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1019spotlightnj2_2024-10-19-09-43-51

We are talking about Kipp New Jersey Public Schools. I have Diane Jamal and Kayla with me today. Let us talk about the passion you like to ignite in students. How do you nurture and get that fired up? So it really starts in kindergarten. Um And we have a day called Picture Me Tomorrow and kids get to dress up as what they wanna be when they grow up and everybody shows up and they, and, and, and what they wanna be. I think Jamal at one point you were maybe like a scientist and you had your, your lab coat on. Um But we really start talking about that. All of our classrooms are named after colleges and so students get to learn about college from a really young age and get exposed to all the schools that their teachers went to or other alumni went to and, and we have a lot of excitement around that. How do you think that helped you, Jamal? It made me like, expire, aspire to do more, I think and like in the future, like my future, it made me look at my future as like exponential or just like it ever like ever expanding. Like I could do so many things I can be whatever I want no matter what anybody says they really gave me like this ingrain confidence of you are great. So show that to the world, you know, do you still wanna be a scientist? Um somewhat, I wanna be a psychologist or be a some type of counselor to work with Children in some type of way. And what about you, Kayla as a student? What did this do to inspire you? So what this did to inspire me? I would say that the Kip Forward team specifically at Kip New Jersey Schools, they're very hands on and they give you one on one support to help you figure out what your interests are, what you're passionate about. They help you lay everything out and help you create a plan that works for you to move forward within the future that you're interested in having. So it was great having that as the support while I'm trying to transition and figure out what I actually wanna do with my life. I have my supporters helping me figure all of those things out. What were your interests at the time at the time when I was in high school at NC A? Um I was actually interested in becoming some sort of counselor but did not know what audience I wanted to counsel while working with my counselor and just seeing the support that was being given to myself and my peers. It helped me to navigate that. This is my calling and this is exactly what I would like to do. Do you think you followed through on that calling? I definitely did. I'm here as the re enrollment counselor supporting my peers, getting them the support that they need to get into the programs of their desires.

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1019spotlightnj3_2024-10-19-12-38-46

My guests are with Kipp New Jersey Public Schools, Diane Adams White Chief College and Career Officer Kipp New Jersey, Jamal Harrison, Kip Newark Collegiate Academy alumnus and current student at Villanova University. Kayla Vickers Kipp forward re enrollment counselor, Kip New Jersey. Kayla is also a Kipp team academy and Kip Newark Collegiate Academy alumni. And we wanna talk about the fact that that Villanova in Philadelphia. What is it like being there? And how did Kip prepare you being a Villano? It's amazing. It's definitely different from Newark for me, but I love it. It's great. The scenery is great. I think Kip, they just prep me in so many ways for Villanova from, you know, obviously we have the everyday schedule of uh high like K 212 student, but high school really prepped me and, and other like grades as well. But having like college fairs where college came, I don't think Villanova came to ours, but we did a college tour and I ended up going to Villanova, I believe, freshman or sophomore year of high school and just the experience that I got from that. It was, it was just amazing. Like I, I love getting to go to colleges exploring them because a lot of, I feel like a lot of kids or students, they just don't get that opportunity to go to these places and go to colleges and see like, is this my home? Like is this is where I wanna spend my next four years or six years or however many years you're gonna be at this college for? So, yeah, I don't know, kid just helped me in realizing like Villanova is the place that I wanna go and they continuously help me through there. And you said you love your city environments anyway. Yes, I do. It's the suburbs, Villanova, but it's a nice like break from the city. It's nice to have that. And just all the programs that they give me from having like a co a college counselor that helps me with my resume with like my cover letter, things like that, just having like linkedin linkedin groups that we have stuff like that. It really helps us all stay connected and intertwined. Uh They really gave me a break freshman year with like FFA and having all the financial struggles. Kips were there to help me like with books and stuff like they do a lot of things for me. So, so what would you say to Kip for what it provided to you that's helping you now in college? I think they provided me like a lot of strong traits that helped me throughout in my classes, like never giving up, even like their model. I remember like work hard, be nice. I always carried out to like adulthood. Just always working, always being determined to like, just get stuff done to do and just show my best work as well every day. Um Even just coming here wanting to show like who I am and who I would like to be for the future.

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1020spotlightnj4_subclip_2024-10-20-09-10-18

We are talking about Kip New Jersey Public Schools and they work with a lot of partnerships that we also wanna get into. Diane. Kayla and Jamal are here and go ahead, Diane. Tell us about that. Yes, we um we're a small but mighty team so we can't do all the things. And so we have partnerships with a variety of um schools and other organizations. So Montclair State, for instance, is one of our key partners. We have monthly meetings with them. We all have the same goal, right? The kid wants to graduate from high, from college and we want them to and so does Montclair State. So we get together and we talk about what students need, support, what programs are offered so we can connect students to those programs. Um We do that with the, with, with schools like Montclair State, like I in college students on a career and technical education path. Um We'll do, we'll talk to uh programs like Lincoln Tech and make sure they have the supports and the resources um so that we can support students for six years after they graduate from high school. So you have the academia and the trade schools that you work with. Yes, absolutely. We, we talk, we talk to students about their passions. We wanna make sure that we, we key into that and we make sure that they realize whatever it is that their dream is. And Kayla, this is all part of the prep for students. Yes, this is, this is a part of the prep one students graduate from high school. They still receive the support while they're on their journey even after if they ever break touch with us and we're unable to reach contact, we do try our best to reach out to them via text phone, email, getting in touch with parents so that we can make that connection again to res support them and get them back on track. And why is it so important to track these students to make sure they stay on track? Literally, it's really important because most um school systems kind of lose track of kids after they leave. Um And then graduation rates suffer as a result. And so being able to track them, we know we know what they need, we know what resources they they need and we have the relationship with the programs and we can make sure that they do stay on track. Sometimes for some students, they'll reach back out and say I have a $250 balance. And so unfortunately, I can't be in school anymore and we're like, oh, no, no No, we have donors who can absolutely support with that. Um, and when we're able to support students with things like that so they can persist um, when otherwise they, they wouldn't be in school any longer. Diane. That's huge. Wow. I guess a lot of kids tap into that too. Yes, definitely. We have a lot of students reaching out, a lot of alum reaching out, looking forward to re enrolling into programs, career technical programs. We also support with them getting back into college along with that, we help them find jobs, find, um, get the resume support that they may need to get these jobs prep them for their interviews. We definitely just wanna make sure we're still supporting them from the beginning to the end. It sounds like it's more than just a school. It's a friend and a buddy. Definitely to your family, away from your family. Yes.

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1020spotlightnj5_2024-10-20-09-40-59

We are talking with Kipp New Jersey Public Schools, Diane Adams White is the Chief College and Career Officer. Kipp New Jersey. Jamal Harrison is Kipp Newark Collegiate Academy alumnus and current student at Villanova University. Kayla Vickers is Kipp forward re enrollment counselor. Kipp New Jersey. Kayla is also a Kipp team academy and Kip Newark Collegiate Academy alumni. Now, you all have earned these titles for sure. You obviously like to set kids up for success. How do you do that? Well, it starts um it starts before high school, but in high school it starts with a seminar class. Every single kid takes a seminar class um and they start to explore themselves. Who am I? What am I strong at? What, what, what, what is um what's available in the world and it goes into 10th grade where they explore a wide variety of careers and they start to understand what their strengths are and how those connect to their careers. And we, we um we often do, we will bring panels in so that students can be exposed because often times it's kind of like doctor lawyer teacher, those are the opportunities. So we're able to bring in specialists like marine biologists and things like that so that students could be exposed. Um, by 11th grade we're taking career assessments to and, and we're doing dual enrollment classes and we have Lincoln Tech coming in so we can do hands on. Do you wanna, you know, do maintenance or things? I don't even understand. And then in 12th grade we provide a 1 to 1 counselor who's able to support the student with. What are those next steps that you wanna take and we can uh work with you on completing FAFSA. It's, it's so complicated. I know they've simplified it, but it still has a lot of questions and it's confusing for me. And so we have FAA nights for families to come in. Um and we walk students through every single step of the application process and you wanna go ahead and add to that. Kayla definitely would say, um from my 12th grade year, I'm definitely grateful for having my counselor that supported me with the fa from the beginning to the end because the FFA was very difficult. It was just great to be able to navigate and figure out which different schools I should be applying to. Um with doing the fa everyone has different financial circumstances that they meet. So I think it's important to just be able to lay out which schools you should be applying to where your financials lay. So it was great to have that as an availability to me. I got it. You agree, Jamal. Yeah, I definitely agree. I said earlier, I think that kid helped me with faster freshman year of college. It was really difficult. Even in, in high school when I was looking, I was like, what are all these numbers? You know, it's like a high listen. And you've never seen, you've never had to pay a bill. So you see all these numbers, you're like, oh, so you add this, you add, you know, so it really helped me like, really figure out, ok, this is fast. So this is what you have to do. You need these loans, like they really went into it and really sat with me and took the time to like, help me figure out what the things I would need to know to set myself up for success in the future.

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1020spotlightnj6_2024-10-20-12-32-07

We've been talking about Kipp New Jersey Public Schools with Diane Kayla and Jamal. What does it feel like Jamal to you to be a part of the Kipp community de I'm so glad you asked this question. It just reminds me of this memory where I was a high schooler still at NCAK Academy. And um I went over to seek academy and I was helping with a science fair, but they helped me go like they put me in a classroom and one of the students came up to me, he tapped my arm and he was like, you remind me of home. And I was like, I do, like I said, I'm glad I remind you of home, you know, and it sticks with me like still to this day as I'm a psychology student in my third year of college and just thinking about like the team and family that we were talking about earlier that K creates, it really just creates like a safety blanket and it makes you feel like no matter where you are in the whole like world, you're like, you're loved, you're cared for, you know, and you, you're destined to be great. You know, I love that home security blanket, safety blanket and you're destined to be great. I love those words along with persistence. Absolutely. As Jamal says that it reflects on him being five years old, coming into my classroom, a bundle full of energy. Um He just lights up every single room he enters from the time he was five adults, kids, everybody has always loved Jamal. Um and watching him matriculate through middle school, high school and now college. Um and as I, I think about his journey and about how successful he's been. Um It strikes me that all of our students already have within them, the brilliance, the passion all um and, and, and everything like that. It's not that we're instilling that in our students. It's that we are giving them the exposure and the experiences and all of those things so they can unlock, unlock their dreams. And I think that that's what's happened for Jamal and that's what that we hope for, for all of our students. The kip community sounds pretty special. Kayla, what did it mean to you? K I is like a safe space away from home. It's your family, away from your family at home. It's great to have that sense of community and not just a sense of being a part of an organization while you're enrolled. And then when you're done with that program, you're just done automatically, they stay with you. So it's just great to always have them knowing that they're looking out for you, looking out for you, Diane. Do you love that? Yes, I absolutely love that. That's our goal for all of our students. They know that we're looking out for them for life. Um, it really, it's supposed to cut after six years but they can call us whenever, um, and all, a lot of them come and give back, uh, to our kid community and that's so important to us and it's just a really special place and that's why I've been here since 2009 and plan to plan to stay. I have no plans on leaving.

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News 12’s Della Crews is joined by chief college and career officer Diane Adams-White, reenrollment counselor Kayla Vickers and collegiate academy alumnus Jamal Harrison.

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