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Dear Friend,
It's time to meet the Fellows!
Each day at Urban Prep, we try to
get better at what we do. To that end, we have launched a new initiative to support our students called the Urban Prep Fellows Program. This program, piloted at our new South Shore
Campus, will ensure that students have yet another level of support as they
move towards meeting the very high expectations we set at our schools.
This edition of the UPdate is devoted
to the Fellows Program. Below, you'll find a more detailed description of the
program, bios of the six awesome individuals who have committed a year of
service to our students, and information on how you can help support this new
program.
Enjoy The UPdate and please join
me in welcoming the Fellows to the Urban Prep family!
We Believe,
Tim
Tim King
Founder & CEO
Urban Prep Academies
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Meet the Fellows
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| Urban Prep's Fellows Program provides mentors and much more to students.
Urban Prep Fellows with Program Manager Jake Wertz (back row, second from left) outside the South Shore Campus.  | The Urban Prep Fellows Program brings recent graduates from the nation's leading colleges into volunteer service
for one year as mentors and advocates for the students of Urban Prep. The Fellows'
job puts a unique new spin on the role of service-minded recent grads in
education, and how we at Urban Prep view our commitment to students' holistic
development. Unlike teachers, who focus on instruction, Fellows work with small numbers of students to develop deeper
relationships that touch on all facets of students' development. Fellows support
their students through personal mentoring, tutoring, group activities, and
communication with family members. The program is
led by Jake Wertz, Urban Prep's Manager of New
Initiatives. On the Fellows Program's unique
design, Wertz says "Unlike most other post-college teaching programs, our
emphasis is really on the relationships that Fellows and students build with
one-another. Those relationships serve to enrich the lives and education of our
students, but hopefully they will be ones that the Fellows can learn from as
well." Over
200 recent college graduates from schools across the country applied for just
six spots in the inaugural Fellows Program class. |
Teaching, It's a Family Thing
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| | Meet Urban Prep Fellow Jeff Bakkensen
Jeff Bakkensen is a
fifth-generation educator from Andover, Massachusetts, and proud graduate of
Phillips Academy Andover and Georgetown University. At Georgetown, Mr.
Bakkensen studied English and Government, with a minor in German. His English
Creative Writing thesis explored varying conceptions of  masculinity and manhood
in young adults. While in college, Mr. Bakkensen played for the Georgetown
rugby team and wrote for the student newspaper, the Georgetown Voice. Between
his graduation in May and start at Urban Prep in August, Mr. Bakkensen
travelled to South Africa for the 2010 FIFA World Cup to cheer on his beloved
German national soccer team. |
From Blue Demon to Red & Gold Angel
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| | Meet Urban Prep Fellow André Bobb
 André Bobb
joins Team UP as a 2010 graduate of DePaul University with a degree in Public
Communication - Public Relations and Advertising. At DePaul, Mr.
Bobb developed skills in advising peers and mentoring minority youth through
service as a Resident Adviser, an employee of the Office of Multicultural
Student Affairs, and as President of DePaul Gospel Choir. Mr. Bobb's
four years at DePaul have seasoned him to the Chicago scene, but he originally
hails from a few hours east, in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
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Alpha Man, A True Brother's Keeper
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| Meet Urban Prep Fellow Jeremy Harp
Jeremy Harp comes to Urban Prep
from Atlanta, Georgia, by way of New Haven, Connecticut. He earned two
Bachelors of Arts degrees from Yale University, one in African American Studies and another in Political
Science. Mr. Harp first  found academic success at Benjamin Banneker High School in
College Park, Georgia, and is eager to help educate what he hopes will be the many future Yale students from Urban Prep. In addition to his brotherhood in the Zeta chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Mr. Harp pursued a variety of
extracurricular activities and internships at Yale, including at the U.S. House
of Representatives, on the Yale Rugby Team, and summer work in several Atlanta
law firms. |
Chicago Native Comes Home
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| | Meet Urban Prep Fellow Sian Kieran
 The Fellows Program's sole native
Chicagoan, Sian Kieran spent her formative years less than a mile from the
South Shore Campus, living in Hyde Park and attending the University of Chicago
Lab School. In 2010, Ms. Kieran graduated from Brown University with a degree
in Sociology. At Brown, Ms. Kieran discovered twin passions - for rugby
and for social science research. While excelling on the rugby pitch, Ms. Kieran
also developed a fascination with research into the relationship between urban
communities and the criminal justice system - a fascination which has led to
her work at Urban Prep.
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A Commitment to Social Justice
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| | Meet Urban Prep Fellow Neel Lalchandani
 Neel Lalchandani joins Urban Prep after leaving another "team UP"
- the University of Pennsylvania -- where he completed a major in Political
Science as well as minors in English and Legal Studies & History. Mr.
Lalchandani gained considerable experience in mentoring and education in West
Philadelphia, although he is originally from Oakland, California. At Penn, Mr.
Lalchandani served as a middle-school student mentor through the Big Brothers
Big Sisters program; on the board of the West Philadelphia Tutoring Project, a
student-run volunteer organization; and as a summer school teacher through the
Philadelphia Freedom School program. Apart from his work in the classroom, Mr.
Lalchandani has keen interests in law, civil liberties, and human rights. He
spent the past summer in Lyon, France studying human and minority rights in the
Humanity in Action Fellowship program.
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Spelman Scholar Continues to Serve
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| | Meet Urban Prep Fellow Ashlei Williams
 Ashlei
Williams joins Urban Prep as a 2010 alumna of Spelman College with a Bachelor
of Arts in English. At Spelman, Ms. Williams served as an editor of the
Morehouse Maroon Tiger Newspaper, a member of the Spelman College Glee Club,
and proud sister in the Eta Kappa Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority,
Incorporated. A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Ms. Williams distinguished
herself at Spelman as a Bonner Community Service Scholar, working for four
years to improve childhood literacy and communication skills as a kindergarten
and first grade tutor and mentor at Atlanta's A.F. Herndon Elementary School,
where she also founded the school's student newsletter, The Herndon Express.
After her Fellowship year at Urban Prep, Ms. Williams plans to extend her
interest in journalism and communications through graduate studies in those
fields.
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Funding the Fellows
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| New service program provides unique opportunity to support Urban Prep.
Urban
Prep Fellows are full-time volunteers whose service to our students provides
opportunity for their own personal growth, development of leadership,
communication, and instruction skills, and knowledge of urban issues. During
their volunteer year, Urban Prep provides Fellows with housing, health
benefits, and a small monthly stipend. The unique volunteer-service model
greatly reduces the cost of operating the program,  but support is still needed.
If you are interested in sponsoring a Fellow's stipend, or other opportunities
for partnership with the program, please email Evan Lewis, VP of Institutional Advancement.In 2014, we plan
for the Fellows Program to become eligible for federal funding through the
federal Corporation for National and Community Service AmeriCorps program. Proceeds from the 4th Annual Aces UP! Charity Celebrity Poker Tournament will go towards funding the Fellows Program. |
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