On Friday, March 22, 2019, local spoken word artist, Tribe, visited our 1B class to work on literacy, and the art of storytelling through music. Following class, he joined us for our school-wide P2 Assembly and read an original poem entitled, “Are You There”, that was about our character strength for the week; Forgiveness. Tribe will be visiting more grade levels as we prepare for the talent show this year to mentor groups of students interested in original writing, poetry, and rap music as well.

On Monday, March 4, 2019, Nick Padula, a solar engineer from Panasonic visited the first-grade students. He talked to the class about climate change, global warming and the role we can play to help the earth. Students are excited to recycle, use clean energy and make a difference in our community.

On Friday, March 15, 2019, the Citizenship Academy recognized excellence amongst our Atoms. This February the Citizenship Academy held it's first annual Understanding Black Excellence contest. The contest had two categories: Writing and Illustration. Atoms were allowed to enter in either category. The results of these projects were phenomenal. Each grade had a student winner in each group. Great Job to all of our students for the fantastic work they created.

On Wednesday, March 13, 2019, third-graders at the Citizenship Academy returned to the Herbert F. Johnson Museum at Cornell University to immerse themselves in Chinese history.  Our Atoms rolled up their sleeves and practiced their hand at making traditional Chinese art; painting flowers, cats, bamboo, birds and more. The Museum taught our students about a Chinese wish-granting statue and the role of calligraphy in Chinese history. Everyone had a great time and hope to return the to museum again in the future.

On Friday, February 15, 2019, Dr. Timothy Eatman, Dean of the Honors Living-Learning Community at Rutgers University, provided a wellspring of inspiration at a recent Positivity Project community meeting held at Citizenship academy. Dr. Eatman celebrated the character strength of love as he spoke about how the power of love for our students impacts their lives and well-being. Building character through love contributes to student success in school and college. Citizenship Academy thanks Dr. Eatman for sharing his time and gift of wisdom with our students.

On Friday, February 15, 2019, Second and Third grade students learned about the power of meaningful relationships, and the importance of ending violence and finding understanding. Clifford Ryan from OG’s Against Gun Violence shared his powerful life story to provide useful information on how those qualities can be achieved and shared with others.

On Friday February 8, 2019, SFC Ruby Linzy and Dr. Emad Rahim brought music and inspiration to SASCCS at a recent assembly in the school gym. Ruby Linzy spoke about her mother, Joanne Louise Frazer, the first African American woman to play the piano in the U.S. Army. Dr. Emad “DJ Plain Truth” Rahim spoke with great enthusiasm about his love for music.

On Thursday, February 7, 2019, Maurice Brown from the Working Families Party of New York visited third graders to share information about Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and the Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka legal case. Students were equally inspired by Tyrone Dixon, who visited to speak about George Crum, the African American Chef who created the potato chip. Yum!