Making the Most of a Virtual Community
/By Jeremy Kazanjian-Amory, Director of Program Development
“This is so cool, my grandmother and I just watched you on Youtube, you’re like, actually famous.” This sentiment was shared by one of the high school juniors involved in St. Stephen’s Youth Program’s virtual program two weeks ago to Alex Weber, one of the career panelists that night. Alex is an award-winning performer, motivational speaker, America Ninja Warrior competitor, and the most recent example of how we as a staff have leaned into virtual programming as an opportunity to build community and create connections for our teens.
Six months ago, when the decision was made for our teen program to go virtual, there were lots of conversations about how we would replicate our program virtually. What we decided to do instead was lean into the creative opportunities that the virtual world brought us, realizing that teens would be far more engaged to try new virtual programming that they would never have been able to do in person. One of our first ideas was to try and engage career panelists from all over the country, understanding, for example, that the ability to speak to a Los Angeles actor would only happen virtually. Since April, we have done over 30 career panels, with over 100 different panelists and speakers joining our virtual community from all over the world (over 10 different countries!). The vision of these panels is for our teens and alumni to hear about the different educational and professional journeys that people have endured to get to where they are today. We are doing this in because our high school students and alumni are constantly inundated with questions about their own goals and dreams, and these opportunities allowed them to learn about the wide variety of career opportunities that exist, as well as hear firsthand how well established professionals didn’t know what they wanted to be, even after college.
Teens meeting with former Senior Advisor to the President, David Axelrod
One unique panel that the teens have gotten to experience was a panel of individuals in the entertainment industry, featuring a TV Executive Producer, New York music producer, award-winning photographer, and a featured writer for The New Yorker magazine. Another panel featured community organizers from Malawi, India, South Africa, Guatemala and Los Angeles, who spoke about the work they have done within their communities. In addition to a series of panels, we were able to also offer a special speaker series this summer through the support and connections of Beth Meyers, an amazing supporter of SSYP, and member of Church of the Redeemer in Chestnut Hill. Through her support, the students had the opportunity to hear from former US Senator Mo Cowan, former Senior Advisor to the President, David Axelrod, and City Councillor and Mayoral candidate Michelle Wu. We have had over 200 teens participate in panels, and every time we ask for feedback from the teens, it remains one of their favorite pieces of our virtual program.
In addition to the opportunity to hear from these amazing professionals; through ongoing workshops, teens have also learned about networking, building social capital, the art of the interview, communication, and other crucial skills that allow our teens to take advantage of the opportunities to meet these professionals. These skills have been a focus of what has been a highly successful virtual transition for the SSYP Teen Program.
When we first started this program, we were unsure about the level of engagement that we would see from the teens, a fear that was driven by anticipated “zoom fatigue” and the challenge of building relationships virtually. What we have discovered is an increased interest in our program, as information about the types of programming students are able to participate in has spread. This summer we increased our teen jobs, in partnership with the city of Boston, from 85 to 140 for our B-SAFE Program. With over 100 teens applying for a limited number of staff positions, we were able to pilot a new virtual 8-week teen staff program. This program provides a stipend for the teens selected to build upon the changes to our program implemented during the spring and summer.
We have had exceptional attendance this Fall in our pilot program, with 40 teens participating in social & emotional, civics, college & career, and professional development programming. We are hoping to extend the pilot program through the Spring and will be looking to partners to help make this possible. In addition to our teens wanting to continue, we already have close to 30 teens on the waitlist, interested in participating in either our virtual pilot program or our virtual 9th-grade leadership program. Our staff is continuing to expand our programming, and this Fall added morning hours that allow for Teens to be able to come and use our buildings for virtual school. With the most recent announcement of the Boston Public Schools that school will continue to be virtual for the foreseeable future, that interest amongst our teens has already grown. Overall, our staff starts teen programming by opening the doors at 7:30 AM, and then finishes up our last virtual sessions every day around 7:30 or 8:30 PM. In these moments of uncertainty, we believe it is more important than ever to continue to build the community that makes SSYP so special, and our Teen Program Staff is working hard to ensure that whether teens are engaged virtually or in person, they know that the SSYP family is here to support them, no matter what.