Summer Youth Leadership Academy
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After careful consideration and consultation, Fearless! has made the decision to continue to host our Summer Youth Leadership Academy (SYLA) in the same manner as we did in 2020. The health and safety of the students is our top priority and our education team is working to ensure that students will have the opportunity to engage in important conversations, learn and develop their own plan to create change in their communities with new and exciting material and activities during this transitional phase for our communities. This year SYLA will continue to take place virtually via Zoom, with additional in-person office hours. Previously SYLA took place over one week, our ‘new’ virtual SYLA has and will take place over four weeks. Students will not be required to log onto a computer all day, or even every day, as that is not conducive for healthy learning. Twice a week, students will be required to join Zoom for a live-virtual workshop with our educators, and for small group discussions and activities. Once a week students will join Fearless! educators in person during office hours for deeper conversation, team building, and hands-on activities. SYLA will run from July 12th to August 6th.
For weeks 1-3 all students will be required to attend both virtual workshops on Monday’s and Wednesday’s, and required to attend one of the offered sessions for office hours on either Tuesday’s or Thursday’s. For week 4 all students will be required to attend the final workshop on Monday, and students will attend either the morning or afternoon office hours session on Tuesday. For the last three days, we will host graduations in each location, Newburgh, Port Jervis, and Monticello, students will attend one session in person and the sessions they will join in virtually to support their peers. At graduation students will present their community action project to their peers, and the ceremony will be streamed over Facebook Live to allow parents, gaurdians, friends, and family to watch.
If you have any questions about the mixed-platform Summer Youth Leadership Academy, please reach out to our Education Manager, Jasmine Carmelitano, for additional information.