Dear familia,

I'm still floating on air following our first-ever Hispanic World Fair. When a Mariachi band played to the adoring screams of our students, you would have thought the Beatles (or maybe Shakira?) had landed outside of our faculty lounge. Live music, delicious food and shared traditions of the Spanish-speaking countries were just a couple of highlights of the day. I hope the below photos make you smile.

I am also happy to provide a brief update on philanthropy at American Dream. Thanks to community support last year, we:

• have alumni in college with the help of scholarships
• will soon launch a Faculty Fellowship program providing faculty members with grants to pursue experiential professional development
• awarded micro-grants for necessities such as school supplies and dorm room bedding--the things that make college feel a little more like home.  

As we progress into the season of giving, we hope you will consider American Dream in your tax-deductible year-end giving. Your donation will directly support first-generation-American, first-generation-to-college students in creating transformational educational and economic opportunity for themselves and their families.

Please read on to meet our High School Dean of School Culture and his hard-won approach to supporting students, and a future soccer star whose academics come first.

Warmly,

Melissa Melkonian

Founder and Executive Director

Photos of the Month: First-Ever Hispanic World Fair

On Friday, October 14th, The American Dream School concluded Hispanic Heritage Month by transforming the High School campus into a celebration of the food and culture of 19 Spanish-speaking countries. Students researched their countries' cultures and created an immersive experience of each country inside a classroom, including a presentation, music, dance and food. The day also included live musical performances by Mariachi and Salsa bands.

“Spanish language and Spanish-speaking cultures are part of the fabric of our school. In showcasing each of these countries, we are celebrating the birthplace and heritage of so many of our students and their families, and their contributions to our school’s culture and values,” said Melissa Melkonian, American Dream's Founder and Executive Director. “We want to validate who our children are and this is an opportunity to do that through their language, their music, their food, their culture.”

“There’s beauty in diversity and our students had the opportunity to honor that through this event,” said Johanna Quizphe, Spanish Department Chair and the Hispanic World Fair’s organizer. “Our fair also provided them the opportunity to learn more about where their parents came from and proudly represent those places.”

Faculty Spotlight: Jorge Garcia,

High School Dean of School Culture

“I believe what makes folks feel like they belong to a community is having a healthy sense of trust and acceptance of each other, being generous towards each other, as a lot of mix-ups and issues happen when we make assumptions,” says Jorge Garcia, The American Dream School’s High School Dean of School Culture. “A lot of our students grow up in spaces where they cannot trust, where they have to be cautious. One of my macro-goals is to create an environment where everyone operates with the same guiding compass, beginning every conversation with generosity.”

Garcia’s own trust was betrayed when he was in fifth grade in Washington Heights and a teacher bullied him–in front of the class, in misrepresenting his behavior to his parents, and ultimately in writing a letter against Garcia’s application to a selective Middle School. “After that experience, I stopped giving 100% of my effort. I didn’t have the motivation because someone had more control than me.”

With the support of his mother, herself an early education provider, who always wanted him to pursue college and to become a teacher, Garcia regained his path. He graduated high school in the Bronx and attended Bronx Community College and John Jay College of Criminal Justice before graduating from Lehman College with a Psychology major and Philosophy minor. “I wanted to understand child development but also how to better support people in what they need to be happy and successful and content with life,” says Garcia of his major-minor combination.

Two years ago, Garcia earned a Master’s degree in Social Work from the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, then applied to the Dean of Culture position at American Dream. Part of his role entails helping students to get and stay on-track.

Recently, a parent came into school crying, thanking Garcia for his support of their child who, last school-year, struggled deeply with their attitude and discipline and often acted out. Garcia persistently met the student’s actions “with the same respect, love and energy every single day” and the student opened up about challenges with friends and family members. This school-year, the student is doing well, including working to reconnect with an older sister whose departure for college last year was tough.

“I identify with this community,” says Garcia of the students, families and faculty at American Dream. “It’s something I feel is needed by children: To be surrounded and supported by folks who maybe haven’t lived through the experience but make every effort to understand it and be as supportive as possible. It takes a lot of grace and a lot of respect. The mission of this school is in-line with what I want to do in life.”