Blog

We are excited to announce our new partnership with the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). A group of MICA students – Alex Ozga, Anan Haque, Caroline Christenen, Ken De La Cruz and Kira Bell – will be coming in every Tuesday under the leadership of  teacher Rachel Valsing to hold an art class with our students.

We held the first class this week that was largely used for introductions and the start of their first art project. The MICA students were also given a tour of the school by TCS students Karla and Khori.

Our special thanks to Vanessa Lopez, practicum coordinator at MICA, for making this possible.

Author, speaker and businessman Rob Commodari was our recent Conversation guest. Rob shared the stories of overcoming personal struggles, the development of his strong work ethic starting as a preteen and his deeply held spiritual beliefs. The students were keenly interested in the many lessons he shared and a very rich discussion ensued.

Rob is the author of Better Than you Think: Developing Awareness for a More Fulfilling Life and challenged the students to raise their awareness and be more conscious about decisions that they make. We are very thankful for his generous sharing of time with us and looking forward to a return visit.

Famed photojournalist, master storyteller, author and TCS neighbor, Jim Burger, came in for a Conversation.  Jim has been a regular at the school for many years, but this conversation was extra special because it was about his book Long Journey Home. The book is a collection  of Jim’s photos and stories of his original hometown of Uniontown, Pennsylvania.

Jim generously gave a copy of the book to each student and they spent the last few weeks reading and discussing the stories. He answered many questions from the students to give even more background to the stories and also shared the writing process with them.

We deeply appreciate Jim’s close relationship with the students and school and it is always a joy to have him in for a conversation.

All about insurance was the topic of this month’s Financial Literacy Seminar brought to us by Berman McAleer. The students learned about the many kinds of insurance from auto and home to renter’s and the various kinds of life insurance. We missed Kathleen Gower, the curriculum developer and coordinator  of this series from BMc, but were happy to have Dawn O’Farrell, Director of Insurance Planning and Genevieve Crisera, Financial Advisor, leading this seminar.

We are very grateful for Berman McAleer and their great staff for all of their kindness from providing these valuable financial lessons to the delicious lunches they always bring.