Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Hello all! My name is Carly Schneider and I am a first-year member serving with City Year Detroit. Through City Year Detroit, I work at Emerson school in a sixth grade classroom.
City Year Detroit has 69 corps members serving throughout Detroit Public Schools as tutors and mentors. Additionally, we have a weekend “Heroes” program that encourages middle and high school students to become active in their community. Corps members work with middle and high school students that are currently off track for graduating.  Through group tutoring, class support, and after-school programs, we hope to bring up the graduation rate. City Year Detroit serves at seven schools during the year. The schools in which we serve include: Bow School, Emerson School, Palmer Park Preparatory Academy, Cody High School, Osborn College Preparatory Academy, Vetal School, and Phoenix Middle School.

The school I serve at – Emerson – was an elementary school up until this past year when they added on a middle school due to the recent budget cuts. My particular team is a Diplomas Now team, where we work closely with two other organizations – Communities In Schools and Talent Development. This collaboration allows us corps members to develop a list of students that have shown early indicators of poor course performance, poor attendance, or poor behavior, or a combination of two or more. A student exhibiting at least one of these factors means they have a decreased chance of graduating high school. By working with the students that show these indicators, we strive to help them stay on track towards graduation.

After a relaxing week and a half break from school, corps members have jumped right back into their service with preparations for the 2011 MLK Day. To honor the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, corps members are organizing events at Cody High School, Osborn High School, and Bow School. We will also be joining Habitat for Humanity, Blight Busters, Grace Centers of Hope, Kiwanis, and Vista Maria. At Cody, Osborn, and Bow; corps members and community volunteers will be painting murals, painting inspirational quotes on lockers, painting classrooms, and doing necessary clean-up around the schools. Along with the corps members, we will have over 900 volunteers joining us throughout the day. Corps members, especially those that serve at Cody, Osborn, and Bow, have been preparing for the event for the past month.

If you are still looking for a way to serve on MLK Day, I encourage you to volunteer with City Year! These projects will help make Detroit Public Schools look amazing and make the students feel more welcome. To sign up with us, please visit this website: http://www.cityyear.org/detroit_ektid2005.aspx.