Our middle school students created memorable experiences and developed new skills through The Congressional Award summit as part of Cityscapes Foresight Summer Camp!
Cityscape is proud to bring this first-of-its kind leadership program to our middle school students. This program traditionally engages students starting high school but thanks to a close collaboration with The Congressional Award, our middle students had the opportunity to participate in the prestigious national program.
“We are honored to partner with The U.S. Congressional Award Program to bring life-learning changing leadership experiences program to our first group of eighth graders at Cityscape Schools,” said Elda Rojas, Deputy Superintendent and Chief Academic Officer. “The program will help our students grow academically and social-emotionally and will open an array of opportunities for them.”
The Congressional Award is the United States Congress’ only charity and the highest honor bestowed upon a youth civilian through the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.
Mateo Magdaleno, from the Magdaleno Leadership Institute and member of the Congressional Award Program, introduced himself to our students by giving them an inspiring story and assuring them that they can do anything they want and introduced Mission I’m Possible, “Together, we can change the world.”
This week-long program allowed our students to get a glimpse into what it’s like to be a college student. By focusing on issues, our students were challenged to come up with plans for the issues in question through an action plan.
They started everyday with the whole group in which they all learned about the President’s Service Award and the Congressional award and its history. Then the whole group divided into small groups to work on their Issues to Action.
Our students participated in a college tour of Southern Methodist University and After8educate in which they participated in a Service Project and found out more ways to help out in their community.
To end this week-long project, a ceremony was set to announce the winners of the Issues to Action contest. Our students decided that a conflict they would want to resolve is parental engagement in regards to their education and proved to our judges the importance of parental involvement.