Christian & Small is pleased to wrap up this year’s National Teacher Appreciation Week with a guest post from Whitney Williams, Development Director at the Birmingham Education Foundation. “Ed,” as it’s affectionately known locally, is a non-profit dedicated to increasing the number of students in the Birmingham City Schools that are on the path to college, career, and life readiness.
Christian & Small’s attorneys and staff members have been enthusiastic volunteers for Birmingham Ed’s Bridging the Gap program – where ninth graders from P.D. Jackson-Olin and Huffman High Schools visited the firm to learn more about careers in law – and its Leadership and Democracy Career Development Conference – where 10th graders from across the Birmingham City Schools system presented persuasive arguments for evaluation and critique on a variety of timely topics.
This month the Birmingham Education Foundation is currently engaged in its “May Match Campaign” – a fundraising campaign where every donation is match dollar-for-dollar up to $35,000 by Protective Life. If you’d like to make a donation to support the stellar work the Birmingham Ed team is contributing to the Birmingham community, you can do so here: http://maymatch2018.swellgives.com.
Remember to Thank a Teacher! #NationalTeacherAppreciationWeek
by Whitney Williams, Birmingham Education Foundation Development Director
Leadership & Democracy Career Development Conference.
It’s fitting that we appreciate our teachers for a whole week at this time of year with National Teacher Appreciation week – which I think should last all year! Having been worked as a full-time teacher, I can tell you it’s the hardest work I’ve ever done, and most of the time, teachers don’t get the credit they deserve.
If you’ve heard about National Teacher Appreciation Week then you probably understand that you don’t have to be a student or have a child in school to appreciate a teacher — you can write to a teacher, professor, principal, or coach from your past, who I am sure would be delighted to hear from you to know how much you appreciate their investments in you!
Although I no longer work as a full-time teacher, I still get to engage with students in the Birmingham City Schools through my work at the Birmingham Education Foundation (Ed). I can tell you that our work absolutely wouldn’t be possible without the wonderful educators of Birmingham City Schools who invest tirelessly in our students. It’s not an exaggeration to say that teachers are heroes, and most of them advocate for students in ways that impress me every day. There are too many great teachers for me to name them all individually, but I can tell countless stories about the extra time the teachers I know have invested in students both inside the classroom and out, connecting them to experiences in the Birmingham community and beyond, encouraging them to constantly consider new possibilities, and challenge themselves daily.
You don’t have to become a full-time educator to do the important work of teaching our next generation. One of the greatest joys of my work at Ed is seeing busy professionals make time to connect with students to offer interview advice or feedback on their résumés. I think everyone is at their best when working with young people, and the volunteers I meet through our skill-building curriculum at Ed almost always say that their time was well spent — and also ask when they can come back or how they can keep up with the students they meet from Birmingham City Schools.
During this academic year, Christian & Small helped us develop our first-ever skill-building sequence on Leadership and Democracy. In three pre-sessions and in one day-long professional conference, 10th grade students engaged with issues important to them – such as cyberbullying, driver’s license restrictions, and college tuition prices. In the process, our students built their public speaking skills, learned to form reasoned arguments, and in the process, become better advocates for themselves. At the same time, attorneys and support staff from Christian & Small tagged in to our students educational and professional journeys, offering them valuable feedback and professional development in a way that was very inspiring to see. We all learned a lot that day!
I’d love to talk more with you about ways you can get involved and support our work at Ed as a volunteer. Feel free to contact me directly or learn more about us here: https://edbirmingham.org/.