Diving Deep in the Zone

May 2019 Diving Deep in the Zone  is Zone 126's monthly newsletter featuring stories and highlights from across our community in Astoria and Long Island City's zip codes 11101, 11102, and 11106.    --Zone 126 Team

Neighborhood Community Schools Strategy Aim To Ensure Civic Engagement     Anju J. Rupchandani, M.S.Ed.-Managing Director, Zone 126 It has been almost seven months since we launched our Neighborhood Community Schools efforts at PS 171Q and IS 126Q . The last several months have been very busy for us internally as we have, hired two new Community School Directors to spearhead the coordination and implementation efforts of programs and services. We also, have been actively working to meet with Principals to establish our own Zone 126 Community Schools culture that is rooted in building community, and ensuring civic engagement. Over the course of the last several years, Zone 126 has firmly established ourselves at Long Island City High School (LICHS) and have built a reputation centered around effectiveness. What we have been able to establish at LICHS has provided us with a solid foundation that enabled us to apply to the US Department of Education (USDOE) for the Full-Service Community Schools grant for PS 171Q and IS 126Q.While we have specific goals around ensuring students are Kindergarten ready, achieving academically, and are safe, healthy and supported by engaged parents, this is not enough in the eyes of Zone 126. Our vision has always been that we want to see every child graduating from high school prepared for college or the workforce, and entering the 21 st Century equipped with the skills needed to thrive. Yet, considering today’s political climate it does not seem enough, we must do more. As we celebrated our 8 th anniversary earlier this month, our Executive Team has been actively thinking about our work in a way that goes beyond the classroom, and into community. Simply speaking how do we ensure that students have an opportunity to be civically engaged?  The path to community and civic engagement will kick off in early May through a new collaboration that includes the Astoria Houses Resident Association, Global Kids (GK), and IS 126Q. Global Kids will spend seven weeks working intensely with two groups of students who attend IS 126Q and live within New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) Astoria Houses. As the school year winds down, students will remain in the Global Kids program the summer with the intention of igniting a passion for community leadership and building civic engagement from school to community. This is a first step for our organization to launch a collaborative school and community partnership that goes extends beyond the school bell. The most important thing is that we are working to ensure that our students feel they have a voice, agency, and feel that they matter and can make a difference. Over the next several months we will track the progress of our efforts and share with you our successes and challenges, as we ensure for the preparation of the next generation of civic-minded and engaged youth.

News from the Zone

Pipeline Update

EGG-Stravaganza A Hit For A Second Year In A Row   Michelle Makabali-Community School Director/Long Island City High School

On April 17, Zone 126 hosted the 2 nd Annual EGG-Stravaganza event at PS 171Q for students in Kindergarten and 1 st Grade. Our little Egg Hunters scouted high and low throughout the school’s library as they discovered colorful eggs filled with delightful treats.   Zone 126 staff and student interns from Long Island City High School worked to plan and support this annual event that is becoming a tradition. The hunt for the golden eggs were all that students and staff could talk about. The lucky students who discovered the golden eggs received an egg-xtra special prize to take home. That prize was a brand new age-appropriate book for students to take home to build their own home library.     Zone 126 is making literacy a main building block in our Neighborhood Community School’s efforts. Our steadfast commitment to building literacy using cross collaboration was once again highlighted during this years EGG-Stravaganza event. Events such as Cocoa Mingle and EGG-Stravaganza have come to be a part of what students, their families and our school community look forward too. These events create a positive and long lasting memory for all the children, and continue to encourage a curiosity for reading as well as learning. In an ever- growing digital age where students are continuously bombarded by information technology, Zone 126 continues to ensure that we put students on a path to success by fostering lifelong habits, such as reading.   Ms. Kelly Kielar, the School Librarian at PS 171Q stated “the Zone 126 Egg-Stravaganza collaboration between the school and Long Island City High School is an “egg-tastic event! Our students had so much fun, and we want to thank everyone for the memories that our students will hold close to their hearts.” Thus it is fitting that what former First Lady of the United States of America, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis once said:   “There are many little ways to enlarge your child’s world. Love of books is the best of all.”

Attendance + Caring Adult = Positive Relationships That Matter! Valentina Di Loreto-Community School Director/IS 126Q     The Attendance Mentorship Program kicked off at IS 126Q on March 11. The initiative was started in an effort to improve student academic outcomes and to address the challenge of absenteeism. Over 60 mentees were paired with mentors (administrators, teachers, and other key staff at the school). In the past month we have seen significant attendance improvement, as close to 40 of the mentees had perfect attendance. Along with our absenteeism initiative, we have begun to work to support our students who are chronically late to school, and we are seeing that they are striving to arrive earlier and checking in with their mentors to let them know that they have arrived on time, and ready to learn. Ms. Perullo a math and science Special Education teacher, personalized her mentor-mentee strategy by having conversations one-on-one about the importance of personal responsibility and good habits. Ms. Perullo took her discussion a step further by rallying her students to walk with her to school. The lateness and attendance initiative is having a positive peer influence, and that can be seen when fellow students cheered on, another student who came in on time, who normally does not. “Punishing, nagging, and yelling does not work” Ms. Perullo said, “Getting to know the students story and finding ways to connect with them is key.” Ms. Perullo is looking forward to continuing to develop the bonds between the mentees and her.

BIG Apple, GIANT Dreams Dylan Woloszczuk-Young Adults Succeed Coordinator Long Island City High School

On April 7th, New York City and the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center hosted the Big Apple College Fair. Sponsored by the National Association for College Admission Counseling, the fair was represented by more than 350 colleges from across the country and around the globe. This year, Let’s Get Ready and the Zone 126-Long Island City High School (LICHS) team collaborated to take a group of 20 juniors to the fair. The event was an opportunity for students to explore a variety of college and career options available to them upon graduation from high school. As rising seniors, everyone from the group was eager to gather more information about some of the schools they hope to apply to next school year. In addition to exploring the college tables, students were able to speak with admissions officers, ask questions, and provide their contact information to schools in which they were particularly interested in. While some students used the fair to help them hone their interests, others used it to identify programs that will help launch their future career paths. One such student, Julia, aspires to become a veterinarian. She said: “It gave me so many ideas about becoming a vet.” She went on to say that the experience showed her that, “It is possible [for me] to get into a good college.”   During a break from the college fair, students were able to digest all the information they received, along with discussing the things they discovered. Over lunch, students chatted with chaperones Dylan Woloszczuk, the Young Adults Succeed Coordinator for Zone 126, along with Fabiha Khan and Tasfia Alam, Site Directors for this year’s Let’s Get Ready program, about their college application experiences. The student’s questions were a clear indication of their goals and objectives but more importantly their hopes and dreams of what they want from their college experience

Students from Long Island City High School spent Sunday attending a college fair and thought it was an eye opening experience.

Parent Involvement Is What Matters By: Katey Ray-Community School Director/PS 171Q

Families spent the evening gathered at PS 171Q along with teachers for Game Night.

“A parent or guardian’s active involvement in a child’s education is a critical component of creating a lifelong learner. “No matter their income or background, students with involved parents are more likely to have higher grades and test scores, attend school regularly, have better social skills, show improved behavior, and adapt well to school.” (National Coalition for Parent Involvement in education. 2006.  Research Review and Resources.  Retrieved April 10, 2019). On March 21 st , PS 171Q’s speech teacher Ms. Cassidy Duggan and literacy coach Mr. Alex Lunz hosted a very successful Family Game Night in the school’s cafeteria. Family members were invited to join the students at PS 171Q for several engaging and easy to duplicate games and activities to build phonemic awareness and literacy skills. While the games were geared towards early childhood students, older siblings joined in, to practice their word-building skills and support the younger students. Students and their family members had the opportunity to play three different literacy games, and afterwards the raffle winners were able to select a fun literacy-based board game to take home. All students left with goodie bags that included a book, and some fun toys. Parents and other family members relished the opportunity to bond with children while also supporting their educational growth. The PS 171Q staff looks forward to building an even stronger school community through ongoing engaging family events.

Zone 126 Updates Zone 126 turned 8 this year, and we are proud of all that we have accomplished thus far with our partner organizations. We would like to thank those that have been with us from our inception, and those that have joined along the way: Child Center of NY (CCNY) , City Year New York , Community-Word Project , enACT , Let’s Get Ready (LGR) , Little Flower Yoga (LFY) , Queens Public Library , NYU ParentCorps , Urban Upbound , Variety Boys & Girls Club of Queens , and the Thomas & Jeanne Elmezzi Foundation who founded Zone 126 back in 2011.   Zone 126 has received a $25,000 grant from the Phyllis Backer Foundation to continue coordinating the enACT and Little Flower Yoga (LFY) program at IS 126Q for students at IS 126Q during school year 2019-2020. We would like to thank the Phyllis Backer Foundation for their continued generous support to ensure that are students social-emotional wellness are supported through these critical support services. Congratulations to PS 171Q and Long Island City High School who were both designated by the New York State Department of Education as Schools In Good Standing.

Team Long Island City High School, Zone 126 and students from the choir with Chancellor Carranza after performing for guests at the Schools in Good Standing Celebration at Tweed Courthouse.

Principal Lisa Stone of PS 171Q and Principal Vivian P. Selenikas of Long Island City High School with their Good Standing Certificates.

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We would like to thank all of our funders for their support: Thomas & Jeanne Elmezzi Foundation, US Department of Education, New York City Department of Education, Altman Foundation, Blue Buffalo Foundation, Pinkerton Foundation, Plaxall and Phyllis Backer Foundation.

*Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of the individual

www.zone126queens.org | info@zone126.org

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