Morning Shots

How does your school prepare you for college? What steps does your school take to give you the experience of college? As a junior attending Cesar Chavez Public Charter School for Public Policy, the school has started to get me thinking about college and career options. The Chavez Schools mission is to prepare scholars to enter and succeed in competitive colleges. As a soon-to-be senior it is almost time to start looking for colleges, but like most seniors I am confused on which school is right for me.

I have been at Cesar Chavez since 7th grade and have always had the same idea of what I was going to become after school — and that was a veterinarian. Since building a relationship with the staff at Cesar Chavez they have always been supportive of my dream. They encourage scholars to be a part of advanced placement courses, to think about a career versus a job, and to think about being the employee or the employer.

My experience at Cesar Chavez has been good so far, and since being there I have been to many colleges, met with sororities, and researched colleges that fit my career path. At charter schools, it’s about opportunity, success, and change, and attending a charter school I can see how true that is. Senior year for me will be interesting because I will be applying to different competitive colleges, receiving many opportunities for scholarship programs, and going on many more college visits.

Since enrolling in Chavez, I have taken college tours at Delaware State University, Virginia Commonwealth University, American University, University of The District of Columbia, University of Maryland, Bowie State University, and Marymount University. I have had the pleasure of meeting with members from sororities such as Delta Sigma Theta, Alpha Kappa Alpha, and many

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Today CER staff had the opportunity to tour Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School, the first adult education charter school in the nation, thanks to a monthly charter school tour event sponsored by CityBridge Foundation, FOCUS and Charter Board Partners called “First Fridays”. (We had the opportunity to visit Yu Ying public charter school in March through this same program.)

CER team members Stephanie and Patrick watched on as a teacher helped students with native languages ranging from Spanish to Ethiopian understand the word “grandparents”. Struck with admiration for this teacher’s talent, they came back to the office and excitedly shared this teacher’s story with their coworkers.

Despite this teacher’s clear ability to educate, it turns out teaching wasn’t always her life-long dream. A little over fifteen years ago, this teacher decided a career change was in order, so she took a few tests and ‘teaching’ was one of her suggested career paths. As she was watching the local news one night, she saw a segment about Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School, and felt compelled. Unfortunately, she couldn’t remember the name of the school, so she called up the news station. The reporter who reported on the Carlos Rosario piece called the aspiring teacher, and about two weeks later, the aspiring teacher had a job at that very school she felt so drawn to when that news segment aired.

Turns out following her instinct was dead on, as she has been at the school for fifteen years, and not only loves teaching, but credits her love of the job to the incredibly supportive administration and the collaborative environment the school fosters for its teachers.

And that, Edspresso readers, is the beauty of giving schools the freedom and flexibility they need to ensure

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Hello, I’m Briana McManus.

I am in the eleventh grade at the Cesar Chavez Public Charter School – Parkside Campus and interning at CER for three weeks as a part of my fellowship to obtain job experience and to prepare me for life after high school.

While reviewing different articles, statistics, and facts at my internship, I wondered what influences help parents decide what school is right for their child? I came up with two factors parents consider to see if it is a good school for their child. Does an extra-curricular activity influence their decision? Or is the school widely known in the area or recognized worldwide?

In reviewing articles, the idea of extra-curricular activities made me think if this is why parents choose a certain school for their child. Are parents sending their children to schools because they will receive scholarships in sports? Is this because they are focused on creating the next big sports icon instead of the next person to win the Nobel peace prize? Or is this school mentioned in mainstream media? Is it well-talked about or well-known in their community? Are the good or bad stories in the media influencing a parent’s decision?

I know some people want to know why I chose a charter school and I want to say it is not because of sports, or being recognized nationally. My family and I chose this school because of the mission and vision that they wanted to achieve. In the process of researching schools, we found that Cesar Chavez had a 100 percent college acceptance rate, a 90.2 percent graduation rate, and was going to give me the opportunity to work with public policy issues, to gain job experience through my Fellowship, and take a year long thesis class to prep me for

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