Title: Diversity, Empowerment, Leadership and Institutional Change Cornerstone: A Student of Color Alliance
1Diversity, Empowerment, Leadership and
Institutional ChangeCornerstone A Student of
Color Alliance
- Cornerstone helps create a welcoming and
supportive environment for all students who come
to Blake. - We aim to help students of color feel they belong
here, to feel they are at home in these halls,
and to feel - they can take ownership of their education. We
also work to make Blake become an environment - that can feel like home to all students who
enter its doors. - Marie Michael, Program Director
2Mission and Objectives
- Cornerstone exists to assist in the retention
and thriving of students at Blake Upper school.
The program aims to prepare students for the
academic, social, and cultural norms at Blake and
to support them in achieving their potential by
helping them - Understand how the brain works and how to
practice effective learning strategies for
getting the most out of their academic classes
and their study time. - Identify and negotiate the socio-cultural norms
at Blake. - Develop a positive racial identity.
- Become culturally competent.
- Develop and practice leadership skills.
- Make connections with adults (within Blake and in
the larger community) that act as role models,
teachers, and mentors, and - Find community and support so they feel
emotionally safe and can thus focus on being
successful students, fully engaged at Blake
academically, athletically and socially.
3Jen Vance, Blake Science Faculty
- Cornerstone is a program that allows students to
grow as students as well as people. They are
connected to a caring, dedicated adult who knows
them well enough to challenge them to reach to
their potential and who supports them when most
in need. Cornerstone creates a safe environment
that shows kids how to depend on each other as
well as themselves. The program is a significant
part of shaping these 9th graders Blake
experience and will continue to directly affect
their success and happiness here.
4Rationale
- Between 1998 and 2003, several students of color
chose to leave Blake to attend other schools.
Some could not adjust to the rigorous academic
expectations, some found themselves trying to
adjust to a cultural environment very different
from their previous schools or from the
neighborhoods they live in. - Observations of and conversations with SOC who
remained made it clear that they (and their
families) would benefit from a program that
provided both academic and affinity group
support. - Research on students of color in independent
schools points to affinity groups as one
important way students find safe spaces that
support their success in these environments.
5Cornerstone Student
- Although Blake has given me great opportunities
I know I would never have had in the public high
school nearest to my house I feel I have paid a
huge price for them. I have not only paid
financially, however. Ive lost friends, and I
constantly have to deal with everyday questioning
of Why do you go to that school? from people
around me. My old friends have dwindled and my
disconnection with them hurt. I felt like I
wasn't sure if the price I paid to go to Blake
was worth it.
6Cornerstone Student
- I don't have the luxury of looking up to
successful people around me. On my own, - I have to pave a road for people to follow me.
I'm not trying to follow in my father's
footsteps, or be as successful as my family name
I have to make it myself.
7The Program
- Two week summer program - students will
- Develop learning strategies and practice study
skills - Take academic courses
- English / Social Studies, Math, Biology
- Be introduced to the culture, climate and
expectations at Upper School - Examine the experience of students of color in
Independent Schools and the impact of affinity
groups - Build Community
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9Cornerstone Parent
- The summer sessions helped my daughter connect
with other students of color who she may not have
connected with otherwise. This enabled her to
feel more comfortable in a new environment and
especially one that would have made for great
isolation.
10The Program
- Academic year program - consists of both
student, parent and family initiatives that build
on the programs objectives. It includes - Weekly sessions
- Director as a Mini-Dean
- Director as a liaison between school, students,
and families Socio/educational events - Parent Meetings
- Community Gatherings
11Cornerstone Student
- Cornerstone is a learning environment where I
feel comfortable. I love important people we meet
and learn from, who show us new opportunities
Cornerstone has really had an impact on my high
school experience. The friends Ive made will
stick with me.
12Students
- Struggles they have had at Blake
- How Cornerstone contributes to their success /
support - What they offer the school and each other
13Cornerstone Parent
- To be honest, if Cornerstone were not there I
most likely would have sent my child to the
Wayzata Public Schools next year. It was very
helpful to have someone listen to me and talk
through some of my frustrations.
14Frank Sachs, Director of College Counseling
- As college counselors, my colleagues have used
our time at Cornerstone to assure and educate
students about the complexities of applying to
college. We make sure they know we will be there
every step of the way advising and advocating for
them as they proceed through the process of
exploring, applying to, and attending college.
One positive affect of our Cornerstone workshops
has been to demystify the process while
establishing a bond with the students who are
engaged in this program.
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16Cornerstone Students
- At Cornerstone you study with other people, and
you teach so it helps you learn. You help each
other out. - Cornerstone provides a fun environment to study
and do homework. In a school like Blake, it is
nice to be able to spend time with other students
of color while being motivated by teachers of
color.
17Program Details
- Current Budget and Paid Staff
- 13,000 per year
- Director paid a salary of 4 FTEs
- Current Students
- 26 Total Students 9 - 12, with an average of 20
attending sessions regularly - Race / Nationality
- 20 African Americans / Biracial
- 3 Latino / Biracial
- 1 Turkish
- 1 Hmong
- 1 African / Carribean
18Program Details (contd)
- Current Students (contd)
- Gender
- 7 boys
- 19 girls
- Grade
- 9th - 9
- 10th - 8
- 11th - 5
- 12th - 4
- Volunteers
- 5 staff the weekly sessions
- About 15 others come in to tutor, do a workshop
or work on behalf of the Cornerstone Action Team - Program Meeting Times
- Two week summer session
- 32 Weekly sessions
- 3 Parent Meetings
- 2 Family Gatherings
19JJ Kahle, Blake Foreign Languages Faculty
- I had several Cornerstone students in my
classes. It is remarkable how much better
connected to other students they are, and
particularly with other Cornerstone students in
the same class. All of my Cornerstone students
are very successful and had a great start to
their high school career. I directly attribute an
aspect of that success to the program.
20Cornerstone Helps Retain Students of Color at
Blake
- In the five years of Cornerstones existence,
the attrition rate of students of color has
decreased. Before 2005, the attrition rate of
students of color was consistently higher than
than of white students. - Since then, the attrition of SOC has either been
lower or the same as white students. - Out of the 47 Students Cornerstone has served,
only two have left the school.
21Diversity, Empowerment, Leadership and
Institutional Change
- Cornerstone helps students of color gain the
tools they need to excel to their full potential
at Blake. It is a program designed to empower and
to develop SOC as leaders in their school and
home community. - Cornerstone assists SOC and their families, as
well as professionals at Blake, navigate the
colliding of cultures, which has and will
continue to occur as Blake becomes a more diverse
school. Students of color and their families
both adapt to and change the school of which they
are now a part. Likewise, as Blakes
demographics shift, it becomes more effective at
identifying ways in which it needs to change in
order to serve the emerging, more inclusive
community it is becoming.
22Closing Quote or Photo
23The Institution is Changing
- During the 5 years that Cornerstone has been in
existence, students have garnered a greater sense
of agency. Though they dont all feel a
full-fledged sense of ownership--that Blake is
their school-- they see what they offer the
community as individuals and as a growing
community of color, and they have begun to work
actively to help the school embrace its mission
of pluralism. - The school has begun to see itself more clearly
and to begin the work it will take to become more
inclusive.
24Discussion Where Do We Go From Here?
- How do we continue to support the changing needs
of students of color as their numbers increase
and they begin to thrive at Blake? - How do we continue to support the institution in
its continued growth, and its desire to become
truly pluralistic?