Monday, March 29, 2010

Working hard in the Great Lake State

In its second year, 826michigan's In-School Residency Program is in full effect. Every day of the week, 826 volunteers go into classrooms all over Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor to help teachers where they need it most: in their classrooms. Mondays they visit Adams Elementary in Ypsilanti, Tuesdays are spent at West Middle in Ypsilanti, Wednesdays they visit Huron High in Ann Arbor, Thursdays you can find them in Chapelle Elementary in Ypsilanti, and Fridays they travel to Erickson Elementary in Ypsilanti. In total, 826michigan is working with about twenty teachers in five different schools, reaching about five hundred students every week. Impressive, right?

Wednesdays at Huron High are spent with a Quinn Strassel and his students. In his first year of teaching at an Ann Arbor public school, Quinn was given a daunting task: three remedial English classes, one journalism class, and one acting class. Each week, 826michigan's On-site In-school Coordinator Frances Martin and in-school project alum Katie Jones visit Quinn's three English classes with a small army of volunteers.

The experience, as you can imagine, has been transformative. The students have become attached to the volunteers, and are excited to share their work with them every week. They worked especially hard on their essay submissions for the follow-up book to Talking Back, which will be released by 826 National later this year. In a recent email to 826michigan, Quinn wrote, "If I haven't told you lately, you and 826 have MADE my year. I honestly don't know what I would have done without your help."

Kudos to Quinn Strassel, his hardworking students, and the amazing staff and volunteers of 826michigan. Find out more and shop for those always-necessary robot supplies at www.826michigan.org