August is building to its midpoint, which for all of us in the world of education means it’s getting closer and closer to the start of school. That’s a bittersweet time for everyone, because it means bidding farewell to summer, but it also means the excitement of fresh students, fresh school supplies, and fresh hopes for the new year.

Steve, Kathleen, and I are excited for the 2019-2020 school year! We met yesterday to review the research report, action plans, MOU, and other insights from the year in order to set goals and intentions for our coaching of the Empowerment Academy pilot effort this year.

We have decided that one way we can potentially support your efforts and share potential ideas, successes, and challenges among the pilot sites is by blogging after we visit your schools. We will use this opportunity to highlight moments we have seen in your schools- whether that is projects we can describe and share, interesting ways you have created or found to begin defining what it means to work in a simulated workplace site in middle school, or awesome forays into career exploration. We hope to bring you usable moments so that as a network of schools, you can use one another’s experiences to enrich your own practice, and in the process become a network that is stronger together than you can be as separate islands.

For now, from Steve, Kathleen, and myself, we wish you a refreshed mind, a full heart, and an empowered sense of your worth in lives of students and each other. Now go find a pool and enjoy your last few days of summer!
-Amy