Past projects 2
Overnight College Trip for Recently Arrived, First Generation Immigrants
Funded Dec 5, 2019Thank you all so much for your support and helping in funding this project! My students will be ecstatic to visit their first overnight private school visit this upcoming spring. It will help so many of them to see themselves represented on a college campus through our alumni, gain exposure to college life and to their future after IHS-US! As mentioned due to their numerous obligations that our students have, visiting a campus during the weekends means that they have to sacrifice other familial and job responsibilities. However, because of your kindness they no longer have to make that difficult decision! We can not wait to send you pictures from their trip! Thank you all again for your generous donations and your support!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Toledano
This classroom project was brought to life by An anonymous classroom supporter and 52 other donors.First Generation Student College Tour
Funded Nov 27, 2018The trip was incredible and so unique for my students. This was the first class trip in which the juniors got to visit the State University of New York, specifically Farmingdale State College. It was their first time seeing a school outside of NYC, and allowed our students to envision themselves as college students two years into the future. We started off by having an early lunch in POPS Dining Hall before our tour. The students were amazed at the buffet style dining. It was nothing like school cafeteria food! They got seconds, thirds, and some even ate breakfast items for lunch. On top of being so excited of the numerous options, they were so well behaved. One of the dining hall staff members though that they were students who attended private school because of their respectful behavior! After our buffet, we were broken up into two groups and headed on a tour of the campus. Our tour guides were all friendly and some were even immigrants themselves, which resonated with our students. They took us to the residence halls, the gym, the library, academic building and even the auto mechanic shop. They were honest in their experiences on campus and gave numerous pieces of advice to our students. It was a beautiful day for pictures and for walking. It was a long but exciting day for our students, and a trip that was memorable.
One of the most heartwarming highlight was seeing my students break out of their comfort zone and ask questions. As english language learners, many of our students do not feel as confident speaking in English and will at times communicate in their native language. Yet on the trip English was the only language in common. At first they were shy yet as the trip went on they asked so many questions without any hesitation. They were even comfortable with asking questions in the middle of the tour. As they received answers, you could see how interested they were as well as how well they understand the response. It was a beautiful indirect learning experience that they flourished in.
I thought they had learned so much on the trip, yet I could not have predicted the extent of their learning. I witnessed that huge growth in their knowledge in the following weeks in the weekly, "College Readiness" class that I teach. Their interest in the class and attention to the lesson peaked immensely. They began knowing the definitions of the words that we had not covered in class before and as well as became comfortable with guessing the answers. When we covered new topics, students were able to connect it back to the trip and had insight on how to best understand topics. As a result their college terminology vocabulary increased. Their engagement in the material was refreshing and translated to their overall interest in college. After the trip, they not only had a better understanding of college itself, yet many decided that it was the next step for them. To continue learning more and to help prepare themselves for the upcoming college application cycle, many expressed interested in applying to summer programs as well as opportunities to live on campus. Seeing the dorms was intriguing and they wanted to have their own experience. Because of their interest and hard work, we currently have 6 students who will get to experience that dream of theirs by participating in on-campus summer program. Overall, this trip allows my students to become aware of their possibilities after high school. That is a lesson that is hard to understand until it is experienced. It is the biggest honor to guide them along the way of reaching those goals. Thank you for giving them the opportunity to begin building their future. Your generosity and interest in these students is greatly appreciated and this trip would have occurred without your donations.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Toledano