AFC Goes BIG for National School Choice Week 2018!
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Although National School Choice Week (NSCW) has come and gone, we couldn’t let too much time pass without sharing how our teams, who are spread across cities and states around the country, joined the celebration. If one word could describe our efforts, it would be “big.”
We did it big.
We’re so excited to celebrate @schoolchoicewk with the thousands of families around the country who continue to benefit from access to #SchoolChoice! https://t.co/Ld4gwuZcW4 pic.twitter.com/BN51Hnmg4X
— Am Fed for Children (@SchoolChoiceNow) January 22, 2018
Washington, D.C.
We did it so big that, in D.C., we decided to get the celebration started early! On Thursday, January 18, AFC joined Rep. Luke Messer, for what has become an annual School Choice Rally on Capitol Hill. With speakers that included Education Secretary Betsy DeVos:
.@BetsyDeVosED: I’m here to fight on your behalf. #SchoolChoice @schoolchoicewk #CapitolHill #Rally pic.twitter.com/wKGVF12eXk
— Am Fed for Children (@SchoolChoiceNow) January 18, 2018
to our very own Voice for Choice, Walter Blanks, it was a great kickoff to School Choice Week 2018!
Walter Blanks is one of many examples of the impact #SchoolChoice can make in a child’s life. Here’s his story: https://t.co/em4VQQ6F1n. @schoolchoicewk @RepLukeMesser pic.twitter.com/ZqisiSl2Ci
— Am Fed for Children (@SchoolChoiceNow) January 18, 2018
Although the event included a few VIPs from Capitol Hill, it was the students that really inspired the crowd.
Different flavors of learning and growing might be in your typical brick and mortar school up the street, across town at a technical school, or online. #schoolchoice is about helping each child find an environment that best addresses their learning needs @schoolchoicewk pic.twitter.com/eY7JBkzH2y
— Rep. Paul Mitchell (@RepPaulMitchell) January 18, 2018
Help celebrate @schoolchoicewk by watching these families tell their stories of educational opportunity and success for their kids, then share! https://t.co/gwGemBT55b #schoolchoice
— Am Fed for Children (@SchoolChoiceNow) January 23, 2018
The students from D.C.’s Kuumba Learning Center did such an amazing job performing the official School Choice Week dance!
Adding a little sunshine to your morning with the help of students from #DC‘s Kuumba Learning Center performing the @schoolchoicewk dance at the #SchoolChoice celebration on #CapitolHill! pic.twitter.com/t0dCtjkN1m
— Am Fed for Children (@SchoolChoiceNow) January 24, 2018
Students also shared why school choice was so important to them.
We’re celebrating @schoolchoicewk and the many ways #SchoolChoice has impacted children’s lives! pic.twitter.com/XVqQlXd6Lg
— Am Fed for Children (@SchoolChoiceNow) January 22, 2018
Our favorite part about @schoolchoicewk is sharing why students support #SchoolChoice! pic.twitter.com/n4dnxFIPm7
— Am Fed for Children (@SchoolChoiceNow) January 23, 2018
Our time celebrating school choice at the Capitol was just the beginning to a great year of parental choice and empowerment around the country!
Why we do this work. #SchoolChoice @schoolchoicewk pic.twitter.com/S8fFuaBqlP
— Am Fed for Children (@SchoolChoiceNow) January 25, 2018
Louisiana
In Louisiana, our AFC team came together to celebrate Education Leaders Who Create Platforms for Success. During community breakfast events in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, educators who were no longer satisfied with a system that accepted social promotion and failure, discussed opening schools to address needs they saw in their communities.
Nancy Zito opened Gardere Community Christian School in Baton Rouge after being told by public school administrators that their schools would be rated A or B if not for the kids from the Gardere neighborhood.
Arianne Craig Jolla had a similar experience in New Orleans where she founded HYPE Academy, a solution for students who don’t fit the traditional mold. She challenged her New Orleans audience to become the education deciders for their families.
Watch the video below to hear their inspirational stories, and of course, to see just how Louisiana celebrated School Choice Week 2018.
Alabama
NSCW in Alabama kicked off at the Alabama School of Math and Science in Mobile on Monday, January 22nd. The speaker was Dr. Lonnie Johnson, a Mobile native and the inventor of the Super Soaker. As an air force veteran and a retired NASA scientist, Dr. Johnson’s message to the students was to never give up. In addition to sharing with students about the many failures he had before he invented the Super Soaker, Dr. Johnson visited the robotics lab and gave the students some pointers.
Tennessee
With 100 families and advocates in attendance, Tennessee celebrated National School Choice Week with a pizza and advocacy training! The team discussed the importance of having a wide variety of high quality options on the table for families to choose from, the importance of parents as the driving force behind helping to sustain options that currently exist in Memphis, and the force behind the creation of new ones.
Georgia
Georgia celebrated National School Choice Week with not one, but two events: A scavenger hunt at The Center for Civil and Human Rights and an event at Jump N’ Joy.
At the scavenger hunt, children, along with their parents, visited and toured the new Civil and Human Rights Center free of charge. The children were encouraged to complete the scavenger hunt, which included questions and trivia about the many great accomplishments of the women and men highlighted at the Center.
At Jump N’ Joy, families had the opportunity to enjoy the trampoline park while also taking pictures with their school choice scarves!