Rocket Family Newsletter

Winter/Spring 2023

YouLEAD Diversity Program comes to RGJ

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This spring, our 6th and 7th grade scholars have the opportunity to participate in a six part programming series called YouLEAD offered by The Diversity Center of Northeast Ohio. In addition to the basic principles of diversity, the weekly workshops will focus on teamwork, conflict resolution, lables, body image, race/ethnicity and sexuality/gender stereotypes.

Below, students work in teams to build a tower out of sticky notes. They were asked to follow a protocol for planning before getting started and had only five minutes to build their tower. Some of the key take-aways from the lesson were making sure everyone on their team had a chance to contribute ideas and being encouraging to one another.

Congrats to our Budding Social Entrepreneurs!

For the past two months the 4th-8th grade students enrolled in our Say Yes Afterschool Program led by our Afterschool Site Manager, Jennifer Pullom, have been learning about social entrepreneurship and developing their own ideas for social enterprises. Their work culminated in creating, practicing, and recording a 30-second pitch for their business. These videos were submitted to the Northeast Ohio Pitch Challenge. These students worked really hard to identify problems in the community and brainstorm solutions to help improve their communities.

Congratulations to the following RGJ Pitch Challenge Winners:

Jaylen Flowers- Best Community Building Organization

Bushra Shaikh- Best Youth Oriented Organization

Deyonna Shaw- Best Youth Advocacy in Action Organization

Charlotte Cummings- Best Volunteer Driven Organization

The following students also participated and submitted videos: Dontae Shaw, Zavier Garren, Ayan Fernandez, Mais Alsaeed, Amber Redden, Harmony Krall, Lyric Krall, Amari Williams and Ja'Marie Barnes. Their ideas should be commended as well!

Did you catch us on Fox 8?

Robinson G. Jones 7th grade students were featured in a recent news story on Fox 8 regarding the "Art in Me" program students have been participating in since January. We are excited our students are part of such an amazing program. Please click on the link below to view the story!

Voices of Unity: Art of Me

CLEVELAND (WJW) - An organization is putting the creative vision into the hands of children. It's a non-profit that is helping Clevelanders, young and old, find the art in their own stories. Now, a few of these local storytellers have watched their ideas evolve into feature films. It's been said, art is not what you see, but what you make others see.

fox8.com

Give your Opinion and Earn Money!

MyCom has been asked to invite parents/guardians of children/youth in an afterschool or summer programs to participate in interviews for which they will receive $45 in compensation.

MyCom is partnering with Duke University, Research for Action and the Wallace Foundation to conduct a qualitative study of parent/guardian experiences with afterschool and summer supports and other services throughout the pandemic. The purpose of the study is to understand how parent/guardians and families were impacted by the pandemic and how afterschool and summer program providers may have or are still supporting them. Parent/guardians will be interviewed over the telephone for up to an hour. They will receive a $45 e-gift card for participating in the study.

Interested parent/guardians should call the phone number on the flyer and leave a message with their name and phone number. The research team will reach out to them to conduct an initial screening to ensure they are eligible to participate.

7th & 8th Grade Camping Trip - Deadline for completed permission slips is 3/31!

Dates to Remember

Here are some important dates to be sure are added to your calendars:

March 20-24 - SPRING BREAK (no school for students)
April 7 - Good Friday (No school for students)
April 11 - May 12 - OST Testing
April 21 - PreK/K PD Day (no school for PreK & Kindergarten ONLY)
April 26 - Early Dismissal for Students/Parent Teacher Conferences
May 26 - Spring Arts Concert & Resource Fair
May 29 - Memorial Day (no school for students)
May 31 - 8th Grade Promotion, 9:30 a.m.
May 31 - Kindergarten Promotion, 11 a.m.
June 1 - 1st-7th Awards Ceremonies
June 5 - Last Day of School for Students

Do you need resources? Our Family Support Specialist Can Help!

If you need help accessing resources like mental health services, eye exam/glasses vouchers, coats & shoes, clothing, food pantries, housing services, tutoring services, legal services please reach out to Mrs. Hatgas, Say Yes Family Support Specialist, at 216.645.7716, khatgas@sayyescleveland.org, or ask for her at the school for assistance.