC teaching team for sharing this great day with our kids!

PC youth meet Title IX activist and Supreme Court victor

Thursday 5th April, 2012 - Western New England University.

Earlier this evening, Coaches Efrain, Priscilla, Yesenia, and Josh paid a visit to Western New England University to meet with legendary high school coach Roderick Jackson, as invited guests of Professor Curt Hamakawa - Director of WNEU's Center for International Sport Business.

At a specially arranged interview session prior to Coach Jackson's public appearance, all four coaches were able to direct their questions at a man who's leadership and courage paved the way for greater implementation of the seminal Act, after a continued struggle to gain equality for the girl's high school basketball team that he coached in Birmingham, Alabama, in the late 1990's and early 2000's. Despite being unsuccessful at both the district and circuit court level, Coach Jackson failed to be deterred, and successfully petitioned the Supreme Court of the United States to hear his case in 2004, before being awarded a 5-4 decision in his favor in 2005.

Central to Jackson's case lay the fact that - despite the 1972 passage of Title IX legislation - the girl's team that he coached was forced to play in an inferior gym, practice with deficient equipment, and were not afforded the opportunity to raise funds in the same way as their male counterparts. Fed up with the injustices that he perceived, Jackson took his fight to the courts, despite being fired for being prepared to buck the system that had existed for decades.

PC coaches asked a series of thoughtful questions during their private audience with Coach Jackson, and were able to use his responses and ideas to help frame their own concepts of what leadership looks like -- central to a current Project Coach media initiative that will see each coach create a video detailing their growth within the program, and their own individual definition of success as a leader.

Taking the next steps - college and beyond

On Saturday, March 31, 2012, Joe Wray, Tom Messinger and Greg Rosnick headed east to Beantown for a day of college visits.  Joe Wray, a veteran coach here at Project Coach, was recently accepted to a host of schools in the region, and before he decided on where he would be studying next year, it was important to get out and see the schools one last time.

The morning started with a tour of the beautiful Mount Ida College campus in Newton, Mass.  Because the weather was a bit dreary, the campus was a little quiet as many students sought refuge in their dorms and the nearby academic buildings.  As we strolled around campus, we almost had the place to ourselves.  Joe was very impressed with the physical beauty of the campus and if he goes there, he may be interested in studying a program within Mount Ida’s School of Business.

After a nice tour of campus, Joe, Greg, and Tom headed downtown to grab a bite to eat and stroll around the Boston Common.  By this point, the wind had really picked up and the lingering winter cold forced the three to head out of the city center a bit earlier than expected.  So after a short lunch break, they made their way to Newbury College, which is just minutes outside of downtown Boston in the picturesque suburb of Brookline, Mass.

Because of our timing, the stay at Newbury was much shorter.  The three Project Coach representatives walked around and talked to a few students and staff.  However, because there were no tours at this time of day, their stay at the school was quite limited.

Overall, it was a very positive day for Joe, who will be forced to make a very important decision sometime in the next few weeks.

Everyone at Project Coach is proud of Joe’s transformation over the past few years and we look forward to supporting him as he makes these exciting decisions for his future.

Owning the process (and the program) - PC Coaches

One of the biggest strengths - and often challenges - of any youth development program is finding opportunities for teens to participate meaningfully in the decision-making process. Far too often, and usually as the result of hectic schedules and short timeframes, it can be all too easy for that process to rest squarely in the laps of directors, adult supervisors, and graduate students. In doing so, the most critical population - youth in the program - are often left out in the cold from influencing some of the most important aspects of the organization; perverse, when once considers that the program itself is designed around the needs of these core constituents.

In his seminal article*, Reed Larson determines that involving youth in the decision-making process within programs is critical to the success of such organizations. Moreover, he states that - despite usually being originally conceived of by adults - much of the ongoing decision-making within a successful program is driven by youth participants themselves; grant writing, curriculum development, scheduling, to name but a few. Without this 'youth voice', organizations fail to stir the intrinsic motivation among teens required for success, and - quite literally - go under. A strong sense of goal setting from youth themselves underpins quality programs, rather than such goals being dictated by adults.

With this in mind, the current recruitment search for next year's "redshirt" graduate students provided a perfect opportunity for Project Coach to put this belief into practice. Having already conducted a forum after the last recruitment process to learn more about what qualities our youth coaches were looking for in a mentor and coach, shortlisted candidates spent 2 hours this past Monday meeting with PC youth. Our coaches worked in panels to ask potential recruits several questions - which they had prepared during a prior session - to help glean which candidates would prove to be the best fit with our organization. "Blueshirts" generated questions ranged from those which inquired about the skills and qualities people could bring to our organization ("what past experience do you have working with teens", "what do you consider to be the greatest strength that you could bring to a team"), to those which asked applicants to put themselves into a particular scenario or predicament, ("if a blueshirt wasn't working effectively with their coaching partner what would you do to assist", "if you noticed that a coach was displaying low energy or appeared distracted what would you do to help").



Following the more formal interview stage, candidates then worked with groups of coaches to teach them about a particular skill that they enjoyed, in order that PC youth could get a better feel for their delivery style, ability to engage others, and their teaching methods. Examples included writing poetry, juggling, playing field hockey, learning 6 languages in six minutes, and surfing!

At the conclusion of the process, coaches regrouped to consolidate their feedback, share their findings, and give their insight into the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate. In keeping with the integrity of the process, their input will help shape what direction Project Coach takes in the coming weeks as we begin to make fellowship offers to the 2012-13 cohort of graduate students.

*Larson, R. (2000). Toward a psychology of positive youth development. American Psychologist, Vol. 55, No.1, 170-183.

PC in France (part trois) - Coach Jon Cotto

France est tres belle!!!!!

Je m’appelle Jon.  Je suis de Springfield, MA . Je suis en France comme une parte d’une programme d’echange ITD/Project Coach. France est tres belle!

I said it twice because I wanted to emphasize its beauty. I’ve been in France for eight days already and in the past two days I spent a whole day with someone from Marseille  and I also went hiking.

On Saturday I spent the day with a friend, Mostafa Annan.  It was better than what I expected. We went to a lot of places, but the first place we went to was the store because I didn’t have a camera. After we got my camera I met his family. They were great. His mom is an awesome cook. She made a Lebanese  meal.  Mostafa shared some of his past with me and it affected me pretty deeply. We ended our day with him giving me a tour of the Marseille.

On Sunday the group went hiking. Hiking is actually on my bucket list so when I get back I get to cross it off! Anyways, when we started walking up a hill I thought we already started hiking… but I was wrong. I faced a lot of my fears on the hike like going up ladders and being high up in the air close to edges with nothing to hold on to. There was many beautiful views that I have never seen in my life in Les Calanques, as they call them. When our guide told us he was going to take us to one of the most beautiful views I didn’t know what to think. When we got to our view I got nervous because the wind was so strong it moved me. So I was worried I would fall. But at the end it was worth it because I am one of the few people who can say I went hiking in one of the most beautiful cities in the world… Marseille, France.

-Jon Cotto, 18 years old

February 27, 2012

Marseille, France

PC in France (part deux) - Coach Efrain Lopez

France is amazing! The people are great, the city is beautiful, and of course… ALLEZ L’OM!

The past two days have been crazy.  We went to the American consulate yesterday and met Diane Kelly, the American Consulate General.  We also met with Doug Brice, the NCIS agent in Marseille.  It was here that we learned about Varian Fry, the American that helped a ton during the Nazi occupation of France.   But there were two events that I wanted to talk about the most.

Shortly after our visit to the consulate, our group went to a local high school to talk to two French classes.  Both of the classes that we met were English classes, so most of the students spoke English pretty well.  But there were still a lot of awkward moments when we didn’t understand each other.  We did realize, though, that the only major difference between them and us was the language. If it wasn’t for the distance, I really believe we could become the best of friends. They listen to almost the same music, play the same games, and for the most part do the same things when hanging out with friends.

Shortly after that we went to our second basketball club in Marseille. We taught them the games we play with our Project Coach kids and they really seemed to love them. We played dribble knock out, 3 vs 3 no dribble, and hot spot. They enjoyed our high energy games and the especially love that there were no lines.  We kept asking them if they were tired (“Vous etes fatigue?”), and they would playfully yell “No!!!!!” But they kept asking for water, so I’m pretty sure they were lying.  After an hour and a half of 12 year olds, we had 9 and 10 year olds.  And then we had a whole other basketball club to visit.  It was a crazy day of basketball but the kids and their high energy kept us going the whole time.  We were all wiped out after that but we had a great day.

    

      Efrain Lopez (19) - Project Coach 

Marseille, France

February 22, 2012