Tag Archives: Public Allies

Public Allies Eagle Rock Seeks Fellowship Applicants

For the 2022-23 program year, the Public Allies Eagle Rock Fellowship will provide eight individuals with an advanced year-long service and leadership development experience at the nationally recognized Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center, located in Estes Park, Colorado. Public Allies is a national movement committed to advancing social justice and equity by engaging and activating the leadership of young people. Eagle Rock is a full-scholarship residential high school, serving students between the age of 15 and 21, from diverse backgrounds and neighborhoods around the country, for whom having voice and agency in their education is the pathway to success. We also support schools nationally to implement effective and engaging practices to equitably serve all students. Eagle Rock is proud to be an antiracist, social justice organization.

The Public Allies Fellowship at Eagle Rock is a residential, community-based opportunity for aspiring educators & youth workers who are passionate about alternative learning strategies, social justice, youth development and empowerment, and re-engaging high-school students in their education. Continue reading…

Now Recruiting Public Allies Fellows to Start in August 2021

Here at Eagle Rock, we believe leadership is not a position to be held, but an action that all young people are capable of taking. And Public Allies — a national organization committed to creating a just and equitable society by engaging and activating the leadership of all young people — is one of our partners in advancing that cause experientially.

Specifically, we’re talking about the Public Allies Eagle Rock Fellowship, which in 2021/2022 will offer eight individuals the opportunity to work with us in our efforts to re-engage high school students in their education, which for our next cohort of fellows is accomplished through a year-long service and leadership development experience here in Estes Park, as well as online if and when health and safety protocols dictate.

Recent cohort of Public Allies Fellows at Eagle Rock.

The Public Allies Fellowship here at Eagle Rock — which will celebrate its 20th anniversary when the next fellow cohort joins us in late-August of 2021 — is a residential, community-based opportunity for future teachers and educational leaders who are passionate about alternative approaches to learning, social justice, and youth development and empowerment.

As such, we are actively seeking applications for the selection of eight young adults to work with us and our students as either Educator Fellows or Health and Wellness Fellows. The application deadline for these fellowships which run from Aug. 27, 2021 to July 1, 2022), is March 15, 2021.

Educator fellows will earn their teaching license here at Eagle Rock, becoming leaders through training, mentorship, developing curriculum, creating student activities and events, and designing and implementing in-house team service projects. Additional responsibilities include classroom instruction, participating in residential life programming, providing academic and personal support for individuals within our diverse student body — acknowledging that learning happens everywhere, both for students and instructors.

Our Health and Wellness fellows play a crucial role in supporting student social-emotional needs and encouraging their growth and healthy development. This includes participating in Continue reading…

Meet the Team: Mackendy Blanc – Program Director of Public Allies at Eagle Rock

Mackendy Blanc, Eagle Rock’s Program Director of Public Allies, was drawn to our school by its progressive curriculum that he says enables fellows to “oscillate between in-classroom instruction and real-world experience” through our Professional Development Center.

The Director of Public Allies at Eagle Rock position allows Mackendy to level the playing field for young professionals by creating an environment where they can take a leap of faith, find their voice, and develop and hone their skills based on passion and ability. Mackendy calls that a jumpstart for their professional journey.

Before coming to work at Eagle Rock, Mackendy launched Katalyst Konbit — a training ground for Haiti’s next-generation of entrepreneurs. Under Mackendy’s leadership, Katalyst Konbit has become a go-to organization for aspiring entrepreneurs on the Pearl of the Antilles to catalyze their entrepreneurial journey while learning how to innovate at scale.

We asked this purpose-driven leader, who now leads the successful Public Allies program here at Eagle Rock, to share a bit about his career — and his personal life. Here’s what he had to say: Continue reading…

Eagle Rock Seeks its Next Program Director for Public Allies

We’re pleased to announce that Eagle Rock is looking for someone to join our community in the position of Program Director for Public Allies, Eagle Rock. This is an exciting time for us, as we are working to fulfill on our commitment — which we asserted in January of this year — to be an antiracist, social justice-focused organization. By the end of this summer, we expect to have a new fulltime program director onboard for our Public Allies Fellowship Program.

The application deadline for this position is Monday, July 27, with final interviews scheduled for Aug. 3 through 7. We’d like our new director to start work on Monday, Aug. 24. However, to ensure we hire the right individual, we can be somewhat flexible with the timeline.

The new director of Public Allies Eagle Rock will take on the task of running all aspects of our fellowship program, bringing an antiracist commitment to mentoring eight to 13 young professionals who are entering the field of education and will be  performing a year of service at Eagle Rock.

What is Public Allies? This 28-year-old national leadership organization has its focus on producing diverse leaders to address the country’s predominant issues through apprenticeships that are currently active in 22 states. It is a national movement with the goal of empowering young educators to in a way that deeply addresses systemic oppression throughout society.

Public Allies’ emerging leaders-in-the making are expected to utilize their talents and interests in order to help create a better future for the communities they call home. Statistically, these diverse agents of change are currently comprised of 80 percent people of color, 60 percent women, with a majority of all participants coming from low- and moderate-income families living within underserved communities. Among the nation’s Public Allies alumni are Grammy Award-winning artists, comedians, elected officials, community organizers, educators, and nonprofit executives.

Eagle Rock’s new Public Allies program director should feel comfortable working at Continue reading…

Milestone Democratic School Highlights Our Latest PDC Work

It’s a brand new trimester here at Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center, and that means a brand new and very busy schedule for our Professional Development Center (PDC) staffers as they crisscross the nation, meeting with administrators and teachers at more than a dozen school districts and youth service organizations.

Today’s post covers our PDC’s engagement agenda for our 80th trimester, all with the objective of facilitating student engagement through school improvement events for organizations across the nation. The idea is to help create healthy, high-functioning learning environments.

And, in order to accomplish this aim, we have the hardworking staff from our Professional Development Center, including PDC Director Sarah Bertucci, Associate Director Dan Condon, and Professional Development Associate Anastacia Galloway Reed.

A highlight of our work this trimester is Milestone Democratic School — a Fitchburg, Wisconsin, charter school that opens in August of 2020. This independent, tuition-free school serves students ages 12 through 20 by placing them at the center of the conversation about how education should be designed and supported. By empowering their students to assist in decision-making when it comes to the teaching and learning that takes place in this school, Milestone is squarely focused on creating a school  that inspires and engages students.

Milestone’s planning team will visit us here in Estes Park in March, where Dan Condon will work the group on approaches to values-based learning, proficiency/competency-based assessment, and student-directed project-based learning.

Milestone is envisioned as a school that is equitable, inclusive and welcoming to all, including those with disabilities, migrant students, English learners, and students facing poverty. Many of Milestones student will eventually serve on the school’s Design Team in order to ensure the organization’s vision of a free and open environment to anyone willing to learn.

In the meantime, while we prepare for the team at Milestone to arrive here for their March 16-18 retreat, below is an update focused on all of our current professional development engagements. If you’d like to enquire about engaging with our PDC for a project at your school or organization, please use the  Continue reading…

The ABCs of Eagle Rock’s Language of Learning

There are times when those of us who communicate on a daily basis in the language of education need to be reminded that our lexicon may not always correlate with those whom we consider extended members of our community. In particular, we’re speaking of the parents, supporters, and friends of Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center (PDC).

In a sense, we’ve created a language of our own over the past quarter of a century-plus, the result of consistent communication both on our own on-campus community members and with our peers at dozens of educational organizations and schools we interact with each year across the nation.

Photo by Markus Spiske (sourced on Unsplash)

What follows is the first of what we hope will become a series of Eagle Rock linguistic ABC’s, with the objective of bringing everyone into the fold of our own lexicon. This first effort, below, is a complete A through Z rundown of terms, titles, alliterations, and programs that describe or explain our special form of work and communication, starting with All Who Dare:  Continue reading…

Fall 2019 Update from the Eagle Rock Professional Development Center

As we do several times throughout the year, today’s post covers what’s occurring within our Professional Development Center — Eagle Rock’s conduit to working with schools, school districts, and youth service organizations to create healthy, high-functioning learning environments with the aim of improving student engagement across the United States.

As always, the Professional Development Center (PDC) staff — including PDC Director Sarah Bertucci, Associate Director Dan Condon, and Professional Development Associate Anastacia Galloway Reed — are hosting educators here on campus, as well as traveling to schools and events nationally to facilitate school improvement through workshops and training events. They’re also focusing on our own school — Eagle Rock School — to improve its current practices. This trimester, for example, the team of PDC staffers is helping the school evolve its Presentations of Learning as a mechanism to allow students to learn about and contribute to Eagle Rock’s focus on having a national impact. (If you’re unfamiliar with POLs, please read Understanding Eagle Rock’s Presentations of Learning — then, check back here early next year for an update on how our POLs are evolving.)

In the meantime, below is an update focused on all of our current professional development engagements. If you’d like to enquire about engaging with our PDC for a project at your school or organization, please connect with us using the PDC Contact Form on our website.  Continue reading…

Meet the Team: Athletics Coordinator Jocelyn Rodriguez

This trimester marks the beginning of Jocelyn Rodriguez’ second year at Eagle Rock, where she formerly served as our Public Allies Fellow in Human Performance. Recently, she was asked to return as a full-time staff member, working in the new adjunct position of Eagle Rock athletic coordinator.

In her now role, Jocelyn is teaching several classes, including Changing the Game, a class that focuses on what it means to be a coach in professional sports. In addition, she is the new house parent for Spruce House.

As the athletics coordinator, Jocelyn continues to sustain our basketball program while also coordinating athletic events for the Eagle Rock community. Earlier this year, we highlighted Jocelyn’s work in this area in a post title ‘MoreThan a Game’ Shines a Light on More Than Basketball.

Jocelyn also now manages Eagle Rock’s Sports Challenge partnership with Strive at Haverford College, and will be attending Sports Challenge next year — a two-week program — with two members of the basketball team at Eagle Rock.

We recently caught up with Jocelyn between Eagle Rock tasks and asked her to fill us in a bit on her work experience, personal life, and some of her favorite things. Here’s what she had to say: Continue reading…

News from the Break at The Rock

Like all of the 78 trimester breaks that preceded this one, the one that starts this week at Eagle Rock School will end the same way — with students returning to campus for another trimester of engaging classes and experiences (this time around, on the 16th of September). What distinguishes this current break from all others is what we’ve got planned between now and then.

Below is a rundown of what’s happening during our summer break from classes, along with information on how to reach us from now until all staff members return to campus the second week of September:

Student graduation: Since the spring of 1995, each of our trimester breaks has been foreshadowed by an on-campus ceremony honoring the journey of Eagle Rock School students who are set to graduate. This trimester — the 78th since our founding in the early-1990s — a record 10 students took to the stage at our Human Performance Center, where each donned cap and gown to address family, friends, and the Eagle Rock community before leaving campus as high school graduates. Watch a replay of the August 9, 2019 graduation ceremony here.

Public Allies fellowship graduation: Our students weren’t the only learners honored with an on-campus graduation ceremony last Friday. Our 2018/2019 cohort of Public Allies Fellows, which included Continue reading…

Second Half of Eagle Rock School’s 78th Trimester Gets Underway

We’re entering the second half of our 78th trimester, and as promised in our post about this trimester’s first grouping of classes (see: Here’s Some of What We’re Learning This Trimester at Eagle Rock School), we’re now publishing a follow-up post featuring a rundown of the classroom offerings for this particular portion of the school year. Call it ER 78: The Sequel, if you will.

Each of our classes is carefully contemplated, curated and contained within our curriculum — constructed specifically for students seeking a purpose in school and in life. It’s an approach that has worked continuously for the past 25 or so years for the young people who are studying hard and experiencing a new life with and through the Eagle Rock community.

Without further ado, here’s what we’re tackling on the backside of ER 78 (the 78th trimester since our founding in the early 1990s): Continue reading…

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