Philip’s Education Partners
Spring 2016
the Jalsa Drinkard wearing her George School sweatshirt.
PIONEERING 21ST CENTURY EDUCATION
Philip’s students visit boarding schools on the Secondary School Scholars Tour.
Journey to Boarding School By Jalsa Drinkard, 8th Grade Philip’s Academy’s secondary school placement process is an amazing adventure that each one of our upper school students journeys through during their time here. I started my journey in the fifth grade, when all of the upper school students met with the representatives of several high schools at the secondary school fair. As I revisited the fair each year and was a part of the secondary school scholars program, I came to learn that I wanted to spend my high school experience away at boarding school. My parents were not fully supportive of the idea of me going away, but Philip’s staff helped me persuade them by sharing the numerous opportunities I would have while living on campus. After many discussions on what I wanted and needed in a high school experience,
we decided that the George School, a private boarding school in Newtown, PA, was the best fit for me. I am very excited about attending the George School this September. However, it was a tough decision to make. For the first half of the Spring, I was really struggling to make a final decision. There were two boarding schools that I loved and I was not able to decide which one was my favorite. One was the George School, which focuses on Quaker traditions and encourages intellectual curiosity and the other was the Westminster School, a small preparatory school in Simsbury, Connecticut. I finally made my decision when I spent the night at the George School. This gave me the chance to attend classes, share meals and interact with the students. As I spent
time with current George School students, we created memories I’ll never forget as we made pots in ceramics class and played an epic boys vs. girls ping-pong and foosball championship. I was also intrigued by the microcontroller programming courses, which I am looking forward to taking. I immediately felt comfortable and included as I spent time on campus and I knew that this was the school for me. Now, I am ecstatic to make new friends with the freshmen class and become a part of the George School family. This would not have been possible without the help and support of Mrs. Curran, my family and the rest of my Philip’s teachers. I am incredibly grateful.
PEP Rally for Education - April, 28th 2016 This year we used our biggest event of the year to invite friends of the organization to see Philip’s Academy firsthand. The event was successful in allowing longtime supporters to see directly what they helped build and we also introduced new friends into the fold. PEP Rally raised over $75,000 to support the children of Newark, East Orange, Irvington and Paterson.
Dear Friends,
Anil Bakshi, Donna Olsen, Amy Clausing, Marcia Bakshi, Pat Middleton, Gigo Taylor, Maggie Bird, Lois DeGenaro, Mary Roberts and Scott Olsen
As we expand the Philip’s brand to Paterson, it is both an opportunity to serve more children, but also squarely a next step in our vision to reinvent urban education. We question the wisdom of a one-dimensional attack of equating the quality of an educational program with “test scores.” The charter landscape needs innovators, pioneers and risk-takers, who will venture out into unchartered waters to find the complex answers to our most stubborn problems. We need a few Mohammed Ali’s in the mix! We cannot rely upon models that were employed in the last century that emphasized “control and compliance” and now, something we call “powerful quality control.” We should not fool ourselves that numbers create an “educated person.” We can no longer prepare children for a world that does not exist, using strategies that they cannot comprehend. In so many ways, I applaud the success of charter schools, especially in our home state. Yet, as all good scholars, we must question. We must question and rethink our models and assumptions about school, teaching and learning. How much of the industrial and agrarian models that have existed for centuries is still relevant? What does a school of the future actually look like? Are we dwelling on short-term results at the expense of long-term effects? I find it ironic that I live in a society that looks constantly to the future and yearns for change, but where approaches to teaching and learning have remained stagnate. I have been going to school every year since 1953 and deeply believe we must redefine the critical capacities for our children in the 21st century. We have spoken a great deal and far too long about injecting critical thinking, collaboration, accessing and analyzing information, curiosity, exploration, discovery, imagination and experimentation to our students’ lives. It is time we actually do more than just talk. Join me in our journey of innovation as we help shape the lives of these incredible children.
Juliet Patsalos-Fox, Alec & Sally Walsh (Trustee), Jody Wacker (Board Chair)
Student Tour Guides
Couldn’t make it? You can still make a donation on our website at www.philipsed.org and we invite you to schedule a tour of the school at any time. “I’m extremely proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish together. Not only did this initiative benefit both organizations, but it has brought a sense of personal accomplishment to our roles at Cisco. Thank you for the opportunity to partner with you this year. We love Philip’s!” – Luis Geronimo, Systems Engineer | CISCO
Corporate Partner | CISCO
Warm Regards,
This year, CISCO - East Bay Territory partnered with Philip’s Academy in order to engage team members in a meaningful volunteer opportunity. The team members from Cisco have been volunteering in various capacities from 8th grade mock interviews to classroom helpers and tutors to helping maintain the garden and building. In addition, they have hosted various events to help raise money to support the children and programming. They have already given over 350 volunteer hours and raised over $10,000 so far.
Miguel J. Brito, CEO
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