From the Dream Project Staff

Jenée Myers Twitchell

Dearest Dream Project Family,

Welcome to the new Dream Project newsletter! I am so glad to have the opportunity to connect with all of you more often. As the years go by, filled with changes and growth, I often miss our mentor alumni, and I don't get to see our Friends of the Dream Project nearly enough. I hope this quarterly communication will keep us all a little more connected! I am also excited to update you on all of the Dream Project’s new ventures and innovative efforts to tackle the pervasive opportunity gap in our region, and to more deeply engage and support the undergraduates who lead the program each year.

In this issue, you’ll hear about the latest work in middle and high schools done by our expert mentors, called College and Career Readiness Assistants (CCRAs). You’ll get to know our AmeriCorps members who are supporting all of our work this year. Also, you’ll hear some updates from current mentors and mentees about what’s going on in our partner schools.

So much has changed at the Dream Project: with all of our new grants, we've been able to support our student leaders in achieving more than ever before. We have new faces around the office, and some friends have moved to new roles. Last school year, Matt Harris decided to more directly pursue the data systems issues we face across South King County and joined the Puget Sound Educational Service District and the Community Center for Education Results to, essentially, fix those issues. I was very sad to see him leave but I am also so glad that he is the one working on making all of our systems connect in a way that better serves all of the students in our region. He still directly supports our student leaders with DreamSIS, and we still get to see him at meetings often.

It's hard to believe it's been more than a year since we hired Nicole Guenther, a former mentor and high school lead at Ida B. Wells School for Social Justice. She is now our Assistant Director of Curriculum and Student Support. Among her many responsibilities, she directly supports the many class leads (we now offer four or five lectures and seminars every quarter for undergraduates at all stages of mentorship and leadership development). Upon Matt’s departure, we also hired Jessica Hunnicutt Batten, who came to us from her previous role in supporting student groups at the UW ECC (Ethnic Cultural Center). She is our Assistant Director of Program Operations, supporting all of our events throughout the year as well as managing part of our new Race to the Top grant (more on that in this issue). She recently gave birth to the newest member of our Dream Project family, Paityn Lynn Batten!

Most recently, we officially hired Amrita Heer to be our Program Support Coordinator. Some of you may have met her in recent years; she is a former mentor and student leader, and she was one of our AmeriCorps members. Her role was made possible by our grant from Race to the Top, but she doesn’t just support our CCRAs! She also directly supports student leaders, especially event leads, committee leads and high school leads. Our AmeriCorps members have also benefitted from her presence, making their transition into their roles this year the smoothest I’ve ever witnessed. Which brings us to Michael and Jeremy, our amazing AmeriCorps Duo. You’ll get to meet them in a separate article, but I must say, we are so lucky to have them. They bring humor, fashion, and love to the front office (and to the whole program) like only great AmeriCorps members can.

As you may have heard, I was appointed Director last year, and with that, my responsibilities are much more focused on supporting our fundraising efforts, paying attention to our budgets and grant outcomes, and to supporting the student leaders (our steering and planning committees) in making decisions that ensure that our growth remains sustainable.

I have been supported and pushed by our student leaders, who remain passionate about issues of scale, permanent funding structures, and proving our core assertions: that we are increasing the number of students who attain degrees in our region, and that we are engaging mentors and student leaders in ways that they may have never gotten to experience otherwise. I say this all the time, but I mean it: I have the best job in the world because I get to support the decisions and efforts of the best student leaders on the planet.

Thank you, thank you for all that you have done and continue to do for the Dream Project and for education in our global society. You are the greatest inspiration a mentor and leader like me could ever have!

Sincerely,

Jenée Myers Twitchell
Director