For many years, it’s been the same story – less than 50% of Newton low income, Black, and Latinx students would meet or exceed expectations on the MCAS, and college graduation rates for the same students would be markedly low.
A new organization led by parent volunteers, the Newton Youth Success Collaborative (NYSC), is working to change that story.
In March 2022, NYSC received a $10,000 grant from the Boston Bridges Initiative to expand its groundbreaking “I’m Amazing” program.
“I’m Amazing” is designed to aid students in Black, Latinx, and low-income households by introducing the students to professional mentors in various careers. After a launch gathering in late January, there will be six sessions, February through late March, with interviews between students and their mentors.
Students who are new to “I’m Amazing” and are in their first year of experience are Explorers, and they are led by Teen Facilitators, or TFacs. They work together, along with mentors and participating teachers, to prepare the younger students for a bright future.
Kate Carpenter Bernier, who is a leader of the NYSC, said that “I’m Amazing” builds strong relationships between students and mentors.
“There’s usually about five or six TFacs from each high school,” she said. “They are each assigned an adult mentor or a pair of mentors who are professionals of color, who dedicate six Tuesday afternoons of their time over the course of six weeks, plus more evening and weekend orientation times to prepare the high schoolers.”
The TFacs receive guidance from their mentors, which they pass on to the younger Explorers and in that way, the TFacs become effective mentors themselves. And the Explorers, having learned the lessons and paid attention during the sessions, are put on track to become TFacs in the future.
It’s a formula for success – and the results confirm it.
“The TFacs and the Explorers take a pre- and post-assessment survey,” Carpenter Bernier said, “and [the surveys show that] their sense of their understanding of careers has improved; they feel more interested in their careers. They also, especially the Tfacs, have improved in their public speaking skills.”
“There have been lots of improvements,” she added.
Her students agree. Sharon Tackie, a senior at Newton North High School (NNHS) and an “I’m Amazing” TFac, said that she would definitely recommend that students join the program.According to her, “‘I’m Amazing’ almost forces students to understand what is acceptable in a professional environment.”
That makes Tackie’s job – teaching students skills and ethics that are valued in the workplace – much easier. Still, she said, there’s a lot of hard work involved. “TFacs are given a whole range of personalities to draw from. And sometimes it’s difficult just because it’s a Tuesday, and the kids want to go home.”
But the payoff has always outweighed the work for Tackie. “There was ample reward in seeing my kids,” she said. She recalled one of her students always “running up and hugging” Tackie every time she saw her.
“The experience is completely about the kids,” she added.
Bryce Campbell, a NNHS sophomore and former Explorer in the program, shared similar sentiments. He had found out about “I’m Amazing” from a friend and said that the program changed him as a person. “It helped me broaden what I want to do,” he said, “and it helped me put a foot in the door early on.”
According to Campbell, beginning too late to think about careers is a very big problem facing some students. “It’s terrible to try and at the last minute think about what you want to do or just think later on about what you could have done. By that moment, it’s too late,” he said.
Campbell said that he looks forward to becoming a TFac.
Of course, besides the TFacs and mentors involved in the program, there are also counselors who carry a great deal of weight – counselors like Blayne Lopes, who works in tandem with students and mentors alike.
Lopes is also partially responsible for recruiting students into the program. “Last year, I joined the Newton Public Schools community as a METCO counselor for Newton North, and then I became involved with ‘I’m Amazing’ through the TFac recruitment process,” he recalled, “and I recommend a lot of kids to become either TFacs or Explorers for ‘I’m Amazing’.”
Lopes said that his transition into recruitment for “I’m Amazing” was very subtle. To him, helping kids join “I’m Amazing” is just another way to build valuable connections for those students.
“The TFacs are connected to mentors who guide them, with whom they may continue to have a relationship afterwards – and Explorers like Bryce stay connected to the program. They might volunteer with Newton Community Education for something or go to an MLK event because of the relationships they’ve built, just building those connections,” he said.
“I’m Amazing” was designed to instill leadership and work ethic in kids. But for most of them, the needed qualities are already there. They just need a bit of polishing.
“Oftentimes we say that the student who’s the vocal one, the person who has their hand up, they get picked to answer the question or to come up front. But what I pay attention to are those students who might be quiet, but I see those leadership skills emerging, or I see them demonstrated in a different way,” Lopes said. “Watching them develop the skill set of speaking in public, you just want to help them out a little bit more or to support skill development.”
If you’d like to support NYSC, contact Kate Carpenter Bernier at katecarpenterbernier@gmail.com or Jose Rafael Gamboa at jrgamboa78@gmail.com.
Andrey Sarkanich is Fig City News intern and a junior at Newton North High School.