By Nikki Stoumen | Fundraising Coordinator
Hello GEC family, happy almost Summer!
It has been a while, and we have been up to a lot!
Since we have had so many changemaker programs with our students, we wanted to use this opportunity to update our community on how our different initiatives are connected and why they are both important!
Our Parent Microgrant Initiative supports parents pursuing their own projects in our mission of using a whole family, whole child approach. What does this mean? It means we support a family-led strategy that helps our kids and their caregivers develop the tools to achieve their goals together. A whole-child approach means a student's success is equally dependent on their environments and experiences outside of school, as it is inside the classroom. Therefore, in using a holistic approach, we believe a child's success is a family's success and vice versa- they work together. This is why our parent programming goes hand in hand with our Changemaker programming, which helps our students meet leaders and practice leadership skills. Our hope is that through this programming, they can support both their families and communities by being future changemakers.
So what has GEC programming looked like in 2023?
Our first changemaker program of 2023 was held in January and our focus was goal setting- to review our student's successes from the year before and plan for the year ahead. We were honored to have Amma Aboagye, who is also our Matie Masie board President as our guest speaker to speak about "Mind mapping and planning". Amma has over 15 years of experience in social development, policy and communications, education, peace and governance and more! She currently works at USAID as a Senior Learning and Partnerships Advisor on programming across West Africa.
Amma first taught our students the value of reflection. She had them reflect on things they were proud of and challenges they faced last year- but also what they learned from those challenges, teaching them to understand their strengths and weaknesses to grow and work on. In another interactive activity called "ears and eyes", she taught them the value of seeking guidance and counseling and listening to direction- and also when to change it.
Students engaged with questions about how to get where you want to go and knowing the right path. The students were grateful to Miss Amma for helping start their year with renewed energy and optimism.
We had other successful events throughout the Spring, so stay tuned for the next newsletter to hear more about what our amazing students have been up to:)!
In community,
your GEC family
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