On 12/15, the entire 610 Henry Community turned out to cheer on our seniors, lining the perimeter of our building, waving posters and pom-poms, congratulating our seniors for having applied to college!
After marching along the school’s perimeter, seniors marched through Carroll Gardens (applauded by local residents and business owners) to the Red Hook Post Office with an escort from the 76th Pct. Seniors mailed a letter symbolizing their college bound journey (including scholarship/college applications, thank you notes, financial aid information, etc.), all stamped with a special 2017 College March seal specially developed by the US Postal Service. There was a lot of fanfare at the Post Office!
The morning began with our pep rally. Grades 6, 9, and 11 packed our auditorium with Master of Ceremony Jose. The Brooklyn Collaborative Cheer Team then pumped up the audience with some dynamic routines. We enjoyed speeches from Zac Martin, a community activist in Brooklyn whose passion is supporting communities to move towards reconciliation through collaboration. Crew representatives also gave speeches – shouting out their highlights at BCS and honoring the bonds within their crews. Kudos to Dominique, Ashley, Tafura, Timeka, Josh, Danielle, Rebecca, and Jarett for being nominated by their Crews for this honor. As Ashley said in her speech, “To my crew, being college bound not only means being prepared for college but it is also about what we have learned from our past experiences, maturing, reflecting, and stepping forward into the real world and our adulthood, taking with us the ways we have grown from our years at BCS.”
After the March, students headed to the gym where we had an afternoon of food and dancing to honor the Class of 2018! Students checked out the sea of posters that underclassmen had made for them. They enjoyed the company of their parents, staff, volunteers, VIPs, and peers. What a celebration for our entire Brooklyn Collaborative community!
Extra Special Thanks to our Brooklyn Collaborative Supporters! Here is a short list of the VIPs we hosted during our College March!
- NYC Outward Bound Schools Staff and supporters
- Ronnie Moses and all the Capital One volunteers
- City Councilmember Brad Lander
- Assemblymember JoAnne Simon
- Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez’s Office, especially Melissa de Valle Ortiz
- The United States Postal Service and all the USPS Red Hook Post Office support, especially Hector Cuevas and Amy Bolger
- NYPD Officers from the 76th Precinct
- Zac Martin, Executive Director of Trellis
- Brooklyn Collaborative students and staff, especially Helene, Tracey, Eddie, Ashley, Jose, Taron, Asha, Tanisha, Milo, John, Deb, Todd, Tiffany, Chrissy, BCS Cheer Team, and the whole Crew 12 Team
- Brooklyn Collaborative PTA/SLT members/parents, especially Anthony VD, Dani, Tish, and Cathleen
- Brooklyn Collaborative Founding Principal Alyce Barr
- Brooklyn New School students and staff, especially Anna, Diane, Amy
- MS 839 students and staff
The College March is a schoolwide event! Leading up to College March, we have College Awareness activities in crew, supported by NYC Outward Bound Schools and CARA, the College Access: Research & Action (CARA) program with the CUNY Graduate Center. Students engage in college lingo activities, college trivia games, college bound Q&As, and much more. Underclassmen (students in Grades 6-11) also write letters to seniors, personalizing the college bound experience, hearing first hand from seniors about their journey and hopes and dreams. Underclassmen also made posters to the senior class or to a specific senior they interviewed, dotting the sea of supporters with love for each of the members of our Class of 2018!
The College March began in 2011 at NYC Outward Bound’s Network School WHEELS, where it was the brain child of assistant principal Jenny Rodriguez. In 2012, it spread across the New York City network with support from Capital One Bank. The NYCOBS high schools all march while the underclassmen cheer them on, and middle schools and elementary schools turn out to support them as active participants. Members of the school communities, family members, local business leaders, politicians, and other supporters turn out to cheer them on. For more information about NYC Outward Bound Schools, EL Education, and the College March, see: http://www.nycoutwardbound.org/our-schools/college-march/about-the-march.html