°µÍøTV

School: Guilderland High School, Guilderland Central School District
Location: Guilderland Center, NY
Student Teams:ÌýAbby Rudolph and Jordyn Smith, Madisyn Kowalchyk and Ava McTiernan, Emily Maguire and Emma McCoy
Teachers: Tyler Lutjen, Jonathan Ouckama
Title: Teacher Corps

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Guilderland Central School District is located within the Capital Region of New York State. The suburban district serves a diverse population of approximately 4,800 students across grades K through 12 in seven school buildings, which includes five elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school. Guilderland High School serves approximately 1,500 students in grades 9 through 12.

As part of the New York State Seal of Civic Readiness initiative at Guilderland High School, students must be enrolled in the Teacher Corps program. Teacher Corps is a full-year junior/senior elective that students apply to and are selected for. Upon acceptance into the program, students spend the first semester learning the fundamentals of teaching, including classroom management, lesson planning, and professional responsibilities. During the second semester, students travel to elementary schools within the district to teach lessons focused on bullying prevention, self-esteem, decision-making, diversity and tolerance, and digital citizenship.Ìý

In addition to their instructional work, students in Teacher Corps engage in a civic action capstone project throughout the year as a required component of the New York State Seal of Civic Readiness. Students identify an issue within the Guilderland Central School District schools or the broader community that they believe needs to be addressed. Through extensive research, students develop a research-based, realistic, and actionable solution to their identified issue. Students then create a formal proposal that they present to Guilderland High School’s Seal of Civic Readiness Committee, which is composed of teachers, counselors, and administrators. The committee selects the top three proposals to be presented during a public comment session at a Guilderland Central School District Board of °µÍøTV meeting. This experience allows students to fully embody their roles as agents of social change and community improvement.

Included in this submission are clips from a Guilderland Central School District Board of °µÍøTV meeting in which three student partnerships presented their research and proposed solutions during public comment.Ìý