Project VOYCE

Project VOYCE NEWSLETTER

shelbyparker23 — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 23:32:50 +0000

Your Investment in Project VOYCE will pay off in 3 ways:

1. BUILDING NEW NON-TRADITIONAL LEADERS

“Project VOYCE creates great leaders.” Nate Easley, President of Denver Public School Board of Education

Finding and Building Non-traditional Leaders— PV seeks out, hires and trains approx. 150students/year whose leadership skills are under the radar.
$750,000 in scholarships and grants—that’s how much just 10 PV graduating seniors have won in the past two years.

2. IMPROVING SCHOOLS SERVING 92% LOW INCOME STUDENTS

“We wouldn’t be able to make all these wonderful things happen without Project VOYCE.” Bruce Randolph School Principal Cesar Cedillo a week after President Obama praised Bruce Randolph School in his 2011 State of the Union Address

Inspiring Thousands of Teachers– PV youth leaders have delivered keynote speeches and trainings to over 3,000 educators in the last 2 years.
Changing School Cultures in Schools – PV is building new partnerships with students,teachers and administrators in Bruce Randolph School, Manual High, CEC Middle College and Denver Center for 21st Century Learning

3. CREATING SYSTEMIC EDUCATIONAL CHANGE

“I am moved and driven to get a group at my school, and listen to students.”

K-12 Administrator’s feedback after PV youths’ keynote speeches to 350 educators at 2011 National Conference on School Engagement

U.S. Dept. of Education selected PV as one of 15 organizations in the U.S. to send youth to discuss their education concerns directly with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
2011 National League of Cities—PV’s workshop with senior education advisers from 40 US cities was described as the highlight of the national gathering.

The youth of Project VOYCE have taken a bold stand to not give up in the face of daunting challenges to their future and that of their little brothers and sisters.

We ask you to stand with them.

Invest in them NOW!

Project VOYCE says hello to TWITTER

pddouglas — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 16:17:30 +0000

You got it right PV friends and partners, Project VOYCE now has a twitter page.
Follow @ProjectVOYCE

Stay current with everything that is shaking with Project VOYCE VIA twitter. Stay tuned

Tweet us and let us know what you think. Let us hear your voice
Tweet

Outward Bound and Project VOYCE

Teo Price-Broncucia — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 01:21:58 +0000

We have had some great experiences with Outward Bound over the past few years. Enjoy the video of those experiences below.

Project VOYCE in The Denver Post

Teo Price-Broncucia — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 01:17:46 +0000

“I stopped by the eastside office of Project VOYCE, a youth leadership program, on the morning of Michael Hancock’s inauguration as Denver’s 45th mayor.” -Tina Griego

Check out Tina Griego’s article about her recent visit to the Project VOYCE office. Link

Summer Leadership Institute Application is HERE!

zenapb — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 19:50:12 +0000

Are you a student at Bruce Randolph School, CEC Middle College, Manual High School or Denver Center for 21st Century Learning (DC-21)?

Are you looking for a PAID job this summer where you will also learn great skills?

Apply to be a part of our Summer Leadership Institute!

Applications are due by 5pm on Friday, April 29th! Call us at 303-292-2488 if you have any questions!

Click here to download the application: Project VOYCE 2011 SLI application

Welcome Ben Jackson, Our New Board Member!

Teo Price-Broncucia — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 05:20:12 +0000

The news is a little late getting to the website but we wanted to make sure to let everyone know that we are excited to add a new member to our advisory board. Included is Ben’s own letter to the board which makes clear his passion for education and Project VOYCE.

Dear Project Voyce Advisory Board:

When Brian Barhaugh first approached me about possibly joining the Project Voyce Board of Directors, I was thrilled. As a teacher, I had the great opportunity to work directly with Bruce Randolph’s youth leaders and witness firsthand the rapid growth of a program that is so utterly committed to empowering students.Leadership is important to me: specifically, the identification of potential youth leaders and their subsequent development. Invaluable are opportunities for youth to interact with adults, take ownership over complex tasks and demonstrate leadership among their peers and others. In fact, I credit much of my own success to such opportunities. Former students of mine like Lilia Roman, Janet Luna, Romel Greer, Jorge Lopez and Esmeralda Aguilar have all benefitted tremendously by becoming involved in the organization and it has made me proud to be associated with their work as youth leaders in Project Voyce.

To say I care deeply about education may be an understatement. It is much more than just a career for me: it is my passion, my hobby and what keeps me up at night. When it comes to reforming our educational systems, I firmly believe that all decisions must be made in the best interests of students. However, just as it should never be the case that decisions should be made in the best interests of adults, adults must not assume what is best for students. Rather, we should work with students to determine what they really need.

Some believe that when you provide students with the power to make decisions about their own education, they will tend to choose the path of least resistance – not so. Just last year, as I feverishly pushed to expand Advanced Placement English to every eleventh and twelfth grader at Bruce Randolph, students told me time and time again: “AP English is hard, but it’s what will prepare me for college, and I want to go to college.” And to the handful of students who thought differently? Having their peers encourage them to enroll was far more productive than any level of lecturing I could muster.

As a potential board member, I bring considerable knowledge of classroom teaching as well as education policy at the local, state and national level. As a graduate and former board member of the Presidents Leadership Class at CU Boulder, I possess a strong background in youth leadership development, systems thinking and data driven decision making. I also benefit from an extensive personal and professional network of individuals who are eager to contribute to and support meaningful education reform initiatives.

Thank you for the invitation to continue my work with Project Voyce in a new capacity.

Sincerely,

Ben Jackson

Thanks Ben!

Every Move Counts – check out Sir Martin!

zenapb — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 21:43:26 +0000

Sir has been an incredible part of Project VOYCE since last summer and was recently accepted to the University of Colorado – Denver. In this video, he explains why his motto is “every move counts.”

UC Denver Article on Project VOYCE

Teo Price-Broncucia — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 17:54:49 +0000

Short article about Project VOYCE and a presentation we recently did as part of the P-20 speaker series.

http://www.ucdenver.edu/faculty_staff/stories-events/ourstories/Pages/ProjectVOYCE.aspx

Project VOYCE and Bruce Randolph

Teo Price-Broncucia — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 05:05:34 +0000

I Am the Change

shelbyparker23 — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 20:56:25 +0000

Five years ago I was expelled from my middle school and sent to an alternative school where I met the teacher that has made all the difference. When my world was turned upside down in 2004, due to the loss of my older brother, I began to lose control of myself and my future. I hated school, I hated authority, and I hated any person who tried to tell me how I should live my life. I had no goals in life or ambition for a positive future. I was one leap away from walking down a road I couldn’t turn back from…until I met Ms. Montoya. She was the first teacher I ever built a relationship with because she understood where I was coming from. She could see the person I really was instead of the girl I was pretending to be. Mr. Losh was the next person to impact me in a positive way, because I had also never built a relationship with a principal before, and he welcomed me with open arms and a slap in the face! Haha. Not literally, but he has always told me what I needed to hear to get myself in check. Two people changed my entire view on education, and then I found Project VOYCE.

Once I began to change my view on life and education, I was offered a job a Project VOYCE. At the time I never knew what student voice was, I never knew that I was a leader, or that I could use my voice to make a difference in many people’s lives. I also never knew that this would be the best job I could ever have at my age. Project VOYCE opened my eyes to an aspect on life that I wouldn’t give up for anything. I have learned so many skills that will be crucial in my future, and I have many years of background knowledge that will help me in my career. I want to be teacher so I can make the difference that I had in my life. I am taking the opportunity to be the change that I want to see in all the other young people out there who are lost. I made the change for myself, and I will be the change that this society needs to get our education system on the right track. To be continued…

-Shelby Gonzales Parker