Thursday, July 09, 2009

Thoughtfully-Pondering Faces, Activate!

Our Redwood City students had quite a thoughtful day at the San Jose Tech Museum last week. Check out our Spark kids in their natural learning habitat: experimenting, exploring...
and thoughtfully pondering for the camera.




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The Latest from Spark:

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Take the Mic, Senator Fielani

When was the last time you chased down a rogue reporter to fix a state senator's reputation?

That's just a day in the life of 14-year-old Fielani's Spark apprenticeship with Hema Mohan, the District Director for CA State Senator Joe Simitian.

It started out as a normal apprenticeship day, with Fielani shadowing Ms. Mohan's daily tasks... Then Ms. Mohan got a call: A local TV news reporter was spreading damaging claims about Senator Simitian and his relationship with the media.

It was go, go, go for Fielani, Ms. Mohan and her team the rest of that day -- they brought Fielani along to literally trace the reporter's tracks and hunt down the truth. Fielani and her apprentice teachers were in the office when the afternoon news came on, and they watched together as the reporter broadcast the negative claims Fielani's team had been working to fix!

"It was really surprising and a huge lesson for me - I guess, just another day in the life of a senator!" said Fielani.
How close is Fielani to reaching her sponsorship goal of $890?
Click here to read more about Fielani & learn how to donate!

Fielani's Law, Government & Safety apprenticeship is just a complement to her natural political flair. Check out future-Senator Fielani advocating for genetic research at the San Jose Tech Museum, during the Redwood City students' Community Quest.


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Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Google's Newest Pastry Chef: Annie

How would you like to learn tips & tricks from the chefs at Google?

That's what Spark student Annie from San Francisco is up to this summer. Annie's studying under the refined pastry chefs at the tech conglomerate's main kitchen.

Annie is a rising 8th grade student with a great sense of humor, and an insatiable sweet tooth. She'll be is working with Google chefs Ken Fair and Amy Pearce in the locally renowned Google San Francisco kitchen. Amy was previously the pastry chef at Millennium Restaurant in San Francisco, so Annie is thrilled to be working hands-on alongside her.

Annie has already started over at Google, but still needs help gathering donations for her apprenticeship.
How far is Annie from reaching her goal of $890?
Click here to learn more about Annie and help sponsor her apprenticeship!

(See yesterday's blog for a simple breakdown of how to sponsor Spark students.)

Monday, June 29, 2009

Supporting Spark in 3 Simple Steps

Summer programs are full steam ahead, and we're loving getting to meet the new apprentices. The students get brighter and more ambitious every semester.

Thanks to the power of technology, our website makes it easier than ever to learn more about, and give back to, our new apprentices.

You can support the Spark student of your choice in
3 easy steps
:


1. Select


Click on the green "Sponsor an Apprenticeship" button at the top of our homepage.
This will take you to our Sponsorship page, where you can search for students according to your preference, or simply scroll down and read what all of our apprentices are up to.
Click the students' "Sponsor Me" button to submit a money donation of your choice.


2. Register


Sign-up for a free account with Spark to complete your transaction.
No e-mail sharing or spam -- we promise!


3. Checkout



We made donating to Spark both easy and secure with Google Checkout. Confirm and submit your donation with your Gmail account -- you'll receive a receipt and confirmation e-mail shortly after.

Congratulations: You've just started a Spark!

What are you waiting for? Click on any of the images above to get started!

We'd love to hear from you -- Send us your comments:
How can we improve the donation process? What are some great ways to get our word out?


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More Spark News:

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Why We Do This: Spark Video 2009

When the cold calls get cranky,
when our inboxes seem endless,
when we've hit a wall in our day and can't bear to write another grant...

Videos like these bring it all back.



See more like this at our Youtube Channel!
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More Reasons to Love Spark:

Monday, June 22, 2009

What's your dream job?

Here at Spark, we have a tradition at each Monday morning Staff Meeting:
To ask an off-topic, round-table question.

Its purpose, as our Executive Director Chris Balme says, is to "make everyone present in the room." (Cause we've all had our fair share of morning meetings where we were there, but not really there!)

A few weeks ago, Chris posed a Spark favorite:
"If you went back in time and became a Spark Student,
what kind of apprenticeship would you want?"
Our Spark team would have wanted Apprentice Teachers for actresses, pop divas, magazine editors, civil engineers -- we even have an aspired hip-hop artist/shoe designer!

Now, we want to know what kind of mentor you would've asked us to hook you up with.
A pastry chef? A WWI bomber pilot?


We want YOUR answer!

Rewind to those gloriously awkward middle-school days, and be honest:
What kind of Spark apprenticeship would you have wanted?

Comment below!

Summer Programs are Underway!

This is the week we've all been working towards:
The 1st Week of Summer Programs!


It's a little quieter than usual here at the office -- Our Program Coordinators, the main brains behind summer recruitment, are out n' about, checking out our new apprenticeships. Spark Students in San Francisco and Redwood City are engaging in hands-on career experiences as you read this, right now!

Our Spark students have outdone themselves with the breadth of awesome careers they want to follow. We're proud to report 100% match-ups: Every student accepted to the summer program has been matched with an Apprentice Teacher of their choice!

From now until July 17th, students are studying under:
  • Firefighters
  • Lawyers
  • Pastry Chefs
  • Politicians
  • Travel Agents
  • Cosmetologists
  • A Chinese Scholar
...And lots more!

Also, the Development Team is lining up great guest posts from Program Coordinators, Apprentice Teachers, and our main event: Spark alumni and current Spark students themselves.

Spark's Executive Director named Top 40 Leaders Under 40!

We're so excited to share the news:

Our Executive Director,
Chris Balme,
was recently named one of the New Leaders Council's 2009 Top 40 Leaders Under 40!

Chris was chosen from a national pool of over 300 nominations. Says the NLC website:
"The 40 Under 40 Awards were created by New Leaders Council to help recognize the hard work of a diverse group of young leaders including elected officials, inspiring community organizers, as well as non-profit and policy leaders who exemplify the spirit of progressive political entrepreneurship."
We're so proud of Chris, of his dedication, passion and the amazing strides he's taken both as our Executive Director and an emerging young leader in education reform.
Speaking as an intern, he brings an amazing energy to the office; Never in any of my previous positions would the highest-tier manager sincerely engage in what I'm doing very often -- and Chris pops his head into our intern office, with a smile and a story, every day.

He'll be honored tomorrow at a cocktail event in San Francisco, hosted by NLC Chairman Mark Walsh.
Unfortunately, Chris won't be present to receive the honor -- he left last week for Washington D.C., representing us at a number of events that we hope will spread Spark's word! The award came just in time to put a little extra hop in Chris's step as he advocates for Spark at our nation's capitol.


Congratulations to Chris and the rest of the 40 inspiring leaders!

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Monday, June 01, 2009

TOMORROW: The Redwood City Dream Builders Breakfast!

Our office is all a-twitter preparing for tomorrow's Dream Builders Breakfast in Redwood City!

Spark’s annual Dream Builders Breakfast brings our Spark community together to celebrate the empowering experiences we’ve provided to students over the last year, and to build enthusiasm around our ambitious goals.

Proceeds from these breakfasts will help match 250 Bay Area students with life-changing apprenticeships in the coming Summer and Fall semesters.

We'll be hearing from some terrific speakers at our two Bay Area breakfasts, but the real stars will be the students themselves -- sharing their own success stories with the Spark community.

Redwood City Dream Builders Breakfast
June 2, 2009 | 7:30-8:30am
at the Pacific Athletic Club

San Francisco Dream Builders Breakfast
June 10, 2009 | 7:30-8:30am
at the Hotel Monaco



Please contact Von Diaz for more information on our Dream Builders Breakfasts.
Hope you RSVP'd -- See you there!