IN THIS ISSUE
President’s Message | The Radical Power of Love and Kindness | Stu Semigran
Get to Know Educare | Introducing EduCare’s Board of Directors
Spotlight on ACE | Vianca Carchi & Mission Continuation High School
Spotlight on Afterschool | In Full Swing Again!
Thank You, Generous Givers!
…and more!
President’s Message:
The Radical Power of Love and Kindness
Stu Semigran
Why is love the foundation of education?
What is kindness?
Stu Semigran offers thoughtful responses to these questions, and inspiration for everyone.
We are living in a time when love and kindness are most needed, yet are too readily misunderstood. Many people seem to be living in a time of division, separation, and anger. Given these challenging circumstances, what roles do love and kindness play in education?
Recently, I have been asked the same question in two different ways:
“When you say that
‘Love is the foundation of education,’
what type of love are you,
EduCare, and Heartset® Education
referring to?”
“What does ‘kindness’ mean to you?”
Many years ago, I received one of the greatest compliments when I was leading a professional development program in Israel. One of the participants said to me, “Stu, your vulnerability is your strength.” In that moment, I began to realize that kindness, honoring and respecting others, and loving unconditionally are perhaps the strongest mechanisms for health and healing – for ourselves and for our society.
The expression of unconditional loving can sometimes be viewed as weakness, presenting an opportunity to get rolled over or overpowered. However, unconditional loving can be a powerful force for planting points of light – seeds of goodness. In fact, the light we carry may be the strongest and most sustaining power we have to assist and lift ourselves and one another. (Beautifully, The Light We Carry is the title of Michelle Obama’s most recent book.)
Here's how I define kindness:
Kindness is a generosity of the heart, expressing loving in action in a multitude of ways. It may be as simple as a thought, wish, or prayer for another. Kindness is the willingness to share love and compassion, even at the risk of being rejected or misunderstood. Kindness can be expressed quietly or demonstratively. It may be visible, or go unnoticed. Nonetheless, kindness – planting seeds of goodness and light – sets a tone and a pervasive foundation for sustained health and well-being, for a family, a school, an educational system, or a society.
Much like the warmth of the sun, a gentle breeze, or the sounds of pleasant music, the voice or smile of a loved one can provide a subtle experience of kindness for the recipient. Kindness lets people know that they are valued, supported, and cared for. It can inspire someone to keep going when life is tough, as well as encourage them along the way.
I invite each of us, whenever and wherever, to more fully risk expressing kindness and unconditional loving with ourselves and one another. Doing so, even in simple ways, serves and enriches each one of us, our young people, and the world around us.
As Desmond Tutu so wisely said, “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”
Get to Know EduCare
Starting with this issue of Heartset News, we will be profiling the EduCare family.
This month, we are focusing on our Board of Directors – and introducing our two newest Board members.
Our Board of Directors is fully committed to the vision and service of EduCare and is dedicated to carrying out its mission and work. The Board works closely with our Leadership Team to guide EduCare's activities, outreach, and fundraising throughout the year.
We extend a warm welcome to our newest Board Members, Marco Durazo and Luz Jamarillo!
Marco Durazo
Professor of Politics
University of San Francisco
Vice-Chair, San Bruno (CA) Planning Commission
I currently live in the Bay Area, but call Southern California home. Without mentoring, support, role models, and afterschool programs, I struggled academically in K-12.
Enrolling in a local junior college turned my life around. Caring faculty, relevant resources, and belief and encouragement from adults around me gave me the confidence to believe I could succeed. I completed my BA at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). After admission to the MS program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, I returned to UCLA to complete my doctorate in Political Science. After graduation, I was hired as a Professor of Politics at the University of San Francisco.
Along the way, I have committed myself to working with young people who need support and mentorship. I have worked with EduCare Foundation at Sylmar High School, as well as with schools in the Bay Area, and, in my role as Professor, have an ongoing opportunity to mentor and work with students. My mother immigrated to the United States (like many of the parents whose students participate in EduCare's programs) so that I could have a better life and make a difference for others. I am happy to say that I am in a position to do that every single day.
Luz Jaramillo
Senior Business Manager / Chief of Staff
Microsoft Device Partner Sales
I was born one of four kids in Colombia in the coffee region. For seven years, we moved countries frequently due to my father's work in Belize, Nicaragua, and Guatemala. My family moved to Asia when I was 16, and I finished high school at a boarding school in Northern India. My early life was rich in change; I learned about getting along in new places, making friends and letting them go, racial differences, and new languages. I currently live in Bellevue, Washington.
My career has largely been in the information technology field, and I spent the first nine years in Miami, first working for Oracle Corporation helping to build their marketing organization in Latin America, and then moving on to Microsoft in 2003. My work at Microsoft has spanned different areas from global marketing operations for Latin America, strategic planning for Microsoft Worldwide Consulting Services and more recently working as Chief of Staff working with one of the company’s largest device partners.
I want to bring the skills learned from my years in corporate life (working cross-culturally, strategic planning, the ability to organize people and processes in coherent ways, and getting things done in large and ambiguous situations) to serve EduCare and its mission. I am energized and grateful to be joining the EduCare team.
We are grateful for the invaluable service, dedication, and wisdom provided by all of our Board Members:
Nicholas Brown
Chairman, EduCare Foundation Board
Partner, London & Co., LLP
Board Member, University of Santa Monica
Board Member, Hands and Hearts of Hope Foundation
Katherine Hall
Secretary, EduCare Foundation Board
Former Vice President of Operations, EduCare Foundation
Tom Forbath
Treasurer, EduCare Foundation Board
Entrepreneur
Co-Founder/COO, Asset Retrievers
Eldrick Bone
President and CEO, ESB Plumbing
Freelance Journalist and Facilitator
Facilitator, Insight Seminars
EduCare ACE Program Alumni (2003)
Brian Evans, MA, MBA
Executive and Personal Coach
Founder and President, Brian Evans Coaching, Inc. / The Possibility Institute
Peter Felsmann
Managing Partner, Perform Productivity Solutions
Joey Hubbard
Chief Training Officer, Thrive Global
Susan Saltz
Co-Founder, JUNTOS
Board of Trustees, Coalition for Engaged Education
Board Member, Gary Saltz Foundation
Board Member, Alliance for Children's Rights
Board Member, Pine Ridge Girls' School
Documentary Film Producer
Kamin Samuel, PhD
Speaker, International Rapid Transformation Business Coach, Strategist
Author, Increase Your Abundance Starting Today!, Wealth Transformation Journal, and Success Transformation Journal
Co-Author, The Conscious Luck Workbook and Wealth Creation for Coaches
Candace Semigran
Co-Founder, EduCare Foundation
Board Member, Insight Seminars
Author, One-Minute Self-Esteem and 250 Ways to Enhance Your Self-Esteem Workbook
Stu Semigran
Co-Founder and President, EduCare Foundation
Steering Committee Member, Los Angeles Unified School District / Beyond the Bell Branch's Take Action Campaign
Steering Committee Member, California Afterschool Advocacy Alliance (CA3)
Author, Heartset Education and Making the Best of Me
Spotlight on ACE:
Vianca Carchi
& Mission Continuation High School
Vianca is the newest addition to our growing ACE Initiative (AI) Site Coordinator Staff, and Mission Continuation High School is our newest AI school.
Vianca Carchi has been part of the EduCare family for more than 10 years, primarily as an Afterschool Coordinator, and – starting this year – as ACE Initiative Site Coordinator for a new ACE Initiative school, Mission Continuation High School in San Fernando, California.
Vianca Carchi
ACE Initiative Site Coordinator
Mission Continuation High School
San Fernando, CA
Continuation high schools fill a unique role in the Los Angeles Unified High School (LAUSD) system. Students with significant challenges in school, whether academic or social, and who as a result are falling behind, have the option to switch to a continuation school.
The challenges faced can be severe: homelessness, gang activity, the need to work at one or more jobs to help support their family, mental/emotional health issues, and more. The wonderful thing about these students, says Vianca, is that they could simply drop out of school – but they haven't. They still want to finish school; and they need more focused support, people to believe in them, to encourage them and guide their steps to success.
With just about 100 students, Mission Continuation HS allows the kind of one-on-one mentoring and encouragement these young people need. The goal of the principal, Amy Trinidad, is to have a plan for every single student, so that they know what they are doing and where they are going after graduation. Assistance for every student, with any issue or goal (resumes, trade school or college applications, for example), is readily available.
With its focus on individual empowerment, ACE Initiative is an ideal fit to support that goal. Vianca has found that simply listening to students, giving them a chance to drop the tough masks they may have felt they needed to wear just to survive, allows them to relax, gain confidence, and develop social skills. Students are identified as "at-promise," not "at-risk," underscoring the positive approach to all students at Mission Continuation HS.
For example, one student felt nearly overwhelming pressure from adapting to her new school, juggling classes, and a tough home life. Vianca pointed out to her that just showing up to class was a victory and a step towards success.
Another young person had never had a Christmas tree at home – until this past December, when Vianca made this happen for her.
And yet another student with a disruptive early home life – raised by a single mom, living part of the time in abandoned warehouses or motels (or on friends' couches), experiencing her brother's drug use, facing food insecurity (sometimes giving her share to her younger sibling) – is determined to do better. With mentoring, kindness, and encouragement, she now has a stable home environment, a job, and plans to attend college after graduation.
Vianca has learned that many students never had the kinds of family experiences and/or celebrations so many of us take for granted – like family dinners, Thanksgiving or Christmas celebrations, birthday parties. She has been incorporating "experiences" into school life. A "Mission Slam" (a breakfast in honor of students); Dìa de los Muertos, with parents invited to see those whom their children had honored; Thanksgiving food baskets...all to let these young people know that they matter and that yes, they can succeed.
Vianca's goals are to ensure a post-high school plan for each graduating student; to create more "experiences" of the kinds that these young people have not had in their lives; and to encourage students to be able to relate to one another, their teachers, and their friends, with greater kindness, empathy, and confidence.
We look forward to hearing more about Mission Continuation High School, and the ways in which ACE Initiative is contributing to students' success. Thank you, Vianca – we know that you bring your very best to your students every day!
Spotlight on Afterschool:
In Full Swing Again!
After the extended disruption of the pandemic, afterschool has returned to a sense of normalcy.
The first semester of the 2022-23 school year has come to an end, and it's really starting to seem that we have – at last! – returned to a sense of pre-pandemic normalcy.
EduCare's Afterschool Programs are currently serving more than 25,000 students annually. The full roster of programs is once again on offer, from academic tutoring to STEM, from band to athletics, from dance team to cooking.
The holiday afterschool calendar was packed with festive events, contests, and activities. Well over 100 students at every school engaged in on-campus events. Here's a sampling of the many creative holiday activities:
Halloween: Haunted houses (fixed and mobile), pumpkin carving and costume contests, and community collection drives.
Thanksgiving: Canned food drives, centerpiece design contests, cooking workshops, and community collection drives.
Winter: Wreath making, toy drives, canned food drives, gingerbread house building, winter holiday shows, and holiday parades.
Chinese New Year: Arts and crafts programs.
We're delighted that field trips have ramped up, too. As we headed into winter break, our students attended college basketball games, took weekend trips to movie theaters, visited Los Angeles Comic Con and the Los Angeles Auto Show, went ice skating, and took college tours. About 50 students joined us for each trip.
The Take Action Campaign (TAC), a leadership program for youth across Los Angeles Unified School District, got started in December. Two hundred students attended the weekend kickoff event at Estéban Torres High School, and TAC instructors took part in their first in-person training since 2019.
Finally, several schools are starting to prepare for the district's Academic Decathlon, always a dynamic, exciting event for everyone involved – including students, teachers, and our afterschool staff. Essays and tests have been underway in January, with interviews and the final award ceremony happening in February. Drumroll, please: the winners will head to the state competition in March.
Stay tuned as EduCare Afterschool Programs continue to grow in student participation and enthusiasm!
Thank You, Generous Givers!
We thank all those who support the thousands of students with whom we are so honored to work.
In recent months, our hearts and our work have been lifted by the generous support of our individual donors and our community and foundation partners. We extend an enormous thank you to our individual donors who contributed to our 2022 year-end campaign. Together we secured our full matching fund and raised over $100,000 for youth services!
Your donations provide students with heart-centered social-emotional development programs, mentoring, academic enrichment, and so much more.
We are also deeply grateful to our 2022 community and foundation partners. Your support is enabling us to deepen the scope and scale of services in response to the need in our communities.
The Ahmanson Foundation
Annenberg Foundation
APEX Executive Solutions
Birmingham Community Charter High School
Brian Evans Coaching, Inc.
California Community Foundation
Capital Progress Corporation
Delano Unified School District
Dwight Stuart Youth Fund
Gary Saltz Foundation
GPSN
Green Dot Public Schools
Johnny Carson Foundation
Los Angeles Unified School District
Los Angeles Unified School District, Beyond the Bell Division
Los Angeles Unified School District, Linked Learning
Lynwood Unified School District
Omron Delta Tau Data Systems
Ralph M. Parsons Foundation
Rose Hills Foundation
Royal Business Bank
Sherman Oaks Women’s Club
Smart Park, Inc.
TCIG Pacific Insurance Services
Travelers Foundation
Vaughn Next Century Learning Center
Vista Charter Global Academy
W.M. Keck Foundation
Thank you all for joining with us in lifting the lives of our young people! We are deeply grateful for your generosity, vision, and collaboration.
If you would like to explore partnering with EduCare in 2023, please contact Armando Diaz, our Vice President of Programs & Partnerships.
For our children to be active learners, they not only need a new growth mindset – they need a growth heartset. Stu Semigran provides a new way to educate our children in Heartset® Education: A Way of Living and Learning.
Heartset® Education has been given ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 stars and ranked #1 in three New Release categories on Amazon!
Amazon is currently offering this inspiring new book at the discounted price of $5.20 (paperback or Kindle). We invite you to take advantage of this limited-time offer! Order your copy today and help create a more compassionate world for our young people.
For bulk purchases of Heartset® Education, please contact EduCare Foundation.
EduCare presented two exciting workshops in January. The recordings will be available soon!